Generally, UUs don’t impose religious training upon their children, preferring to let them make up their own minds when they come of age.\u00a0UU youth are introduced to many religious traditions, challenged to formulate their own beliefs, and encouraged to respect the beliefs of others.\u00a0UUs, young and old, are encouraged to look for wisdom beyond what\u2019s immediately available, to the wider world around them.<\/p>\n
This approach is illustrated in a story about a group of seekers from different backgrounds who argued about God, the afterlife, and many other religious questions.\u00a0Each had different answers. “I’m right and you’re wrong,” said one. “No, you’re wrong and I’m right,” the others replied.<\/p>\n
To resolve their disputes, they asked a respected elder to tell them whose answers were correct.\u00a0 Instead, he told them this story:<\/p>\n
A sage once faced a similar request from adherents to six different religions.\u00a0 He answered by blindfolding them and taking them out to an elephant pen.\u00a0He asked each to touch an elephant, then describe it to him. He put one at the elephant’s head; another touched its ears, and others touched its tusks, trunk, side, legs, and tail.<\/p>\n
The one who touched the head said, “Oh my, this animal is like a large waterpot.\u201d\u00a0“No,” countered the ear-toucher, “that’s wrong;\u00a0it’s like a flat basket.”<\/p>\n
The others insisted\u00a0upon insights drawn from their own limited experience.\u00a0 The tusk-toucher said the animal is \u201cLike the sharp end of a plow.\u201d \u00a0The trunk-toucher replied, \u201cWhat? It\u2019s like a\u00a0giant snake.\u201d \u00a0The side-toucher Insisted that \u201cIt\u2019s like\u00a0big crib full of wheat.\u201d \u00a0The leg-toucher said, \u201cAbsurd, it\u2019s four pillars.\u201d And the tail-toucher added \u201cNonsense, it\u2019s like a thin rope.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sage then told the seekers quarreling over the nature of God and the afterlife, “We’re like them–we can’t be sure of what we can’t see. We can’t see God or know what happens after we die. We’re all partially right in our answers, yet none of us is fully right.\u00a0 Let’s not quarrel over what we can’t be sure of.\u00a0 Let’s be humble about what we believe and learn what we can from each other.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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