a layman's thoughts - Unitarian Universalist can its creed stand?

If this is the creed of the Unitarian Universalist Church, it shows that it can’t stand by its own creedal legs

What do Unitarian Universalists believe?

Beliefs, Creeds and Doctrines

Come return to your place in the pews,
And hear our heretical views:
You were not born in sin
So lift up your chin,
You have only your dogmas to lose.

Leonard Mason, UU Minister

And hear our heretical views: (heretical views have been dangerous to spiritual living)
You were not born in sin (dangerous teaching)

          1. Every individual should be encouraged to develop a personal philosophy of life.

         

2. Everyone is capable of reasoning.

           Discursive reasoning is an important part of our lives; however, man also has a nous or an    
           intuitive or above reasoning faculty that has been proved by saints and mystics. This has been
           talked about since Gautama Buddha, Lao Tzu, Heraclitus and many others.... Like all things,
           the experience of this is first and foremost and secondly is hearing about it from others. And   
           now to the heart or nous moreover ...

C.S. Lewis touches on the heart here somewhat... but I think Clark Carlton nails it...

“We were told it all long ago by Plato. As the king governs by his executive, so Reason in man must rule the mere appetites by means of the 'spirited element'.²⁰ The head rules the belly through the chest—the seat, as Alanus tells us, of Magnanimity,²¹ of emotions organized by trained habit into stable sentiments. The Chest-Magnanimity-Sentiment—these are the indispensable liaison officers between cerebral man and visceral man. It may even be said that it is by this middle element that man is man: for by his intellect he is mere spirit and by his appetite mere animal.”

~ C.S. Lewis.

I must stress at this point that in biblical anthropology the “heart” is not the seat of the emotions. Those are located in the “bowels”. The “heart”, rather, is the psychosomatic center of man. When moderns talk about heart and head, they usually mean the emotions and the intellect. But when the Fathers talk about the separation of the heart from the mind, they mean that the nous has somehow become stuck in the discursive reason, i.e., the brain.

This is why the Fathers talk about the nous descending into the heart. They do not mean that we need to get in touch with our emotions. They mean that our attention needs to be drawn back inward to the core of our being where Christ dwells through the Holy Spirit.

 ~ Clark Carlton

        3. We do not need any other person, official or organization to tell us what to believe.

           Faith without these pillars is and has been dangerous: Scripture and Church Tradition.
           If we read something and do not understand it, it always helps to have elders or Saints
           to go to for instruction. Deep prayer, meditation, study and consulting the living faith
           through its traditions (The Church) is very important. We have seen throughout history when
           we use our own philosophies to understand spiritual things, often, the case is hardship and
           sorrow.

 

        4 . We should be able to present religious opinions openly, without fear of censure or

             reprisal.

 

         5. All people should be tolerant of the religious ideas of others.

          And tolerance must go both ways. Also tolerance need not be

          accompanied with apathy. Some beliefs must never be tolerated.            

     

“The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men”

 
~ Plato

"Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions."
— G.K. Chesterton

6. Truth is not absolute; it changes over time.

Logically speaking, this is a surprising statement and cannot be true. If there is no absolute truth, then everything is relative. Your personal view is just as valid as anybody else’s. Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao and others thrived on exactly this type of thinking. If there is no absolute truth, then these men have no judge because there is no basis to judge them. “Truth is not absolute; it changes over time:” If this statement excludes itself or includes itself, it is a self- decimated proposition to borrow from Ravi Zacharias. If this statement excludes itself, then it is positing an absolute that contradicts absolutes. If it includes itself, then it has just defeated itself because even the statement “Truth is not absolute; it changes over time” means that even this statement will change over time. So this statement is decimated; it cannot be true. To say that people have “life, liberty and justice” or “freedom” would not be true either because it too is impermanent and will change over time.

           7. Everyone should continue to search for the truth.

Truth is good but again “what is truth” as Pontius Pilate once exclaimed? If it is the statement above, that "truth changes"then we know we have to look elsewhere. How can we search for truth if it is not absolute and changes over time? That is like trying to hit a target that moves each time you shoot.

          8. Everyone has an equal claim to life, liberty and justice.

 

9. People should govern themselves by democratic processes.

Agreed with the democratic process. However, even this has its problems for it is from democracy that tyranny can arise... and furthermore man as the ever present danger of group-think or ad populum. Democracy is not infallible as it is based on the foundation of fallen human nature.

“Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses.”

― Plato

          10. Ideas should be open to criticism.

          11. Good works are the natural product of a good faith.

   In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and with the prayers of Saint Peter, the intercession prayers of St. Demetrios and blessed Elder Paisios of the Mount Athos. May we all be changed by the divine love of Jesus Christ to a good account before the awesome judgement seat of Christ unto life everlasting. Glory to God.