My Unitarian Universalist Church, Emerson UUC, is a welcoming community, embracing all faiths and belief systems--Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist.

Yes, Atheism is counted as a belief system. Atheists are as much believers as are the proponents of a particular brand of god doctrines, only theirs is a non-god doctrine. They, too, believe they know the answer: there is no god. That is as much a statement of faith as: I believe in one god, maker of heaven and earth....

My Unitarian community has the tolerance and respect to accept me, too, even though I don't fit into any "believer" category. I am an agnostic. I don't know. I don't know what it is I don't know. I don't even know the right questions to ask. I don't know if it is even possible to have an answer.

All I can do is live the best life I can, by priniciples I accept as valid, the first of which is to affirm and promote the worth and dignity of every sentient being (including intelligent aliens, elephants, dolphins? Who knows?).

I do what I can to live a good life; if I do meet my Maker after I die, He will be the judge. If I am reincarnated into another body, then it will be because I still have lessons to learn before being released from the Wheel. If there is nothing after I die, then I will have lived the best life I could, with the hope I left it better than when I came into it.

Which, I guess, is an act of faith, too.