A Spiritual Bill Of Rights

1. Connect with the Creator in our own way.

2. Affirm our inherent goodness.

3. Freedom from fear of divine punishment.

4. Our own search for truth.

5. Freedom from religious obligations.

6. All spiritual leadership roles regardless of identity.

7. Choose our own life partners.

There is nothing more life-giving for individuals than to discover and then build a direct relationship with their Creator. This fundamental connection has been threatened in these critical times. All of the spiritual rights identified herein are a direct corollary to the Creator’s gift of individual free will — the spiritual birthright of every human. The purpose of this document is to declare unequivocally that our spiritual rights have been endowed by the Creator. These precious rights should not be violated by any person or institution.

1. The right of individuals to connect directly with the Creator in their own unique way is fundamental to human spirituality and should be protected, honored and nourished.

No religious or spiritual institution, ideological or philosophical group, or individual representing any institution or group, or any individual acting alone should presume to act as an intermediary between persons and their Creator. Each of our relationships with the Creator is unique, primary, and sovereign in all matters relating to the spiritual life. 

The Creator-human relationship is the living source of spiritual growth. Although many experience this relationship in the context of religion, it is completely independent of any faith tradition or belief system. It is our human birthright and can be experienced by anyone whether or not they follow a particular spiritual path. Because of its unique and intimate nature, this connection must never be abrogated by those who would insert themselves between persons and God. Religions do best when they serve people in their search for the Creator by taking a supportive role in the sacred relationship between individuals and their Creator. Religious leaders appropriately serve humanity by leading group worship, teaching spiritual concepts and facilitating the sharing of spiritual insights; their role should be considered ancillary to the Creator-human relationship.

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   Individuals have a right to affirm their inherent goodness as beloved children of the Creator.

This basic right has been affirmed by all wisdom teachers. Humanity is not inherently sinful and unworthy of the Creator’s love. Such teachings prevent humanity from reaching its full potential. They do not reflect the Creator’s infinite love, parental devotion and spiritual empowerment toward humanity. Rather, each of us are created in goodness and beauty as precious seeds of great promise. Religious, philosophical, and ideological systems cooperate with God’s high purpose for us when they foster self-respect, thereby unleashing full human potential to solve our serious problems. The human spirit, when awakened and enlivened by a direct relationship with the Creator, naturally yields abundant fruits of loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, forgiving tolerance, and enduring peace.

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   Individuals have a right to freedom from fear, especially fear of divine punishment.

The primitive concept of eternal torment, or hell, as well as other concepts of divine chastisement and retribution are demonstrably false. These teachings have long been a source of distress and an obstacle to spiritual growth for innumerable people. They stand in stark contrast to the Creator’s all-loving nature, who never uses fear to control us. In God, we have the personification of our ultimate ideals — the perfect parent, teacher, friend; to portray our Creator as a punisher is simply untrue. No one has anything to fear from God. Rather than accepting this long-held belief, enlightened spiritual people uplift us all by holding enlightened concepts of the Creator.

The fact of the Creator’s love coexisting with the Creator’s justice presents a paradox; in our confusion we may feel that divine punishment is a reasonable solution to mortal imperfection. But our limited vision cannot be compared to the far-seeing eye of an infinite Creator who knows the motives of every human soul and who would not lose one child. Love and mercy are the true attitudes of the Creator. The action of any individual, even the most grievous, is always met with infinite divine patience and understanding.

While it is true that free will choice makes it possible to reject a relationship with the Creator, the theory of an eternity of torture is a human fiction born from an immature desire to punish others.

The final decision to live in relationship with the Creator or not rests with each person. If there is repeated and final rejection of this life-giving partnership, the Creator respects that person’s sovereign free-will decision and withdraws. Since the Creator is the source of all spiritual and material life, we may instead conjecture a cessation of existence for those wholly rejecting the Creator.

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   Individuals have the right to embark on their own search for truth.

Since every human is endowed with a unique identity from the Creator, spiritual insights and experiences will vary from person to person. The most sublime of human adventures is that of discovering the Creator for oneself. The diversity of spiritual viewpoints in the human family is a great strength that points to the beauty of the Creator, but in no way dilutes the truth of humanity’s unity as children of the Creator. Religions and spiritual groups should not interfere with any individual’s sincere efforts to comprehend and experience truth. On the contrary, they can inspire spiritual growth by encouraging people to discover for themselves the truths about the Creator and their great purpose and destiny as children of the Creator.

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   Individuals have the right to freedom from religious obligations.

Participation in religious activities must be strictly voluntary. Religions become authoritarian when they dictate the beliefs and behaviors of people. Since the Creator’s primary attribute is unconditional love, all people are given the divine gift of free will. The Creator does not then revoke this gift by imposing obligations on individuals.

When religions presume to claim divine penalties for not fulfilling religion-mandated obligations, it violates the spiritual liberty of followers and often results in shame and guilt.

It must be stated that while the many religious traditions and rituals do succeed at demonstrating spiritual truth, they are nevertheless human concepts, symbols and activities that are not replete with eternal truths in and of themselves. At worst, they become empty recitals from primitive eras, not worthy of the hard-won wisdom and spiritual progress of humanity in this dawning era of light. The outdated spiritual concepts found in some religious traditions stand in need of updating with new truths revealed through the personal experience of followers. But even updated forms are not a substitute for the Creator-human relationship.

Notwithstanding new practices, believers must never have their traditions taken away if they find them to be spiritually nourishing. Rather, the process of developing a personal relationship with the Creator can be prioritized for followers who may downplay this important connection because of their attachment to religious practices. When these followers discover a personal relationship with their Creator, it will result in a tremendous collective spiritual illumination that will gather many under the twin unifying concepts of the divine Creator Parent and the family of humanity.

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   Individuals have the right to access all spiritual leadership roles.

We honor the beauty and diversity of the Creator when we invite all people into spiritual leadership, whether by gender, race, ethnicity, orientation, or other identity, thereby including their precious gifts to uplift humanity. It significantly strengthens humanity whenever we do so. When people from all groups are empowered to answer the call to spiritual leadership, the Creator will be truly represented.

The exclusion of women from spiritual leadership, as entrenched in religions throughout the centuries, has been a great loss for humanity. Their harmonizing influence is needed at all levels of religion to inspire new spiritual perspectives and help prevent tragic abuses.

Human attitudes of superiority and servility cannot reflect the Creator’s love toward all. The gifts of all people, when wholly embraced, will allow humanity’s full potential to emerge and heal our world. A fertile environment of equality is the spiritual salve that beckons us into a new era of light and life.

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   Individuals have the right to choose their own life partners.

Along with our personal relationship with the Creator, loving and loyal human partnerships are the most beautiful testaments to love. As loving partners commit to each other’s well-being, face life’s challenges, and share physical, emotional, and spiritual intimacy, they create a nurturing foundation for the growth of their souls. Unselfish and spiritually fragrant human partnerships form the basis for strong societies and should be supported by religious and spiritual groups who love the Creator.

by Theresa Marks — Spiritual Bill of Rights

PART TWO IS CURRENTLY BEING REVISED!

Proclaim Liberty to Spiritual Captives!

That is the urgent message of this new bill of rights for our time that can liberate humanity from a long and heavy bondage of spirit. Readers who resonate deeply with this message should take care not to enshrine and crystallize it, but to act upon it and
spread these living concepts to help unchain all our human family.

Fear, liberty and spiritual freedom

The essence of bondage is fear and worthlessness. No human person can grow when living in an environment permeated by fear. Fear is antithetical to spiritual growth and to the unconditional love of the Creator. It is the ultimate isolator and separator. But the essence of true liberty is first and foremost liberty from fear–fear of judgment, punishment, rejection, abandonment, hopelessness and meaninglessness, whether that fear be of other people or the Creator.

Liberation from existential fear is a powerful antidote to the current worldwide spiritual crisis. When people are freed from fear, they will discover their own unique connection to the Creator in their own way. Then the nobility of the true Creator-connected human spirit can come shining forth to seek out the highest values, meanings and human potential. This will create a force like no other to uplift humanity.

The spiritual life should be free, fluid and creative; not controlled, domineered or put in a box. Spiritual freedom leads to spiritual inspiration which leads to joy in sharing that inspiration and ultimately to loving service of others. A free spiritual life is the master key that opens not only direct connection to the Creator, but flows that living, healing connection to others.

Healing the wounded human spirit

Jesus of Nazareth and many other spiritual luminaries throughout history fearlessly proclaimed over and over again true liberty for spiritual captives. Jesus himself died not because a supposed angry Creator demanded the blood sacrifice of an innocent victim for human offenses, but to free all peoples from authoritarian religions who refuse to lay down their power over many who are bludgeoned by tradition and spiritually enslaved.

When today’s spiritual slaves are freed, they will be able to tap into the very source of healing, wisdom and power – our Creator. Then will individuals band together to create real and lasting solutions to the world’s problems. Secular solutions can only be temporarily effective because the source of all worldly strife–the wounded human spirit itself–will still be just as wounded and gasping for love, acceptance and healing. But uplifted through a living relationship with the Creator, the human spirit is indomitable and will swiftly act to bring the light of love to all problems, all peoples, all creatures and our entire planet home.

True human potential is vast but has been languishing for millennia under the pernicious lie of its supposed inborn evil rather than thriving in the truth of its innate goodness. The truth is that each of us are like seeds of pure potential that will grow, blossom and bear inestimable fruit under the right spiritual conditions. This statement of rights outlines essential principles to revivify planetary spiritual potency and fertilize the soil of humanity’s soul.

Rooting out toxic spiritual concepts

Detangling and destroying the deceitful tangle of toxic spiritual concepts that has wrapped its venomous tentacles around the collective mind of humanity for millennia will of necessity be laborious. The most notable of these include the notorious triunity of divine eternal punishment, sinful human nature and blood sacrifice demanded by a vengeance-thirsty Creator, also known as atonement.

Important distinctions should be made in this worldwide healing process to protect innocent souls that are no more conscious of these threats to spiritual well-being than are developing babes in a mother’s womb. The unwitting vast majority of people, both inside and outside of religion, all the way up to top institutional levels, have been slowly poisoned with the same spoiled spiritual food generation after generation.

The heartbreaking fact of humanity’s spiritual journey is that these toxic concepts, along with many carefully preserved light-containing truths, have been marinating in the sour soup of the world’s religious consciousness for ages and have tragically and actually become the “sacred truths” that much religion is based upon!

The planetary-wide endeavor of extricating truth from error will require great delicacy and boldness. Three critical guideposts should be followed in this process:

• People are always to be treated with love and compassion while gently being guided out of error
• Religions society’s megalithic ships, must be steered with care and patience.
• Toxic concepts should be persistently rooted out, taking care not to harm people or needlessly destabilize institutions.

Steering the ships of religions to safety

Although this operation of extracting toxic concepts from world religions has been underway for some time, progress is limited. Many titanic religious institutions were unmoored for better or worse by huge societal changes decades ago and are tossing aimlessly in the polluted harbors of toxic concepts. A brave few souls have led and continue to lead the mutiny against these deceptions but have been consistently quashed by the largely ignorant captains of religion. What is desperately needed now is an organized crew of courageous mariners willing to brave the repression, callous ecclesiasticism and mental, spiritual and sexual abuse that have long festered in these otherwise noble-intentioned ships and steer them to safety in the calm waters of spiritual truth.

Because they have fallen victim to toxic concepts, some religions have lost much of their ability to spiritually nourish and empower their followers. They have become more like sprawling shantytowns for starving truthseekers dotted along a secular landscape poisoned by materialism and atheism, instead of fulfilling their true potential as living communities of truth that vitalize and inspire spiritual travelers. The long process of their rehabilitation is indeed beyond the scope of this document. However, consideration of the following key issues–false religious superiority, harmful evangelization tactics, religions’ obsession with the past and the role of religions in worldwide spiritual renewal – may prove to be a helpful beginning to this process.

False religious superiority

The false notions that any religion is superior to others and that any religious group are the chosen people have been the cause of endless violence over the centuries. While most religious wars have thankfully de-escalated into theological battles, some are tragically still waging. The concept of the “one true religion” remains one of the chief obstacles to spiritual unity and casts a heavy shadow on newly formed bonds in the interfaith movement and organizations such as the Parliament of World Religions.

The new openness to spiritual perspectives in many world traditions is a reason for much hope as humanity’s spiritual evolution progresses. Independent spiritual people who are “multilingual” in various religious traditions will be particularly valuable in the larger process of bridging understanding between traditions, volumizing the spiritual concepts found in each and voicing unifying perspectives that uplift all traditions. Here again, it bears repeating that all superior and inferior attitudes are damaging to this delicate process.

Just as the world’s religions are being exposed to new perspectives from other traditions, so should the followers within each religion be encouraged to have friendly round-table discussions sharing their unique perspectives of personal faith. This collaborative approach contrasts to traditional top-down methods where only the ordained are allowed to teach. Open sharing is key to building fresh perspectives and allowing more robust spiritual fruits to blossom from the grass-roots up.

The Creator forever stands at the head of all religions, past, present and future; not mere human ministers whose inflated historical roles have exerted absurd claims of divine favor and infallibility, which like the divine right of monarchs, should be buried as relics of the past. As the great icebergs of authoritarian religion begin their slow melt, their ecclesiastical leaders also need to be deftly educated and inspired by enlightened agents from within to freely surrender their attachment to religious sovereignty in favor of affirming the one true spiritual sovereign, our divine Creator.

Evangelization by invitation, not by threat

There will always be multitudinous spiritual approaches that reflect the diversity and beauty of the Creator. But evangelization into any tradition, old or new, is a reciprocal process requiring open invitation and voluntary acceptance. Teachings become very harmful to sensitive souls if they are falsely couched as a compulsory threat. Such threats become even more traumatizing when they are wrongfully attached to false claims of divine punishment and lobbed at followers or the proselytized.

All strong-arm methods of evangelization, especially when they include false claims of a sinful human nature or divine punishment, should be wholly repudiated by religious leaders and lay people alike. When religions oppress people inside or outside of their walls, they directly oppose the loving nature of the Creator which gives good cause for them to be theologically, philosophically and ideologically restrained from doing even more harm.

Irrespective of the evangelization tactics inherent in some authoritarian religions, this spiritual bill of rights is meant to protect the freedoms of all individuals, including both those who feel compelled to evangelize and those who decline to be evangelized.

Religions serve humanity best when they point the way forward

In order to effectively serve their followers, religions need to look back as well as forward. But many of them have become so obsessed with the past that they have completely forgotten–or maybe they never understood to begin with–that spiritual wisdom is meant to evolve. Sacred stories from ages past, while they may also contain spiritual lessons for present-day followers, were specifically meant to teach past generations who may have been only able to comprehend archaic concepts. Ancient stories are not meant to be the only tools to teach modern generations.

Humanity’s depth and breadth in understanding the universe and the inner landscape of the human person has increased immeasurably over the centuries with scientific, intellectual and philosophical progress. Religions can choose to come along with this process and do their part to boost human evolution by allowing mythical stories from the past to be seen through a mature metaphoric lens and by encouraging inspired new stories and perspectives from human sources.

Many of the sacred texts of old, although bestowed by divine inspiration that comes through the Creator-human relationship, were nevertheless written through the lens of human minds. Present-day inspired human wisdom could do so much good if it was taken seriously by religions! Regardless of where spiritual truth emerges, it is a sad oversight to disregard it just because it comes from human minds.

Worship services and rituals as well could benefit greatly from fresh creative ideas and symbolism. Religions as a whole tend toward overly-reverential and uptight styles that desperately need a breath of fresh air. If each succeeding generation were invited to create and adapt religious languages and customs that speak to them, it could inspire a new joyful connection to the Creator and to each other, rather than clinging to centuries-old approaches. This is never to say that past forms of worship, particularly those reflecting the beauty of music and the arts, should not be preserved and practiced by those who wish to practice them. But, as mentioned earlier, these old forms of worship become not only cumbersome but oppressive when they are foisted on followers.

Conversely, some modern churches are embracing a laudable updated and technology-friendly approach to worship, including energetic music and dynamic preaching meant specifically to appeal to youth. Yet sadly, underneath their best efforts at spiritual renewal, their doctrines remain as replete with toxic concepts as ever, which continues to hinder the spiritual growth and potential of coming generations.

Religions will begin to flourish when they balance the past with the present by cherishing the golden threads of truth from the past while weaving new spiritual fabric to clothe each succeeding generation in increasingly light-filled spiritual truths.

Role of religions in global spiritual renewal

Despite their flaws, religious institutions are tasked with playing a major role in global spiritual renewal. They have and continue to be a major force for good in the world, notwithstanding the authoritarian nature of many. Their real spiritual sustenance makes a positive difference for a huge swath of humanity. But as mentioned previously, the toxic concepts stubbornly lodged within their layers of man-made theological, philosophical and ritualistic structures have been wreaking havoc on the development of human potential.

Rooting out these concepts will require careful effort because the sudden wresting of pious people from their long-cherished beliefs without gradually introducing them to new and better concepts could be destabilizing to society. Therefore, the process of uplifting these followers who are braced by the scaffolding of authoritarian religions necessitates a wise and patient approach that concomitantly preserves and expands on the truths that they already have. Most importantly, the spiritual liberties of these beloved children of the Creator who take their spiritual nourishment from authoritarian religions must never be abrogated.

As global spiritual renewal grows, many enlightened people inside and outside of religion will find exciting new avenues of service in supporting the frequently under-served followers of ailing authoritarian religions as they discover their true connection to the Creator.

Breaking down all barriers to spiritual freedom is necessary

Worldwide spiritual renewal for all religions and all peoples is the only lasting solution to the heart-rending problems of humanity. It has always been so throughout the ages and is even truer now in our rapidly-paced technological age. Humanity has held the power to destroy all life on the planet for decades and desperately needs the wisdom to turn away from its continuing barbaric choices. As stated, this critical renewal cannot take place without first breaking down the walls of fear, feelings of worthlessness, authoritarian forces both inside and outside of religion and all other barriers to free spiritual expression.

Many spiritual dangers to this generation

Spiritual leaders everywhere that have eyes to see this emergency must sound the alarm. Yes, progress is being made on all fronts. Yet no other generation has been threatened by so many spiritual dangers as the present one–rampant materialism, feelings of worthlessness, utter lack of noble purpose and atheism, which some are tragically driven to after being traumatized by authoritarian religion. All of these perils, coupled with centuries of suppressing our Creator-bestowed spiritual freedoms have pushed many to the brink of meaninglessness and are crippling our human potential.

Spiritual freedom brings spiritual unity

Freedom of spiritual expression for all, although it may initially conjure images of philosophical and religious chaos, will actually catalyze a coherent force that can lead humanity out of the countless impediments to spiritual unity–including sectarian strife and never-ending childish battles over who has the “one true religion.” These and many other barriers to unity will be progressively expunged from worldwide consciousness when liberty is proclaimed and all are free to discover and develop their primary human-Creator relationship. Then all of humanity can begin to advance as a living organism, empowered directly by the Creator, toward the threshold of a powerful spiritual renaissance.

The essence of this new spiritual unity will not be uniformity where people are pressured to espouse formula creeds and practices that may undermine their freedom. Humanity’s true unity is to be found in our deeply held values, meanings and goals, as well as our shared supernal destiny. But the greatest unifying truth of all is that we are one human family infinitely loved by our divine Creator Parent.

The Religion of Personal Experience

The mass discovery of the human-Creator relationship by a great number of people can bring about a new spiritual way of life based solely on the unique life experience of each person. The “Religion of Personal Experience” (ROPE) naturally embraces the twin concepts of the divine Creator Parent and the family of humanity while also being able to coexist in friendliness with any religion that affirms this spiritual bill of rights. In fact, the beauty of the ROPE is its diversity and flexibility in being able to try on many spiritual perspectives without losing its unifying relationship with the Creator and the human family.

When done voluntarily, the addition of religious beliefs and practices to the ROPE can enhance a person’s spiritual development. Beliefs and practices can vary widely as a person's ROPE progresses. The ROPE is the perfect vehicle for individual spiritual expression and will become the choice of more and more people as the world slowly moves away from traditional religions. Its influence is already visible in the burgeoning numbers of people identifying as “spiritual but not religious” or “nones” and it will undoubtedly spread with the rising tides of global spiritual renewal.

The time is now!

The time is now and the harvest is ripe for spiritual leaders from every tradition to urgently heed this call and resoundingly affirm the fundamental sacred rights of this new declaration of spiritual independence, this emancipation proclamation of the spirit, and ring the truth bells of liberty for the suffering masses who are straining mightily to break free from their spiritual shackles. Then, and only then, will people everywhere be lifted up to fulfill their shining potential and lead our suffering world into the dawning age of light and life!

by Theresa Marks — Spiritual Bill of Rights