First Principle

Let’s get radical, which means let’s go to the root, the tap root of our faith. Radical is also associated with revolutionary and we have been revolutionary from the beginning. When Francis David said in the mid-16th century, “We do not need to think alike, to love alike,” it was revolutionary. In those few words, he turned the approach to Christian faith on its head because he rejected right belief (orthodoxy) in place of right practice (orthopraxy). He felt that it was more important to be like-hearted than like-minded. David was attempting to follow the religion of Jesus, not the religion about Jesus. Of course, he was imprisoned as a heretic and died in a cell at the fortress at Deva. He believed that the truth of his faith would prevail, and it has in us.

The first Unitarian Universalist principle, “respect for the inherent worth and dignity of every person,” is also a radical statement, one with which many would disagree. Consequently, it is not practiced by those who restrict the idea of inherent worth and dignity to a chosen group whether circumscribed by family, tribe, ethnicity, religion, or nation. It is not hard to imagine how the world would be transformed if everyone lived this principle. It is, in a sense, the Namaste principle: The god in me greets the god in you. (For the world god feel free to substitute holy, sacred, love, etc.) In a sense this even transforms the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you because the others are you.

Gandhi said, “Be the change in the world you wish to see.” To affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person is to be in profound opposition to the concepts of original sin and human depravity. To affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person is to understand that our essential value as human beings is not earned. It is also that part of our humanity, which cannot be forfeited, except in the extreme. In fact, this worth and dignity are what makes us human.

Kurt Vonnegut suggested that dignity is something that we give each other. He believed that if we don’t give it to one another, there is no way we can obtain it. Carl Jung added, “It is impossible to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of another if you have not done that for yourself.” They are both correct. Our worth and dignity must be affirmed by others. At the same time, our recognition of the inherent worth and dignity in another requires an awareness of our own inherent worth and dignity. Obviously, we can do things that destroy the worth and dignity that inheres in an individual. This is what evil represents, the loss of a basic humanity. The purpose of religion, the purpose of society is to nurture the inherent worth and dignity of each person.