At a young age I attended a Baptist Church, primarily because that's what my parents professed to be at the time and where they chose to go.
As I got older and began to think for myself, I questioned just about everything. I went from Agnostic to Atheist to Agnostic again and, after years of studying various religions, I eventually settled on creating my own faith, essentially cobbled from the parts of other more traditional religions that I agreed with and my own unique perspective on the universe-at-large.
Some might consider my personal religion vague but I see it as being "open-minded" and awaiting the universal truths to fill in the sketchy areas where I don't have hard answers.
When I discovered the ULC early last year, like many I thought perhaps it wasn't an entirely serious organization, but the more I read the more I found myself agreeing with the ULC's basic tenets. I read somewhere, either from Rev. Hensley himself or another ULC minister, that said something like "Religion is very personal and unique to every individual. Who knows what you believe better than yourself?".
Well, it didn't take rocket science for me to correlate the similarities between that statement and my own unique religion. I don't have to force others to believe as I do, only live my life believing what I wish, listening to the perspectives of others (I don't have all the answers but I'm always searching) and "Doing that which is right." Spirituality for me is about learning.
Could any other organized religion or church offer a more simple and easier-to-live-by doctrine?
If so, I never found them.
And thus I became a ULC minister (as did a couple of my friends who were also impressed that a legal religious order would allow them to believe what they wished and not force any particular set of beliefs or restrictions on them).
The ULC is the only order I know of that allows me to fit in and learn from others who don't necessarily believe what I do, but do believe that everyone should have the freedom to believe what they wish so long as it doesn't harm others.
That "open-door" policy is quite refreshing compared to some places where you might be beheaded for simply asking "Why?" about some facet of religion.
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