Welcome to Freethought Religion

This blog is dedicated to the proposal that those opposed to hierarchy, authority, prophesy and dogma need not be opposed to the the structures of religion which lead to humanistic insight and comfort.

A "Freethinking Religion" is one which asserts the following principles:

• there is no human with objectively and demonstrably correct answers to metaphysical questions such as "is there a God", "what happens after we die" and "how does God/the universe want us to behave."
• so-called prophets from history and the present have no direct line to Truth on these questions
• prophets, philosophers and popes have no unique insight to offer
• struggling with these questions is a right and a responsibility that each individual must take upon themselves
• every religious body benefits from having members that hold a variety of views on these questions
• no specific book is inspired by God or objectively and demonstrably correct in its answers to metaphysical questions
• leadership in a freethinking religion consists of leading congregants to questions, not answers

There are many "liberal" churches which nevertheless cannot be considered freethinking churches. For example, consider the United Church of Canada, which is an admirably liberal and modern Christian church. Nevertheless, it has a creed that is dogmatic on these metaphysical questions: "In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us."

Unitarian Universalism, on the other hand, is an example of a religious movement which matches these principles. There are other religious movements such as Secular Judaism and some forms of Buddhism which are similarly freethinking. One of the projects of this blog will be to identify other freethinking religions.