Fifth Principle - The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.

1. The wording of this principle reflects two key dimensions in modern conceptions of democracy, both of which affect us as individuals and as a congregation, as well as in our role of citizenship.

a. Individualism
(1) Democracy is a system that protects the individual=s right to make choices and to pursue her/his talents and interests wherever they lead. The key individual right is to be Aleft alone.@ The Aright of conscience@ focuses on the right of each individual to act according to his own conscience, regardless of whether others agree.
(2) In the classical liberal view, government is necessary only to protect the rights of individuals

• Majority rule is a way to insure the consent of the governed.
• Collective power has to be tempered with protection of individual rights even from the actions of the majority.

(3) Government has a limited role to play in the lives of individuals. This fits with Afree market@ ideology of capitalism, in which government stays at arms length from the process of production.

• This runs into a contradiction when the actions of the market drastically limit the quality of people=s lives, as when workers with few real choices are exploited.
• It also encourages the adoption of a Acitizen as consumer@ view of politics - our role is to choose between pre-determined candidates and issues that are marketed to us.
• Modern economic theory creates a distrust of any collective choices and tries to reduce societal choices to a series of individual choices.

b. Community

(1) Democracy is a system in which citizens come together to make collective decisions that affect their lives. This can be in formal governmental institutions or in informal, Acivil society.
(2) The key individual right is one of participation, or representation, not the right to be left alone. This view stresses participation as a sacred obligation of individuals, not just something they do when particular, individual interests are threatened.
(3) One view of participation says that individuals come into the collective decision-making process with relatively fixed preferences for certain outcomes. The actual outcome is a compromise between these preferences that fully satisfies no one.
(4) Another view of participation says that individuals can deliberate together and come up with an alternative that is truly satisfying to all, or most participants. This Adeliberative democracy@ model involves the willingness of the participants to change and grow during the process of deliberation.

2. How do these two dimensions affect us as a congregation?

a. Do members view the congregation from a perspective of limited liability? That is, they come as long as the congregation meets their needs and if it doesn’t, then they leave.
b. Alternatively, do members view the congregation as a community in which they can actively participate to meet their needs and those of others?
c. At what point does an individual's Aright of conscience@ compel him or her to separate from the community when collective decisions offend her/his basic values.