Religious Education for Children
The goal of our religious education program is to teach our shared values to the next generation. These values, which are best expressed in our seven principles, are at the center of our religious education program. Families usually come to Unitarian Universalism after a thoughtful search for a program for their children. We are excited to share our approach to religious education with you.
We teach our children about all of the great faiths of the world, about social justice, the wonder of the natural world, and ethical decision making. We believe in educating them on how to face the dilemmas and choices of their everyday lives using our values as a guideline.
The search for truth and meaning is a lifelong endeavor and begins when the child is very young. We encourage our children in their search for truth with curriculum that is age appropriate and helps them to mature spiritually, intellectually, and ethically.
Our children learn about their UU heritage, learn to celebrate their differences and similarities, and learn about their responsibility to their world and to the people in it. The curricula and materials used have been prepared professionally and are published by the Unitarian Universalist Association. Teachers also use additional resource material to enrich the program.
Our Religious Education program begins with pre-school and continues on through high school. We currently have around 60 children enrolled. The program begins in September and continues through June. In addition to childcare, we offer two summer programs—one for elementary age children, and a second program for youth in middle and high school.
-William Ellery Channing
The great end in religious instruction is not to stamp our minds upon the young, but to stir up their own;
Not to make them see with our eyes, but to look inquiringly and steadily with their own;
Not to give them a definite amount of knowledge, but to inspire a fervent love of truth;
Not to form an outward regularity, but to touch inward springs;
Not to bind them by ineradicable prejudices to our particular sect or peculiar notions, but to prepare them for impartial, conscientious judging of whatever subjects may be offered to their decision.
Not to burden the memory, but to quicken and strengthen the power of thought;
Not to impose religion upon them in the form of arbitrary rules, but to awaken the conscience, the moral discernment.
In a word, the great end is to awaken the soul, to excite and cherish the spiritual life.
