ARTICLE XVII.
RELIGIOUS DUTY

§ 66. Unitarians believe that the love of God is made manifest toward us in that we can be raised up from among the creatures and blessed with spiritual gifts, so that we truly can be God’s children and collaborators in building on earth the kingdom of heaven (Eph. 2:19-22; Matt. 28:19-20; 24:14). The kingdom is an ideal environment in which God’s will is done by all persons (Matt. 6:10).

§ 67. Unitarians believe that the whole duty of humankind consists in doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God (Micah 6:8); in loving God with one’s heart, mind, and soul, and one's neighbor as one's self (Matt. 22:37-39; 1 John 4:21). They believe that the essence of religion is goodness, that ‘the pure in heart see God,’ that whoever hears Christ's sayings and does them has built his or her house upon a rock (Matt. 7:24). They believe that if we have an earnest desire to lead a good life, we may trust in the promise that “he who hungers and thirsts after righteousness shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6) and that if we are ready, when we fail, to repent, confess, and forsake our sin, “God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

§ 68. We believe that the really good person is on the way to salvation, whatever may be that person’s outward form of religion. Mere surface morality, not rooted in principle, we do not call goodness. But whoever seeks to do the will of God and to be faithful and just to other creatures of God, whether they be Christian or not, we believe will be accepted by God, the Creator of all (Acts 10:34-35; Matt. 25:34-41; Rom. 2:14-16).

§ 69. Unitarians regard goodness as the end, and religious acts as the means and helps to that end. Inward goodness of the heart expressed by outward goodness in life is primary and essential. Religion is for the sake of goodness and belongs, not only to the church and to Sunday, but to every place and to all times. It must go with us to our home, to our place of work, to our amusements, and be the help and strength of every day. Religion is given to make all of life sacred, to sanctify business, politics, pleasure, work, and all our interaction with each other.