Church of the Open Question
Where do we start?
Church?!? What?!? Well ... religious organizations in the US enjoy wide freedom and legal protection - so we’re forming one. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. We have a big beautiful physical space, we have good people committed to being good to one another, and we’re trying to build consensus on what that means without relying on superstition or mythology. We want to be inclusive from the start, so we’re asking for input, starting with an old document from 1909 called The 10 Commandments of Socialist Sunday School. We’re using this text as a springboard to develop our own statement of principles. Please read, provide feedback, and feel free to add your own commandments. Thank you!
The 10 Commandments of the Socialist Sunday School Read all 10 at once
- Love your schoolfellows, who will be your fellow workmen in life, and choose from among them your friends.
- Love learning, which is the food of the mind; be as grateful to your teachers as to your parents.
- Make every day holy by the writing of some good verse or the doing of some good deed.
- Honor good men and women, and bow down to none.
- Do not hate or speak evil of anyone; do not be revengeful, but stand up for your rights and resist oppression.
- Do not be cowardly; do not be a bully, but protect the weak and the helpless.
- Remember that all the good things of the earth are produced by labor, and that whoever enjoys them without working for them is stealing the bread of the workers.
- Observe and think in order to discover the truth; do not believe what is contrary to reason, and never deceive yourself or others.
- Do not desire international hatred or war, but look forward to the day when all men will be free citizens of one great commonwealth.
- Look forward to the day when the producers of the earth will enjoy the fruits of their labor and live together in peace, plenty, and happiness.