Welcome to the website of Unitarians who live in Staffordshire, England.
Unitarians believe that most people have a spiritual life but many of those people cannot accept a set of beliefs handed to them.
We believe that spirituality is about connections.
- Connections between people
- Connections between people and their living world
- Connections between people and the earth and the cosmos
- Connections between people and an otherness - something that may be within and also outside of us.
John Buerhens, an American Unitarian Universalist says, "Tell me about the God that you don't believe in ...the chances are that I don't believe in 'Him' either."
There are many ways of describing something that is bigger than us all; some call that
- Love; or
- Truth; or
- Eternal Truth; or
- Spirit of Life; or
- Divine Spirit; or
- Angels; or
- Mother Earth; or
- God; or
- That which cannot be named; or
- ................ the list goes on.
Whilst those Unitarians who meet up in Staffordshire do not all believe in the same things we do share some values and principles. These include
- Valuing all people;
- Valuing all people's unique experience;
- Valuing diversity of belief;
- Valuing social action; and
- Valuing community.
If you are interested please do contact us and we will be happy to talk with you about Unitarianism in Staffordshire and in the UK today. Websites on the Links and Resources sections provide further reading material.
Below is some information about the Charter for Compassion: a call to all people around the world, of any faith or none, to remember the Golden Rule which is to love each other as we love ourselves.
A call to bring the world together…
The principle of compassion
lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions,
calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated
ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the
suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the
centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable
sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without
exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.
It is also necessary in both public and private
life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To
act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to
impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite
hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common
humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately
and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name
of religion.
We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to
restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return
to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that
breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that
youth are given accurate and respectful information about other
traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive
appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an
informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those
regarded as enemies.
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We urgently need to make compassion a clear,
luminous and dynamic
force in our polarized world. Rooted in a
principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break
down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of
our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human
relationships and to a fulfilled humanity.
It is the path to
enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of
a just economy and
a peaceful global community.
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