THE CREED OF A LIBERAL

We believe in man, in his slow, ascendant progress, in the autonomy of his spirit and in the primacy of his claims over the claims of all forms of human organisation.

We believe in freedom – the fullest measure of freedom compatible with the fullest measure of responsibility.

We believe in authority – but only in authority sanctioned by reason and consent.

We believe that the only tools of social progress are education, experimentation and cooperation.

We believe that to be well governed is not as important as to be self-governed. Hence, we reject all manner of millenniums proffered to us at the spearpoint of dictatorship.

We believe that all truth is made manifest through the contact and clash of diverse opinions and that the very motive power of progress is the free exchange of ideas and the exercised privilege of non-conformity.

We believe in tolerance but not in indifference, in enthusiasm but not in fanaticism, in independence but not in isolation, in conflict but not in hate.

(Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, 1893 – 1963)

John Lentell

November 11th, 1968