Editing Unitarian Universalism (section)

===Covenant===
In the absence of shared beliefs, Unitarian Universalists often see their religion as a [[Covenant (religion)|covenantal]] (as opposed to a [[creed]]al) one. Unitarian Universalists see covenants as the promises that bind congregations, communities, and individuals together in a community. In Unitarian Universalism, covenants are mutual promises among individuals and communities about how they will behave and engage with each other. Covenants help create trust and care among Unitarian Universalists and in their congregations.<ref name="Guide to Congregational Covenants">{{cite web |last=UUA Congregational Life |title=A Comprehensive Guide to Congregational Covenants |url=https://www.uua.org/leaderlab/congregational-covenants|publisher=Unitarian Universalist Association |date=2019-04-23 |access-date=2022-12-16}}</ref>

Rather than creating things people have to do, covenants in Unitarian Universalist communities create freedom by helping members know what to expect from each other. In the words of Unitarian Universalist minister Alice Blair Wesley:

{{Blockquote |text="...authentic human freedom is of necessity, lawful freedom, and because we receive the possibility of freedom as a gift of the way things are, an authentic covenant is: a glad promise to live freely together, insofar as we are able, in accordance with the laws of reality that make our freedom possible. This is true whether the agreement is between just two, as in a union of marriage, or whether the agreement is among millions, as in a free nation, or whether the agreement is among members who gather to be a free congregation."<ref name="Blair Wesley 4">{{cite web |title=Unitarian Universalist Views of God |url=http://minnslectures.org/archive/wesley/Lecture4.pdf |publisher=The Minns Lectures |pages=5–6 |date=2001 |access-date=2022-12-16 |archive-date=17 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221217032331/http://minnslectures.org/archive/wesley/Lecture4.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

The use of covenants in the Unitarian Universalist community dates back to 1646 and the creation of the [[Cambridge Platform]] by the [[Congregational churches]] of colonial [[New England]], some of whom would later become [[Unitarianism|Unitarians]], predecessors of modern Unitarian Universalists. The Platform was the first formal declaration of the principles of church order and governance in colonial North America.<ref name="HSL CP">{{cite web |title=Congregational Polity 101 |url=https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/congregational-polity/congregational-polity-101/ |publisher=Harvard Square Library |access-date=2022-12-16}}</ref> Today, many Unitarian Universalist congregations create their own covenants, often called covenants of right relations, to lay out the principles of their congregations formally.<ref name="Guide to Congregational Covenants" />