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Saturday, July 04 2009 @ 04:17 AM EDT

Are you a religious naturalist without knowing it?

Friday, June 09 2006 @ 01:49 PM EDT
Contributed by: Admin
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“Of all the questions asked in the theological survey, ‘The natural world is a web of interdependent
connections, of which we are inescapably a part,’ is the largest piece of common ground for both ministers
and laity. Over 90 percent of respondents, across all demographics, asserted that this understanding is
highly important to their faith. The rise of religious naturalism as an identifier led to the adoption of the
Seventh Principle in 1984, and interest has accelerated in the decades since.”
-2005 report of the UUA Commission on Appraisal, page 73

“Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”
-UUA Bylaws, Article II, Section C-2.1, Principles

Introducing the UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST RELIGIOUS NATURALISTS

UURN was founded in 2004 in order to create a community for those religious naturalists, scattered
through our congregations, who would enjoy being in touch with others of like minds.

We find our sources of meaning within the natural world, where humans are understood to be emergent
from and hence a part of nature. Our religious quest is informed and guided by the deepening and
evolving understandings fostered by scientific inquiry and by the mindful understandings inherent in our
human traditions, including art, literature, philosophy, and the religions of the world.

The natural world and its emergent manifestations in human creativity and community are the focus of our
immersion, wonder, and reverence, and our common naturalistic orientation generates our shared sense
of place, gratitude, and joy.

We find fundamental components of religious response in: apprehension of our mortality and transience
combined with gratitude for the moment of existence that is ours; awe that we and all that surrounds us
exist at all;

an understanding that we are embedded in an incomprehensibly immense whole that pre-exists us, will
continue after us, and does not depend on us, but in which we have a role to play; an understanding that we
share our existence and our fate with all other creatures on Earth, with whom we are deeply related; and
an appreciation of the existence of other self-aware beings with whom we can share our understandings,
identify, and empathy.

We acknowledge as well a shared set of values and concerns pertaining to peace, justice, dignity,
responsible freedom, the richness of ethnic, cultural, and ecological diversity, and planetary sustainability.
We are committed to furthering the realization of these values and are convinced that the naturalistic
perspective has much to offer in this process.

UURN welcomes new members!

We plan to meet annually during the UUA General Assembly, and we will assist in the formation of local groups.

If you wish to join, please return the membership form, along with your check for $15, made out to UURN, to:

John B. Hooper
President, Unitarian Universalist Religious Naturalists
28 Cranbury Road
Westport, CT 06880

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