For people who are new to Unitarian Universalism,
the following principles may be surprising:
Reason, Tolerance, Democracy, & Diversity.
And long-time UUs will be pleased to note
that an electronic publication can exemplify
the basic principles we all endorse.

    Other religious movements are based on
the authority of special persons and texts.
But Heart, Mind, & Spirit operates to promote
the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

    Feature articles are selected by vote of the subscribers
—not because the views conform to any preconceived dogma.

    After articles are published, subscribers
(and others who receive the articles by e-mail from friends
or discover the articles on the Internet)
are invited to engage is vigorous rational discussion
of the original article and the responses of other readers.

    This contrasts sharply with any doctrinal religious system,
in which 'discussion' might consist mainly of claims
that the views presented do or do not correspond
with the accepted beliefs of that denomination
or a particular interpretation of a holy text.

    Because Unitarian-Universalism is a creed-free religious movement,
without any doctrinal test for membership in any UU organization,
all points of view are welcome in Heart, Mind, & Spirit.
HMS welcomes proposals for articles from anyone.
No proposal is ever turned down, for example,
because it does not represent 'main-stream UU thinking'.

    In fact, HMS has already identified more than a dozen
different spiritual paths within Unitarian Universalism
that might be represented in this electronic magazine:
Jewish UUism, Paganism, Christian UUism, Deism,
Earth-Centered Spirituality, Panentheism, Green Spirituality,
Pantheism, Transcendentalism, Process Theology,
Humanism, Existential Spirituality,
Women's Spirituality, Feminist Spirituality, Buddhist UUism.
Other spiritual paths can be added to this list at any time.

    Different intellectual systems are also welcome
to use HMS to share their perspectives.
Our UU movement (and this electronic magazine) has no orthodoxy
with respect to sociology, psychology, philosophy, etc.
All views have an equal chance to be published in HMS.

    An intolerant religious publication
would promote only the views of the denomination,
the authorities in control of that religious movement,
or the content of the holy texts upon which that religious is based.

    Other forms of intolerance could be
the personal beliefs and commitments of the editors,
publishers, owners, etc. of the publication.

    But no such editors' or publishers' control exists in HMS.
The current subscribers only
decide what gets published in the next issue.
Anyone may propose an article.
Not everything proposed is guaranteed to be published.
But every proposal has an equal chance of being selected
by the next vote of the HMS subscribers.
Could any publication be more tolerant than that?

    Democracy means belonging to the people.
Heart, Mind, & Spirit is an example of pure, direct democracy.
Representative democracy is less direct
because the people elect representatives
who make decisions for them in and in their name.
For example, in most publications, the editors
(perhaps selected by the people in some way)
must make all editorial decisions.

    In HMS there is no such layer of representatives or administrators.
The people (the subscribers) vote directly
to decide which proposal becomes the feature article in the next issue.
Every e-mail address has exactly one vote.
And each vote has precisely the same weight.
Could any publication be more democratic than that?

    A less democratic publication
would be controlled by the editors and owners,
—and perhaps by denominational authorities—
who would decide what gets published
and what is left unpublished.
Even if the editors believe they are making
the wisest selection for the publication,
this is not as direct as asking the subscribers
to decide what will be published next.

    Altho some subscribers may be
dogmatic, irrational about certain subjects,
and individually intolerant of views that differ from their own,
the method of direct democracy
overcomes any such narrowness of perspective.
HMS trusts the majority of subscribers to vote
with reason, open-mindedness, and tolerance for diversity.

    Heart, Mind, & Spirit actively invites
persons of all points of view to propose articles.
In contrast to most other publications,
there is no editorial point of view.
HMS embraces diversity of emotional responses,
intellectual arguments, and spiritual paths.

    Certainly, the editors individually
have their own personal responses,
intellectual opinions, and spiritual paths.
But these views have no bearing
on the decision about what to publish next.
The selection of the next feature article
is a power reserved exclusively and entirely for the subscribers.

    After the subscribers have selected the next feature article,
and it has been published in HMS,
all readers are invited to express themselves
in any ways that seem appropriate to them.
This creates a diversity of responses.
The original author received all of the responses from readers.
He or she may decide to write individual responses
to these readers' comments and questions.
And the best of these questions and answers
are published on the HMS home page
linked with the original article.
The author may decide to revise the original article
if so inspired by readers' responses.

    If some responder does not find this process sufficient,
he or she is welcome to propose
a full-length feature article on the subject,
perhaps expressing a completely different view.
As with all proposals, the subscribers of HMS
ultimately decide which proposals
lead to feature articles in HMS.

    A publication that did not welcome
diversity of emotional, intellectual, and spiritual perspectives
would only invite articles from writers
who share the editors' opinions.
But the editors of HMS have gone out of their way
to invite proposals from every imaginable place on the UU spectrum.
And HMS will continue to invite proposals from everywhere.

    Heart, Mind, & Spirit embraces diversity
by promising never to turn down a proposal for an article.
Every view has an equal opportunity to be selected
by the subscribers to be the next feature article.
 

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.