Unitarian Universalist and related perspectives

Unitarian Universalist Association statements

Unitarian Universalist Association Statement of Principles

Challenging the Radical Right - UUA Statement of Conscience  

Beyond Religious Tolerance: The Challenges of Interfaith ...  

Moral Values for a Pluralistic Society  

Written by UU's and/or included in UUA publications

The religious left - an old tradition for a new day by Daniel McKanan, UUA World, Winter 2009

The American Creed, a spiritual and patriotic primer by Forrest Church  

Making sense of the conservative worldview by Doug Muder, Unitarian Universalist World, March 2005   

Ironic Provincialism by Paul Rasor, Paul Rasor, Director, Center for the Study of Religious Freedom and Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies Virginia Wesleyan College - Berry Street Essay, 2009 -  Delivered at the Ministerial Conference, Unitarian Universalist General Assembly, June 24, 2009, Salt Lake City, UT 

How Corporate Personhood Threatens Democracy - How Corporations Became 'Persons' - The amazing true story of a legal fiction that undermines American democracy by Tom Stites, Unitarian Universalist World magazine, March 2003 

America's founding faiths - Competing visions of divine order and sacred liberty divided America's founders and its religious communities by Rev. Forrest Church, Unitarian Universalist World Winter 2007 

Real moral values - Articulating a liberal religious moral vision by Rev. William G. Sinkford, Unitarian Universalist World, March/April 2005

Related perspectives

The Worst of the Pain by Bob Herbert, New York Times, February 9, 2010  

How Christian Were the Founders? by Russell Shorto, New York Times, February 14, 2010    

Biblical principles should guide Christian involvement in social change by Ken Camp,  The Baptist Standard - The Texas Baptist Newsjournal, November 05, 2009

Losing the Narrative Battle: Progressives Need to Turn Pro by Tom Sullivan, Campaign for America's Future, February 1, 2010

America Is in Need of a Moral Bailout by Chris Hedges, Published on Monday, March 23,

2009 by TruthDig.com

A Faith for The Nones by Michael Gerson, The Right Kind of Religion Would Bring the Young Back, Washington Post, May 8, 2009

The Pluralism Problem by Brendan Sweetman, PBS, ONE NATION: RELIGION & POLITICS, January 28, 2010 

Society as the Subject of Redemption: The Relevance of the Social Gospel by Gary Dorrien, Tikkun magazine, November/December 2009

Poll - Conservative & Progressive Religious Activists Surveys - First Ever Polls Comparing Conservative and Progressive Religious Activists, Show Divergent Identities and Strategies, Common Commitment to Political Involvement

Obama And the Rise of Secular Spirituality by Deepak Chopra and Dave Stewart - But secular spirituality isn't limited to the left or the progressive movement in general. It is a national phenomenon, one that will swell steadily in the coming years, particularly among the young. Born after the divisive culture wars that gave the right wing its main chance, the younger generations yearn for new values. Obama appeals to that yearning, and we hope he takes full advantage of it. It's not good enough that he becomes the first African-American President, the first green President, or the first digital President. Nothing less than spiritual renewal is needed across the board, and there is no one of equal stature to lead it.

Idealism, Conscience And The Spiritual Left by William Horden - ...Spiritual Left did not, of course, originate with the 60s....it dates back at least to 1838, when Emerson and other Transcendentalists began their quest for a path "away from the old 'religions of authority' into a new 'religion of the spirit.'"...sought a first-hand experience of the divine grounded in nature and community rather than institutionalized dogma. Rooted deep in the grain of American culture, the Spirtual Left has long acted as the progressive conscience of the nation, championing as it did from its very beginning unpopular causes like abolition and women's rights...
While many in the Spiritual Left are politically active, many others eschew direct participation in the Political Left because it remains locked in a destructive cycle of conflict with the Political Right...
Amorphous and anti-authoritarian, the Spiritual Left is perhaps best defined as a borderless association of leaders. Free thinkers and independent seekers of spirituality beyond dogma, its members engage in--and disengage from--political activism as a matter of personal conviction, not ordained groupthink...The Political Left will need to return to the moral high ground of progressive American thought and give voice to the American conscience of compassion if it is to recapture the imagination and heart of its spiritual counterpart. It has to want to change the world for the better, not just get elected...full text
 

Religious conservatives - for compilation of excerpts with links to articles, click here