WE Unitarians are a mixed bunch and this was brought out very clearly at a recent Unitarian Renewal Group meeting at Dunham Road Unitarian Chapel in Altrincham, called Articulating Your Faith, where various speakers talked about their religious journeys and beliefs.

The differences really came out, however, when we were challenged to give our opinions on various religious and social issues, with areas of the floor marked as Strongly Agree, Strongly Disagree and Not sure/Indifferent.

The questions put were, for example - do you believe in heaven/hell? In God? In climate change? In the paranormal? Big variation in all of those, with all the floor space covered.

Female genital mutilation? 100% agreement that it was a bad thing. But male genital mutilation – a very different response. Unitarians have no creed, and people tell us “You can believe what you like.”

That is not true, we are constrained by our conscience and by what we believe to be right. This can be very difficult and many of us struggle to decide what is truly acceptable to us and what is not. It is much harder than being told what you can or cannot believe, I assure you.

We do, however, all believe in compassion, kindness, and love, and that all human beings have equal worth.

Most of us believe in the connectedness of all life and that is closely tied up with respect for life.

Maybe it comes down to believing that our actions are more important than our beliefs. Variety can be stimulating, that is for sure, as was shown at our meeting, and I am proud to be a member of such a vibrant and exciting movement!

Carolyn Jones

Hon. Sec., Altrincham Interfaith Group and member of Dunham Road Unitarian Chapel