Diversity in beliefs – We are the hyphenated

Recently, the Rev. Tom Owen-Towle and Ken Brown, the PSWD District Executive lead UUFSD in a workshop on engaging our theological diversity. Held at UUFSD, and including members from many nearby fellowships, the lively workshop developed a spirited discussion about the many beliefs and traditions we bring to UU, pluralism, and encouraging openness, exploration, and support.

As part of the ministerial search process, we continued the conversation by including a survey question about the belief systems that each member held:

Many UU’s religious/spiritual beliefs are derived from various belief systems. How do the following statements describe yours?

One of the interesting findings: we have a lot of hyphens in our beliefs!

First of all, the most common response was that none of the 16 belief systems listed described one’s belief system perfectly. This was from 44% of the Fellowship.

The next largest response – 39% of the Fellowship have their own unique hyphenated combination of belief systems shared by nobody else in the Fellowship. (see the full list below)

The remaining one-sixth of the Fellowship share some single or hyphenated belief system with at least one other member. These are:

Eclectic (5%)
Ethical religion-Eclectic (2%)
Buddhism (2%)
Non-Theism-Skepticism-Agnosticism (2%)
Atheism (2%)
Atheism-Non-Theism (2%)
Judaism (2%)
Humanism (2%)

Here’s the list of one-to-a-person hyphenated combinations:

Humanism-Skepticism-Agnosticism-Ethical religion-Naturalistic Theism-Earth-centered spirituality-Pantheism-Eclectic
Non-Theism-Skepticism-Agnosticism-Ethical religion-I am learning aspects of Buddhism
Skepticism-Agnosticism-Ethical religion-Naturalistic Theism-Pantheism-Eclectic
Ethical Christianity-Naturalistic Theism-Earth-centered spirituality-Eclectic-Intellectualism
Atheism-Non-Theism-Skepticism-Agnosticism-Ethical religion-Naturalistic Theism-Earth-centered spirituality-Buddhism
Ethical Christianity-Buddhism-Humanism-Non-Theism-Skepticism-Agnosticism-Ethical religion-Naturalistic Theism-Earth-centered spirituality-Pantheism-Eclectic
Ethical Christianity-Humanism-Naturalistic Theism-MysticismEarth-centered spirituality-Pantheism-Eclectic
Humanism-Atheism-Agnosticism-Ethical religion-Naturalistic Theism
Humanism-Non-Theism-Naturalistic Theism-Eclectic
Non-Theism-Ethical religion-Earth-centered spirituality-Buddhist Meditation
Skepticism-Agnosticism-Eclectic
Naturalistic Theism-Mysticism-Eclectic
Humanism-Skepticism-Agnosticism-Ethical religion-Naturalistic Theism-Earth-centered spirituality-Eclectic-Christian-Buddhism-Earth-Centered
Agnosticism-Pantheism-Eclectic
Buddhism-Agnosticism
Ethical Christianity-Humanism-Atheism-Non-Theism-Skepticism-Agnosticism-Ethical religion
Ethical Christianity-Non-Theism-Skepticism-Agnosticism-Ethical religion-Pantheism-Eclectic
Agnosticism-Hope
Mysticism-Eclectic
Naturalistic Theism-MysticismEarth-centered spirituality-Pantheism-Eclectic-spirituality through meditation-
Pantheism-Eclectic-Buddhism, Hinduism, Yoga
Buddhism-Non-Theism
Agnosticism
Earth-centered spirituality-Pantheism-Eclectic-Pagan/Goddess ritual
Ethical Christianity
Ethical Christianity-Ethical religion-Naturalistic Theism-Mysticism-Eclectic
Ethical Christianity-Pantheism-United Church of Christ
Buddhism-Eclectic
Buddhism-Pantheism-Eclectic
Ethical Christianity-Agnosticism-Naturalistic Theism-Eclectic
Ethical Christianity-Naturalistic Theism-Pantheism-Eclectic
Humanism-Atheism-Non-Theism-Skepticism-Naturalistic Theism-Earth-centered spirituality
Love and Positive Thinking
Naturalistic Theism-Earth-centered spirituality
Naturalistic Theism-Eclectic
Non-Theism-Skepticism-Agnosticism-Ethical religion
Pantheism
Pantheism-Eclectic
Buddhism-Skepticism-Agnosticism
Agnosticism-Ethical religion
Humanism-Atheism-Skepticism
Judaism-Buddhism-Humanism-Atheism-Non-Theism-Skepticism
Non-Theism
Skepticism-Agnosticism
Skepticism-Agnosticism-Ethical religion-Eclectic
Ethical Christianity-Buddhism-Non-Theism-MysticismEclectic-Christianity
Ethical Christianity-Humanism-Atheism-Skepticism-Ethical religion
Ethical religion
Atheism-Non-Theism-Ethical religion
Naturalistic Theism-MysticismEarth-centered spirituality-Eclectic-Pagan
Buddhism-Ethical religion
Atheism-Non-Theism-Skepticism