I believe that the 3 mysteries of religion that we should all, collectively and cooperatively, strive to understand are: 1) Creation / Infinite Time & Space 2) God’s Involvement in our Lives & Our Moral Obligation 3) The After-Life / Spiritual Life. Our creed is not a dogma or even a doctrine. It is a collection of conclusions that we have drawn through careful consideration and logical discourse, which is subject to change. There is no need or requirement to repeat it or read it aloud daily or weekly in front of others in order to convince yourselves that it is true. Chances are that much of it is not true, but we have begun the journey to arrive closer to a meaningful and logical understanding of religion in our universe. In saying that, I believe it is obvious that no one group or religion has the whole truth.
I) Creation
I believe that, by definition, there can only be one God the creator, who has always existed, and is the first source of mass, energy, power and intelligence from which all else has emanated.
I believe that God can not be destroyed, and therefore God’s essence must exist in the form of a spiritual energy.
II) Our Moral Obligation & God’s Involvement in our Lives
I believe that God is not cruel or vengeful.
I believe that God’s mission was to create for us a world capable of great beauty, love, peace, justice, health, safety, abundance, joy, art and compassion, but also of hatred, violence, disease and disaster, and to create human beings who, collectively, despite the “tragic souls” among us, want and are capable of filling the world with the former and eliminating the latter, thus creating a Heaven on Earth.
I believe that there are no devils or evil spirits, just harm that comes from natural causes that we have not yet conquered.
I believe that God has given us the gifts, tools and power to conquer violence and other worldly problems like disease and natural disaster.
I believe it is my moral obligation to do what I can do to make the world a better place each day.
I believe it is a sin against God and man to waste your God-given talents and “fortune”, and an even greater sin to use them for harm against nature and God’s creatures.
I believe that it is a sin to hate someone based on a pre-conceived prejudice. It is even a greater sin to preach and teach this hatred.
I believe that the 3 C’s of church are community, charity and ceremony, all of which are important tools to improve and enhance our lives on earth.
I believe that God does allow for random acts and choices, be it falling in love, violence, kind and charitable acts, and seemingly unimportant acts that can have huge, unseen and unforeseen consequences.
I believe that we should be channeling all of our collective God-given talents and resources into eliminating the evils of the world, instead of investing our time, energy, money and talents into fighting each other and destroying the planet in the name of “progress”.
I believe that everyone has traits that are gifts to be shared and utilized for the good of others.
I believe that karma is the net contribution made to the universe by our existence, from the womb to the afterlife.
I believe that any life created by God has a soul.
I believe that God’s “inanimate” creations also have a soul.
III) The After-Life / Spiritual Life
I believe it to be a mathematical certainty, that in an infinite universe, other forms of life exist, which may include a spiritual-only life with no physical form. (Now that would be in God’s image!)
I believe that once we are separated from our physical bodies, we will have other conduits for our soul, and a “karmic power” with which to continue to contribute to the universe.
I believe that other conduits will exist in the afterlife to experience sensual pleasures.
I believe that God rewards a good life on earth and a good soul with a proportionate amount of karmic power with which to continue doing good.
I believe that there is no Hell or eternal damnation for even the most evil behavior on earth by the “tragic souls” because God is not cruel or vengeful.
I believe that God does not curse, but rather bestows his blessings and karmic power to those “non-believers” who choose to use their time on earth to make it the best place possible. I believe that if God is going to judge or evaluate our lives, it will be based on our words, deeds, values, integrity, thoughtfulness, charity and other contributions to the universe, not an attendance record or contributions to any particular church.
IV) Religion
I believe that we should all go outside every night and spend a few minutes looking at the stars, moon, other planets, cloud formations and all of the infinite beauty of the night sky while thinking about all of the other people around the world sharing the same beauty of the Universe that god created, and all that we have in common.
I believe that we must overcome the human tendency to see religion from an ego-centric vantage point and open our minds with humility to God’s infinite possibilities.