I have been fortunate to have lived all of my life in and around New York City. By living here, I have been exposed to a wide variety of religious traditions. I have been constantly impressed by the common threads which bind them. Parents of all religious traditions love and raise their children to the the best of their abilities, no matter what religion or Church they call home. Additionally, Judaism, Christianity and Islam all recognize Moses as a Prophet of God. Most of the similarities among religious traditions are positive, and the result of centuries of development.
One less positive similarity among Churches is the uniformly slow pace of change. Unfortunately, the senior leadership of many religions has been slow to adapt to the rapidly changing circumstances in our modern world. Frustration with this slow pace of change is the primary reason for forming the Universal Family Church.
The four central tenets of our Church are all based on areas where many existing Churches have been slow to modernize. The first two tenets are based on Exodus 20:12 (the 5th Commandment, "Honor thy Fathers and Mothers...") and the third and fourth tenet are based on Matthew 25:40 ("...Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.").
The first tenet: we believe the 5th Commandment makes clear that women and men are created equal.
More than 3000 years ago, God clearly gave Fathers and Mothers equal billing when He gave His laws to Moses. This gender equality lesson was lost for thousands of years in many places on Earth.
The second tenet: we believe that by the 5th Commandment God intends decisions made by Fathers and Mothers for their children to be honored by all of society.
God instructed Moses to deliver His laws to all of the people. The Universal Family Church believes that God intends parents to be the ultimate authority when it comes to making health decisions for their children.
We also believe God intends individuals to be the ultimate authority when making health decisions for themselves (1st Corinthians19).
The third and fourth tenet both involve who is eligible for eternal salvation. We believe that Matthew 25:40 makes all people eligible for eternal salvation, regardless of matters like race, creed, gender or sexual orientation (3rd tenet) or which faith they practice (4th tenet).
To borrow a principle from the Society for Ethical Culture (Dr. Albert Einstein was a member), we believe God will judge people based on their "deeds before creeds". We believe that people have a duty and obligation to follow the path to salvation that their religion lays out for them - but that God is the sole and final judge for where someone's soul will spend eternity.
The idea of belonging to two churches may seem foreign at first, but it's been done before. The Society for Ethical Culture, founded in 1876, is a recognized religion which has accepted members from a variety of faiths for 134 years.
Thank you for visiting our site. We hope that you will continue to explore further to see what Universal Family Church has to offer to your family. We hope you find enough common ground to join our Church and support our mission.
We strongly support freedom of religion for all, we fully respect your right to practice your religion, and we thank you for reading this message.
Best wishes,
Kevin Barry
Founder
Universal Family Church
Donate Online Now!
