{"id":458,"date":"2015-10-22T23:49:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T23:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biz177.inmotionhosting.com\/~montev10\/?page_id=458"},"modified":"2016-02-29T17:43:26","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T17:43:26","slug":"what-we-believe","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Believe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Unitarian Universalism, you can bring your whole self: your full identity, your questioning mind, your expansive heart.<a href=\"http:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-848\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-848 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth-263x300.jpg\" alt=\"Kristin, Julie &amp; Ruth\" width=\"178\" height=\"203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth-263x300.jpg 263w, https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth-768x875.jpg 768w, https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth-898x1024.jpg 898w, https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth.jpg 1853w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 178px) 100vw, 178px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Together, we create a force more powerful than one person or one belief system.\u00a0As Unitarian Universalists, we do not have to check our personal background and beliefs at the door: we join together on a journey\u00a0that honors everywhere we\u2019ve been before.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Our beliefs are diverse and inclusive. We have no shared creed. Our\u00a0shared covenant supports \u201cthe free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and\u00a0promotes seven Principles, grounded in the humanistic teachings of the world&#8217;s religions. \u00a0These Are:<\/p>\n<div class=\"panel-pane pane-node-body\">\n<ul>\n<li>The inherent worth and dignity of every person;<\/li>\n<li>Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;<\/li>\n<li>Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;<\/li>\n<li>A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;<\/li>\n<li>The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;<\/li>\n<li>The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;<\/li>\n<li>Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_4184.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-847\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-847 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_4184-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_4184\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_4184-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_4184-768x499.jpg 768w, https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_4184-1024x666.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Though Unitarianism and Universalism were both liberal Christian traditions, this responsible search has led us to embrace diverse teachings from Eastern and Western religions and philosophies.\u00a0Our spirituality is unbounded, drawing from\u00a0scripture and science, nature and philosophy, personal experience and ancient tradition as described in our six Sources:.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;<\/li>\n<li>Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion and the transforming power of love;<\/li>\n<li>Wisdom from the world&#8217;s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;<\/li>\n<li>Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God&#8217;s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;<\/li>\n<li>Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit;<\/li>\n<li>Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"panel-pane pane-panels-mini pane-uua-org-tapestry-displays\">The links below will take you to the Unitarian Universalist Association website where you can further explore the beliefs of our faith.\u00a0Unitarian Universalists believe more than one thing. We think for ourselves, and reflect together, about important questions:<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>The existence of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uua.org\/beliefs\/what-we-believe\/higher-power\">Higher Power<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.uua.org\/beliefs\/what-we-believe\/life-death\">Life and Death<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.uua.org\/beliefs\/what-we-believe\/sacred-texts\">Sacred Texts<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.uua.org\/beliefs\/what-we-believe\/inspiration\">Inspiration and Guidance<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.uua.org\/beliefs\/what-we-believe\/spiritual\">Prayer and Spiritual Practices<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We are united in our broad and inclusive outlook, and in our values, as expressed in our seven Principles. We are united in shared experience: our open and stirring worship services, religious education, and rites of passage; our work for social justice; our quest to include the marginalized; our expressions of love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Unitarian Universalism, you can bring your whole self: your full identity, your questioning mind, your expansive heart. Together, we create a force more powerful than one person or one belief system.\u00a0As Unitarian Universalists, we do not have to check our personal background and beliefs at the door: we join together on a journey\u00a0that honors [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"parent":8,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-458","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What We Believe - Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What We Believe - Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Unitarian Universalism, you can bring your whole self: your full identity, your questioning mind, your expansive heart. Together, we create a force more powerful than one person or one belief system.\u00a0As Unitarian Universalists, we do not have to check our personal background and beliefs at the door: we join together on a journey\u00a0that honors [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-29T17:43:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth-263x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/index.php\\\/about-us\\\/what-we-believe\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/index.php\\\/about-us\\\/what-we-believe\\\/\",\"name\":\"What We Believe - Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/index.php\\\/about-us\\\/what-we-believe\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/index.php\\\/about-us\\\/what-we-believe\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth-263x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-22T23:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-29T17:43:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/index.php\\\/about-us\\\/what-we-believe\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/index.php\\\/about-us\\\/what-we-believe\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/index.php\\\/about-us\\\/what-we-believe\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth.jpg\",\"width\":1853,\"height\":2112},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/index.php\\\/about-us\\\/what-we-believe\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"About Us\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/index.php\\\/about-us\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"What We Believe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation\",\"description\":\"Many Beliefs. One Community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/montevistauu.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What We Believe - Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What We Believe - Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation","og_description":"In Unitarian Universalism, you can bring your whole self: your full identity, your questioning mind, your expansive heart. Together, we create a force more powerful than one person or one belief system.\u00a0As Unitarian Universalists, we do not have to check our personal background and beliefs at the door: we join together on a journey\u00a0that honors [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/","og_site_name":"Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation","article_modified_time":"2016-02-29T17:43:26+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth-263x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/","url":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/","name":"What We Believe - Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth-263x300.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-22T23:49:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-29T17:43:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Kristin-Julie-Ruth.jpg","width":1853,"height":2112},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/what-we-believe\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"About Us","item":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/about-us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"What We Believe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/","name":"Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation","description":"Many Beliefs. One Community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"sow-carousel-default":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"George Yenoki","author_link":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/author\/summertree2\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"In Unitarian Universalism, you can bring your whole self: your full identity, your questioning mind, your expansive heart. Together, we create a force more powerful than one person or one belief system.\u00a0As Unitarian Universalists, we do not have to check our personal background and beliefs at the door: we join together on a journey\u00a0that honors&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876,"href":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/458\/revisions\/876"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montevistauu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}