"...we... are fond of saying that here we are all free to choose what to believe. But that is as odd a notion as anything my fundamentalist faith ever asked me to accept. I don’t think any of us is free to believe what we choose to believe. You and I don’t choose what we believe. You and I believe what we are compelled to believe. We believe or do not believe because we are convinced by some combination of personal experience, information and logic.

"No, my friends, you and I are not free to believe anything we choose. You and I believe what we must. The beauty and genius of a faith like ours is that we are not asked to pretend to believe things we do not believe. You and I are not free to choose what we believe, but we are free to stay with our religious community when we grow and when we change our minds."

- from a sermon given by James Covington on January 22nd, 2006

Religion, I submit to you, is about meaning and compassion.
What holds us together is what we love and care about so deeply, so tenaciously, so intensely,
that it gives life meaning....
Our religion is what we love so much that it shapes our lives. Our religion is about what we are willing to dream together
and then commit to making a reality.

Do you feel that every life is precious?
Do you feel that every person matters and that therefore you and I should be gentle,
kind,
and compassionate
with one another?
Do you believe children should be cherished and elders should be honored?
If you do, then you and I share the same religion,
and it matters little if you call yourself a theist
and I call myself an agnostic.

Our theological and philosophical opinions are about what we think, but what you and I think is not our religion.

- from a sermon given by James Covington on January 22nd, 2006

"Look, no one in here today is fonder of his or her opinions than I am. But if you and I let our opinions, our ideas, drive us apart when we share the same fundamental values, we are fools. In traditional religious language we are guilty of idolatry. If we allow friendships and community to be split by opinions, we are worshipping false gods. Opinions change. The opinions we are adamant about today look quaint and ignorant tomorrow. You and I should hold our opinions lightly and gently, like a fledgling bird we are going to set free. An opinion is a tool that we pick up, use, then put down when its work is done. Opinions do not endure."

- ibid

Love can endure, if we work at it. What we love most in life, what is most sacred to us, we must hold on to with every ounce of strength we can muster. What we truly love we must grasp like the lifeline it is. When we lose our grip on what we love we fall into an abyss.

Yes, there is such a thing as being truly religious. But it isn’t about knowing the truth or having the truth or believing the truth.

Being religious is about being true. Being religious is not having faith. It is about being faithful. Being religious is not about being right, but about living right.


- ibid