John Knox

Excerpt from the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XXII, written by John Knox: For the full text, see

“God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to his Word, or beside it in matters of faith on worship. So that to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commandments out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience; and the requiring an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also.” John Knox

For modern readers, here is a restatement of that quotation by Samuel Zedek:

“The universal cosmic consciousness, the ground of all being, is the foundation for a personal enlightenment which has been freed of influence from both worldly thinking and any theology that is not compliant with that Divine consciousness. So, complying with worldly thinking, doctrines, and rituals from outside oneself leads to an alienation of a person’s connection to what is holy. Complying with dogma and imposed theological doctrines and rituals impairs or even precludes a personal connection to divinity. Unthinking obedience to established worldly theologies becomes the ultimate act of heresy.”

Thus, for example, Presbyterianism is an established religious congregation that frees individuals from the prison of dogma. Therefore, the name of the first church established in Being Ethical communities is the Presbyterian Congregation of Scotland.