The Seven Principles
Bridges Program
What are the Seven Principles?
Unitarian Universalism is a creedless religion – that is, we don’t say that you have to believe what someone else believes about God in order to be UU. Instead of being united by a statement of faith, we’re united by seven principles of how we relate to each other and support each other in our own faith journeys.
These Seven Principles are like a ruler: they help guide us in how act towards each other and are a standard by which we can measure our progress in this commitment.
In this area of learning we’ll be tackling the seven principles and how we can apply them in practice.
What do I need to do?
You have seven goals to complete in this milestone. For each goal, you will complete two learning experiences. If you complete a learning experience for one goal, it counts for that goal only (so, no double counting!).
Everyone who achieves this milestone needs to complete four core learning experiences: Seven Principles Explorer, Compassion in Human Relations, Democracy, and Exploring Justice & Equality.
Take a look at the list of learning experiences and mark the ones you might be interested in.
1.1 Be committed to upholding the 7 UU principles including appreciating the inherent dignity and worth of every human being.
☐ Seven Principles Explorer (required)
☐ Advocacy
☐ African-American Culture
☐ Asian-American Culture
☐ Breaking Borders
☐ Celebrate Everyone
☐ Dealing with Difference
☐ Differently-ABLED
☐ GLBTQ Culture
☐ Human Rights
☐ Latino/Chicano Culture
☐ Native-American Culture
☐ Our Elders
☐ World Explorer
☐ Youth Rights
1.2 Understand the importance of justice, equality and compassion in human relations.
☐ Compassion in Human Relations (required)
☐ Exploring Justice & Equality (required)
1.3 Advocate for the importance of acceptance of one another and encouragement for spiritual growth in our congregation.
☐ Art & Faith
☐ Atheism (overview)
☐ Baha’i explorer
☐ Buddhism explorer
☐ Cao Dai explorer
☐ Catholicism explorer
☐ Caring (overview)
☐ Celebrate our Congregation
☐ Chinese Traditional Religions
☐ Christianity (overview)
☐ Church Life
☐ Congregational Topics
☐ Encouraging Others
☐ Faith Explorer
☐ Healthy Communities
☐ Hinduism
☐ Humanism (overview)
☐ Islam (overview)
☐ Jainism explorer
☐ Judaism (overview)
☐ Men in Community
☐ Pagan explorer
☐ Prayer & Meditation
☐ Protestant Christianity explorer
☐ Rastafarianism
☐ Sharing my Faith
☐ Shinto explorer
☐ Sikhism explorer
☐ Soul Search
☐ Spiritual Disciplines
☐ Spirituality at Home
☐ Tenrikyo explorer
☐ World Religions (overview)
☐ Women in Community
☐ Zoroastrianism
1.4 Understand the importance of engaging in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning – both individually and collectively.
☐ Art & Faith
☐ Critical Thinking about Religion
☐ Faith Explorer
☐ It’s all Relative!
☐ My Faith & Beliefs
☐ Prayer & Meditation
☐ Search for Meaning
☐ Soul Search
☐ Spiritual Disciplines
☐ Spirituality at Home
☐ Worship (overview)
☐ World Religions
1.5 Be able to explain the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.
☐ Democracy (required)
☐ Advocacy
☐ Breaking Borders
☐ Citizenship
☐ Community Organizing
☐ Congregational Topics
☐ Creating Peace
☐ Divestment
☐ Fighting Able-ism
☐ Fighting Homophobia
☐ Fighting Poverty
☐ Fighting Racism
☐ Fighting Sexism
☐ Fighting Xenophobia
☐ Healthy Communities
☐ Human Rights
☐ Organizing Organizations
☐ Suffrage
☐ Representative Democracy
☐ Roberts Rules
☐ UU’s in the News
☐ UU’s in Politics
☐ UU’s and Social Action
☐ Youth and the Law
☐ Youth in the Military
☐ Youth Rights
1.6 Advocate for the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.
☐ Advocacy
☐ Art in the World
☐ Being Neighborly
☐ Breaking Borders
☐ Canadian Friends
☐ Celebrate North America
☐ Celebrate Everyone
☐ Critical Thinking about the World
☐ Cultural Geography
☐ Divestment
☐ Fighting Able-ism
☐ Fighting Homophobia
☐ Fighting Poverty
☐ Fighting Racism
☐ Fighting Sexism
☐ Fighting Xenophobia
☐ Human Rights
☐ International Organizations
☐ Labor Leaders
☐ Labor Movement
☐ Land of Israel
☐ North America Traveler
☐ Protest Music
☐ Refugees: On the Move
☐ Religious Geography
☐ Suffrage
☐ US-Mexico Relations
☐ World Explorer
☐ Women’s Rights
☐ World Community
☐ World Traveler
☐ Youth Rights
1.7 Respect the interdependent web of all existence of which we are part.
☐ Alternative Energy
☐ Backpacking
☐ Birds
☐ Camping
☐ Caring for animals
☐ Conscious Consumer
☐ Cooking
☐ Ecology
☐ Flowers
☐ Gardening
☐ Geology
☐ Healthy Communities
☐ Interdependent Web
☐ Native-American Spirituality
☐ Nature Appreciation
☐ Pagan explorer
☐ Plants & Animals
☐ Plant Science
☐ Save the Earth
☐ Trees
☐ Walking Softly
☐ Water Conservation
☐ Wildlife
☐ World of Wonder