The UUSG religious education program strives to give children a place to explore what they believe both spiritually and as residents of this planet. Lessons and conversations in the classroom focus on what other religions and great thinkers believe as well as what the individual child believes. At the core we are trying to help our children become critical thinkers who will ask “what do I believe” instead of taking what they read and hear as fact. Using the UU Seven Principles as guidelines, we work to create meaningful lessons and projects to help each child form their own set of spiritual values.
The Seven Principles are re-stated in children’s language as follows:
- 1st Principle: We believe that each and every person is important.
- 2nd Principle: We believe that all people should be treated fairly and kindly.
- 3rd Principle: We believe that we should accept one another and keep on learning together.
- 4th Principle: We believe that each person must be free to search for what is true and right in life.
- 5th Principle: We believe that all persons should have a vote about the things that concern them.
- 6th Principle: We believe in working for a peaceful, fair, and free world.
- 7th Principle: We believe in caring for our planet Earth, the home we share with all living things.
Children are present for the first few elements of the Sunday service. After the “Story for All Ages” or “Conversation with the Children,” they are ushered to the Fellowship Hall for Religious Education class, which lasts until the final hymn of the service.
Unitarian Universalist Society of Gardner 