Old FaceBook Note: My thoughts on the UU principles (for my fellow UUs)- Part 2

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For me, the most important principle is "The free and responsible search for truth and meaning". It is adherence to this principle that prevents Unitarian-Universalism from developing any sort of dogma. For instance, while the principle of "The inherent worth and dignity and each and every person" is a good principle, indeed probably THE most undeniably sacred principle we have (excluding, of course, the free and responsible search for truth and meaning), nevertheless it is theoretically possible that this principle is, in fact, "false" (in quotations because it is impossible for a value judgement such as "worth" to be strictly false), and if contemplation, revelation, and experience reveal it to be false, we need to be able to reject it through the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.(The Inherent Worth principle is an interesting example because, even though it is less important in my mind than the Free and Responsible Search princple, nevertheless the latter, in many ways, depends on the former.)This principle also prevents us from enforcing a viewpoint, however noble it may be, on individuals within our community (and in the world at large)--and that we cannot deny them participation in the community--once again, avoiding dogma (as you may be able to tell, I approach these questions from an individualistic perspective). At the same time, it prevents the individual from enforcing THEIR viewpoint. (Although in both these cases, it is important to be pragmatic: sometimes [indeed usually] the needs of the community require that we enforce some sort of practical viewpoint, usually about proper behavior, to ensure that things run smoothly).However, this does NOT mean that we shouldn't advocate our viewpoints, as a community and as individuals, and advocating them forcefully (but not through use of force) when there is a need to do so. This is because the one's search for truth and meaning has to be free AND responsible. To often the responsibility part is forgotten. UUism is accused by others as being a religion where "you can believe anything you want", and I think often even we as UUs also think that we CAN believe whatever we want. But that is not, in my opinion, responsible. For me, being responsible in one's search for truth and meaning means constantly challenging one's own beliefs, constantly submitting them to change and improvement, on logical, empirical, and spiritual grounds. It also means not being afraid of having one's beliefs criticized and challenged by others, but instead considering others' arguments and changing one's beliefs appropriately. On my part, I try to distrust any comfortably held belief. I also believe I have the right to challenge the beliefs of others, not because I want to convince them of the rightness, necessarily, of my beliefs (although being human, especially a teenage human, it's unlikely I am anything approaching pure in this regard [or any for regards for that matter]), but because I want to "rock the boat" a little, and get them thinking. (Obviously it is unfair for me to insist on challenging the beliefs of someone who is equally insistant that they want me to stop doing so.) There is something that one of the people who ran the "Coming of Age" thing said that sticks with me: "it's not that one has the right to their beliefs, but that they have the right to DEFEND their beliefs".