Every honest conviction

In seeking out the Ethical Society of Austin, I did a fair amount of background research over the course of several months.  My personal situation led me realize that I was in need of a "community" as well as some degree of intellectual stimulation in the realm of "religion."  I was not, however, looking for religion per se, but the opportunity to explore the things that religion also explores--life, community, cosmos, world, values, ethical action, truth, and on and on.  Yes, I looked at Buddhism.  I long ago thought that I was in tune with American Transcendentalism.  I was feeling oppressed by Christianity, tired of having my face rubbed in it day after day, all day long--or so it began to feel.  Islam is not my favorite religion (although I have lived in Islamic communities and even worn the veil out of respect for local values).

What I was seeking was a non-theistic community.  I was not, however, enticed by the anti-theistic wing of atheism.  Separation of church and state is something that I hold dear, but I am not, at this time in my life, willing to engage in a full-time battle to maintain it.  I wanted something positive rather than negative, and every atheist and humanist organization that I looked at on the web talked about what they were not.  Only the Ethical Society of Austin presented themselves positively, without having to say what they were not, because what they were seemed like plenty to me.

So I came once, and I kept coming back.  In the early days, my attachment was a little iffy.  I kept hearing "god talk," as I call it.  References to "god" and "spirituality."  Conversations that sounded a little too New Age-y for me.  A kind of shrug when I questioned how one could adopt the language of other religions, laden as it was with specific and non-inclusive meanings, to express the concepts that we were exploring.  I just kept getting these benign and patient looks that said, "It's all okay."

Perplexment.  Confusitude.  Doubtage.

I eventually came to realize that being a "welcoming humanist community" really meant that.  "Deed before creed" is more than a motto:  It's a way of life.  As such, it was something I felt worth exploring.

Then I found Felix Adler's Founding Address, the nitty gritty statement of what it's all about, and there it was:

The freedom of thought is a sacred right of every individual man, and diversity will continue to increase with the progress, refinement, and differentiation of the human intellect. . . . Believe or disbelieve as ye list--we shall at all times respect every honest conviction.  [emphasis added]

ESOA members come from differing religious traditions--Catholicism, evangelical Christianity, atheism, Mormonism, Judaism, and more.  Past and present beliefs matter little, except as they help round out our consideration of the ideas before us.  Tolerance and peaceful co-existence and respect just happen when any new or different perspective enters the conversation--because freedom of thought is a cherished value.

That being said, what Adler was headed for was a "practical religion from which none dissents."  For Adler this was a call to action.  He wanted:

Diversity in the creed, unanimity in the deed!

Or, as it was elsewhere phrased:  Deed before creed.  He wanted his fellows to join together to do the difficult work of "unselfish service to the common weal." Arguing points of doctrine serves only to distract from the work that needs doing, so he wanted to stop arguing.

Hmmm.  Humbling thought.  I found what I was looking for after all, but I may have been asking the wrong question.  No wonder "Let the Mystery Be" is such a popular song at ESOA.