| liberal religion | Religion that: 1) honors the individual's need to make up one's own mind in choosing and formulating one's personal convictions; 2) involves neither dogmatism nor authoritarianism; 3) does not require the affirmation of supernaturalism; and in a principled manner, 4) draws for inspiration from whatever sources that the individual carefully judges to be of value.1
Interpersonally, liberal religion: 1) refrains from imposing established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian positions or dogmas on its participants or on others; 2) welcomes the exploration of various traditions; 3) encourages the consideration of new ideas; and, within the context of peaceful interaction, 4) tolerates the different ideas and behavior of others.2
Notes
1Such sources can include, but are not limited to: mythology; historical and religious traditions; humanism, philosophy and science. Cf., "liberal," The
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. www.bartleby.com/61/. [June 24, 2005.]
2Unitarian Universalism is but one manifestation of liberal religion. Cf. Ibid. See UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISM.
|
| living action (principle of) | The law that
identifies the nature of
living organisms by contrasting them to nonliving things. I
frequently use this formulation. Organisms that embody end-directed action exist.
See END-DIRECTED
ACTION,
LAW (FUNDAMENTAL,
PHILOSOPHICAL).
ElaborationAs do the other
laws of human life - which include the laws of awareness, sense-perception
and autonomy - the
law of living action provides a different vantage point on the nature of human
life.
The concept
"living action‚" (or "life") ultimately can be defined only
ostensively. See DEFINITION (OSTENSIVE).
Notes
1Although I characterize the nature
of life differently, I did start thinking seriously about its nature in major
part thanks to Ayn Rand's discussion of life's nature in her speech, "The Objectivist Ethics." This speech was reprinted in her book, The Virtue of Selfishness. |
