How we break the rules (Jane Rzepka, UUWorld)

[Alex]

How we break the rules
Rule breaking just might be right up our alley.
By Jane Rzepka
Fall 2011
http://www.uuworld.org/spirit/articles/186280.shtml

...Unitarian Univer­salists don’t believe in a lot of the rules...

Religious Rule Number 1: You have to sign on to a list of beliefs.
How UUs break the rule: We don’t have a list of beliefs—no creed; no dogma.

Religious Rule Number 2: Obey the hierarchy.
How UUs break the rule: We ourselves are the powers that be; there is no hierarchy.

Religious Rule Number 3: You must perform the rituals.
How UUs break the rule: We have no prescribed rituals.

Religious Rule Number 4: You have to believe in God to be religious.
How UUs break the rule: No, you don’t.

Religious Rule Number 5: Your religious beliefs should be based on faith.
How UUs break the rule: Our religious beliefs are based on reason and experience. Faith is optional.

Religious Rule Number 6: Some objects, spaces, and events are inherently sacred.
How UUs break the rule: Nothing—or everything—is inherently sacred.

Religious Rule Number 7: Heresy is bad.
How UUs break the rule: Heresy can be heroic.
Throughout our history, we have often identified with theological heresies. Are human beings depraved at birth? Unitarian Universalists say no. Are events predetermined? We say no. Do people go to hell? No. Is Jesus God? Again, no. Are scriptures infallible? We say no.

I have heard that when the late Dana McLean Greeley, then president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, met with Pope John XXIII at the Second Vatican Council, the Pope said, with a twinkle in his eye, “You made a religion of all our heresies.” The Pope was right.

Religious Rule Number 8: Religion is not fun.
How UUs break the rule: Religion runs the gamut, and for us the gamut includes fundamental joy, bemusement, and the frequent hearty laugh.

Religious Rule Number 9: Religion is stifling.
How UUs break the rule: Well, we rock.
...We stand for freedom. We nourish one another. We look forward to scientific breakthroughs; creative social justice initiatives; new ways of peace, both inner and outer; and the adventures and styles and contributions of those who are younger. We try, anyway. Revelation is not sealed.