Taking a break out from a scary paper on the definition of religion to share thoughts on this principle. I just wrote to a fellow seminarian the phrase, “God is not required for us to be good to one-another.” and realized that I wanted to connect it to this principle. She was sharing this article:
http://religionvirus.blogspot.com/2011/11/chaplains-want-to-bar-atheisthumanist.html
I just don’t get it. Why do we have to judge the worth of one-another based on our relationship to “God?” I am going to repeat myself. God is not required for us to be good to one-another.
So, to my UU friends out there, here’s a homework assignment. Help another human being understand that their relationship to the divine is UNIQUE. That in order for us to live together in peace and justice, we must allow the liberty for that relationship to be UNIQUE…which means accepting that which is not like us, which we do not understand, including that an atheist does not need God…without taking away their option for support, love and caring.
As a blog, I want Gnosticity to be about reflecting on how we can live UU values and principles every day. Finding our practice, our paradigm in action. As I read these articles about disallowing atheist ministry, I see bigotry and oppression on the basis of belief. By living in our diverse UU communities, we learn to be at peace with the dissonance of differing belief, and are prepared to preach a message of liberty.
Yes, I guess I did just say “preach” about “atheist ministry.” Go figure. Well, it makes sense to me.
Ok, so maybe its not a sweeping global community fix. But big change has to start somewhere. I’m going to suggest we each start by confronting the next statement of intolerance you hear. Just start with that. We can do more each step of the way…there’s plenty of global injustice in our front yards to start.