Our Statement of Beliefs

We feel that every denomination, para-church organization, religious group, and religious web site should consider creating a statement of belief or faith and displaying it prominently. This is particularly important among Christian groups who may use the term "Christian" to refer to only the Roman Catholic Church, or only to Evangelical Protestantism, or to the full range of Christian denominations and beliefs, or to some other subset of the religion. Quite often, when we visit a Christian web site for the first time, we have to search around among its articles to find out exactly what Christian belief system they follow and promote on their web site.

That said, the following is our attempt at a statement of belief.



OCRT Statement of Belief:
We are a multi-faith group. As of 2008-FEB, we consist of one Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, Wiccan and Zen Buddhist. Thus, the OCRT staff lack agreement on almost all theological matters, such as belief in a supreme being, the nature of God, interpretation of the Bible and other holy texts, whether life after death exists, what form the afterlife may take, etc.

We do believe:

In the inherent worth of every person. People are worthy of respect, support, and caring simply because they are human. Unfortunately, we have not reached a consensus on when human life, in the form of an ovum and spermatozoon, becomes a human person. On this matter, our lack of agreement mirrors that of society at large.
In working towards a culture that is relatively free of discrimination on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, physical disability, age, etc.
In the sanctity of the human person. We oppose the use of torture and cruel or unusual punishment including the death penalty. 1
In the importance of democracy within religious, political and other structures.
In the separation of church and state; and the freedoms of speech, association, and expression. 2
That the systems of truth that we have studied on the topics of morals, ethics, and religious belief are not absolute: they vary by culture, by religion, and over time. 3
In the generally positive influence that most religions have had on their followers and on society. 4
In the importance of individual believers determining evil influences and policies within their chosen faith group, and strongly advocate for their correction.
In the importance of education. We believe that people are not truly educated unless they have studied the world's major religions and ethical systems. They need to learn of the good and bad impacts they have had on society. 5