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The Manifest of Humanist Christianity

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The Manifest of Humanist Christianity

To the Estonian Ecumenical Council,

To All Churches and Congregations.

The Manifest of Humanist Christianity

Estonian society is characterized by its aspirations toward democracy, opennness, and tolerance. While supporting these aspirations, we are concerned by the developments we can see in several churches, resulting in the increase of authoritarianism, close-mindedness, and intolerance. Christian doctrine is presented as being in conflict with the humanist values of society. We understand this as an expression of fear and insecurity about societal change. We believe that these attitudes, instead of helping to change society, also inhibit the life of churches.

We are confident that the Christian message also has to be humanist, as God created human beings according to God’s own image in the biblical creation story (Genesis 1,27), endowing humans with their special dignity. Humanism acknowledges this special dignity.

This humanist Christianity is the oppposite of the forms of Christianity which do not acknowledge the right of human beings to make decisions and to be responsible, which demand blind obedience to the authorities of the Church, and which try to replace democracy in the Church with authoritarianism. We consider it regrettable that one part of the clergy tries to instill this kind of understanding about Christianity into the entire membership of the Church and to destroy the diversity of opinions in the Church. We disapprove of the hate speech spreading in the Church and the justification of it with the Bible.

We want the Church not to look to the past with nostalgia, but to focus on the realities of the present and to look toward the future. We want the Church to be contemporary, democratic, and open; to be welcoming and caring for the individual and to value each human being as a person; to value education and science, taking into consideration the development of theology and thinking; to be ready for dialogue with society, without pretending to be the single authority of truth; and to value spiritual and religious diversity, accepting it within itself and supporting it in society.

We present our vision of the Church in the following theses:

1) We have to recognize the Church as the community of all Christians, based on Jesus Christ, and the Churches as organizations. The Churches as organizations are earthly and human and follow the same patterns as other organizations. We do not accept the claim that the Church as an organization is sacred.

2) The Church as organization is first and foremost the scaffolding for supporting the spiritual growth of its members. The Church justifies itself only as much as it fulfills this mission.

3) The Church as organization must maintain a diversity of opinions and ways of thinking. Each member of the Church has the right and the duty to express publicly his/her opinion about all questions concerning the Church, including its leadership and laws.

4) Although we see the Bible as the revelation, we are confident that the revelation is mediated to us by human language, contemporary culture and worldview. The Bible, as the Church’s doctrines interpret it, has to be seen in historical context. Therefore we do not agree with fundamentalist ahistorical interpretation, which selectively uses certain parts of biblical texts literally. It’s important for us to distinguish the divine and eternal from the earthly and temporal in the Bible.

5) Intellectually honest Christian proclamation presupposes taking into consideration changes in worldviews, thinking and society during the thousands of years of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

6) All people are welcome and equal in the Church, irrespective of their gender, education, social status, physical or mental disability, health condition, sexual orientation or identity, nationality, or ethnic or cultural background,.

We believe the strength of the Church is in our spiritual and religious diversity. We wish this diversity to persist and strengthen. We want to start comprehensive and open discussion about the role and the opportunities of the Church in Estonian society in the 21st century, and we want the discussion to be public.

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The Manifest of Humanist Christianity

To the Estonian Ecumenical Council,

To All Churches and Congregations.

The Manifest of Humanist Christianity

Estonian society is characterized by its aspirations toward democracy, opennness, and tolerance. While supporting these aspirations, we are concerned by the developments we can see in several churches, resulting in the increase of authoritarianism, close-mindedness, and intolerance. Christian doctrine is presented as being in conflict with the humanist values of society. We understand this as an expression of fear and insecurity about societal change. We believe that these attitudes, instead of helping to change society, also inhibit the life of churches.

We are confident that the Christian message also has to be humanist, as God created human beings according to God’s own image in the biblical creation story (Genesis 1,27), endowing humans with their special dignity. Humanism acknowledges this special dignity.

This humanist Christianity is the oppposite of the forms of Christianity which do not acknowledge the right of human beings to make decisions and to be responsible, which demand blind obedience to the authorities of the Church, and which try to replace democracy in the Church with authoritarianism. We consider it regrettable that one part of the clergy tries to instill this kind of understanding about Christianity into the entire membership of the Church and to destroy the diversity of opinions in the Church. We disapprove of the hate speech spreading in the Church and the justification of it with the Bible.

We want the Church not to look to the past with nostalgia, but to focus on the realities of the present and to look toward the future. We want the Church to be contemporary, democratic, and open; to be welcoming and caring for the individual and to value each human being as a person; to value education and science, taking into consideration the development of theology and thinking; to be ready for dialogue with society, without pretending to be the single authority of truth; and to value spiritual and religious diversity, accepting it within itself and supporting it in society.

We present our vision of the Church in the following theses:

1) We have to recognize the Church as the community of all Christians, based on Jesus Christ, and the Churches as organizations. The Churches as organizations are earthly and human and follow the same patterns as other organizations. We do not accept the claim that the Church as an organization is sacred.

2) The Church as organization is first and foremost the scaffolding for supporting the spiritual growth of its members. The Church justifies itself only as much as it fulfills this mission.

3) The Church as organization must maintain a diversity of opinions and ways of thinking. Each member of the Church has the right and the duty to express publicly his/her opinion about all questions concerning the Church, including its leadership and laws.

4) Although we see the Bible as the revelation, we are confident that the revelation is mediated to us by human language, contemporary culture and worldview. The Bible, as the Church’s doctrines interpret it, has to be seen in historical context. Therefore we do not agree with fundamentalist ahistorical interpretation, which selectively uses certain parts of biblical texts literally. It’s important for us to distinguish the divine and eternal from the earthly and temporal in the Bible.

5) Intellectually honest Christian proclamation presupposes taking into consideration changes in worldviews, thinking and society during the thousands of years of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

6) All people are welcome and equal in the Church, irrespective of their gender, education, social status, physical or mental disability, health condition, sexual orientation or identity, nationality, or ethnic or cultural background,.

We believe the strength of the Church is in our spiritual and religious diversity. We wish this diversity to persist and strengthen. We want to start comprehensive and open discussion about the role and the opportunities of the Church in Estonian society in the 21st century, and we want the discussion to be public.

Click the false sentences in the petition text.

Which passage exactly is hate speech? Click the sentences in the petition text.

Which passage exactly reveals private information? Click the sentences in the petition text.

Which passage exactly is terrorist or extremist content? Click the sentences in the petition text.

Sentences next to each other are joined into one claim. Click a sentence again to remove it.

The Manifest of Humanist Christianity

To the Estonian Ecumenical Council,

To All Churches and Congregations.

The Manifest of Humanist Christianity

Estonian society is characterized by its aspirations toward democracy, opennness, and tolerance. While supporting these aspirations, we are concerned by the developments we can see in several churches, resulting in the increase of authoritarianism, close-mindedness, and intolerance. Christian doctrine is presented as being in conflict with the humanist values of society. We understand this as an expression of fear and insecurity about societal change. We believe that these attitudes, instead of helping to change society, also inhibit the life of churches.

We are confident that the Christian message also has to be humanist, as God created human beings according to God’s own image in the biblical creation story (Genesis 1,27), endowing humans with their special dignity. Humanism acknowledges this special dignity.

This humanist Christianity is the oppposite of the forms of Christianity which do not acknowledge the right of human beings to make decisions and to be responsible, which demand blind obedience to the authorities of the Church, and which try to replace democracy in the Church with authoritarianism. We consider it regrettable that one part of the clergy tries to instill this kind of understanding about Christianity into the entire membership of the Church and to destroy the diversity of opinions in the Church. We disapprove of the hate speech spreading in the Church and the justification of it with the Bible.

We want the Church not to look to the past with nostalgia, but to focus on the realities of the present and to look toward the future. We want the Church to be contemporary, democratic, and open; to be welcoming and caring for the individual and to value each human being as a person; to value education and science, taking into consideration the development of theology and thinking; to be ready for dialogue with society, without pretending to be the single authority of truth; and to value spiritual and religious diversity, accepting it within itself and supporting it in society.

We present our vision of the Church in the following theses:

1) We have to recognize the Church as the community of all Christians, based on Jesus Christ, and the Churches as organizations. The Churches as organizations are earthly and human and follow the same patterns as other organizations. We do not accept the claim that the Church as an organization is sacred.

2) The Church as organization is first and foremost the scaffolding for supporting the spiritual growth of its members. The Church justifies itself only as much as it fulfills this mission.

3) The Church as organization must maintain a diversity of opinions and ways of thinking. Each member of the Church has the right and the duty to express publicly his/her opinion about all questions concerning the Church, including its leadership and laws.

4) Although we see the Bible as the revelation, we are confident that the revelation is mediated to us by human language, contemporary culture and worldview. The Bible, as the Church’s doctrines interpret it, has to be seen in historical context. Therefore we do not agree with fundamentalist ahistorical interpretation, which selectively uses certain parts of biblical texts literally. It’s important for us to distinguish the divine and eternal from the earthly and temporal in the Bible.

5) Intellectually honest Christian proclamation presupposes taking into consideration changes in worldviews, thinking and society during the thousands of years of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

6) All people are welcome and equal in the Church, irrespective of their gender, education, social status, physical or mental disability, health condition, sexual orientation or identity, nationality, or ethnic or cultural background,.

We believe the strength of the Church is in our spiritual and religious diversity. We wish this diversity to persist and strengthen. We want to start comprehensive and open discussion about the role and the opportunities of the Church in Estonian society in the 21st century, and we want the discussion to be public.

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