What are we about?
Re:faith is a different kind of faith community. It isn’t descended from any other religious tradition, but it is applicable to many. We value self-re:flection to better focus on others. We aspire to re:spect the personhood and dignity of everyone. We re:vere the divinity in all of creation and seek to re:store accountability for stewardship of natural resources. We re:ject book-banning and other forms of censorship that make children of the Creator feel erased. We welcome all who aspire to our ideals. Period.
To do this, we must re:store trust in people of faith, showing ourselves to be loving, compassionate, and generous neighbors instead of miserly sin-accountants who insist that our religious freedom depends on inflicting our ideals on others.
We welcome all, re:kindling re:lationships and re:conciling with those who are outcasts. We seek to treat each in ways that make them feel re:spected and seen. This isn’t “tolerance”—faux-gracious willingness to put up with people who are different. It means learning and valuing differences, re:veling in the richness that new wisdom brings us. It means admitting that we can be better and committing to doing it.
Go in peace; serve the Lord. Let’s go.
What aren’t we about?
We aren’t a denomination of anything. You may find references to Christian texts, because that is the “native faith language” of some of our founders. We will flourish with diverse influences as we continue to learn and grow… because the values that Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Abraham, and others taught are not exclusive to their traditions. We hold multiple texts to be holy.
We aren’t refugees from other faiths. Re:faith is compatible with other faiths and doesn’t require allegiance to our church or renouncing membership in other religious groups. That is, you can be a faith “dual-citizen” with no conflict.
We aren’t about keeping score… trying to decide who’s getting to the “good” afterlife. No church is in charge of that. In fact, the only thing we control is our response to the world around us. We aspire to craft our responses to show care and compassion to those around us.
We aren’t a political organization. This church will never tell its members (or anyone) how they should vote—not for or against a person, nor for or against a ballot issue. We care very much about how people are affected by these decisions, so we reserve the right to be very outspoken about the people affected by these decisions and how their lives are impacted. We give them voice. Please join in our efforts.
We aren’t a literary society. We leave that to GoodReads and similar services. However, access to information is a fundamental right in our society. It feeds our soul and gives us the means for bettering our circumstances. Free access to information also allows us to form a worldview that is not curated by some ruling class.
We aren’t okay with book banning and other forms of censorship. Banning books exerts power over others under the guise of protecting them. It also grievously burdens our right to freely practice our faith; the sacred texts of Re:faith are disproportionately challenged or banned, marginalizing a great many. To bring attention to this, we share banned literature with the world through our Banned Book Quote of the Day, both on our site and using our social media presence. Please help by re-posting these important messages!