Editing Jewish principles of faith (section)

===Reform Judaism===
{{Main|Reform Judaism}}
Reform Judaism has had a number of official platforms, especially in the United States. The first platform was the 1885 ''Declaration of Principles ("[[The Pittsburgh Platform]]")''<ref>{{cite web|title=Declaration of Principles&nbsp;&ndash; "The Pittsburgh Platform"|url=http://ccarnet.org/rabbis-speak/platforms/declaration-principles|publisher=The Central Conference of American Rabbis|access-date=2012-05-21|year=1885}}</ref>&nbsp;&ndash; the adopted statement of a meeting of reform rabbis from across the United States November 16&ndash;19, 1885.

The next platform&nbsp;&ndash; ''The Guiding Principles of Reform Judaism ("[[The Columbus Platform]]")''<ref>{{cite web|title=The Guiding Principles of Reform Judaism&nbsp;&ndash; "The Columbus Platform"|url=http://ccarnet.org/rabbis-speak/platforms/guiding-principles-reform-judaism/|publisher=The Central Conference of American Rabbis|access-date=2012-05-21|year=1937}}</ref>&nbsp;&ndash; was published by the [[Central Conference of American Rabbis]] (CCAR) in 1937.

The CCAR rewrote its principles in 1976 with its ''Reform Judaism: A Centenary Perspective''<ref>{{cite web|title=Reform Judaism: A Centenary Perspective|url=http://ccarnet.org/rabbis-speak/platforms/reform-judaism-centenary-perspective|publisher=The Central Conference of American Rabbis|access-date=2012-05-21|year=1976}}</ref> and rewrote them again in 1999's ''A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism''.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism|url=http://ccarnet.org/rabbis-speak/platforms/statement-principles-reform-judaism/|publisher=The Central Conference of American Rabbis|access-date=2012-05-21|year=1999}}</ref> While original drafts of the 1999 statement called for Reform Jews to consider re-adopting some traditional practices on a voluntary basis, later drafts removed most of these suggestions. The final version is thus similar to the 1976 statement.

According to the CCAR, personal autonomy still has precedence over these platforms; lay people need not accept all, or even any, of the beliefs stated in these platforms. Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) President Rabbi Simeon J. Maslin wrote a pamphlet about Reform Judaism, entitled "What We Believe... What We Do...". It states that, "If anyone were to attempt to answer these two questions authoritatively for all Reform Jews, that person's answers would have to be false. Why? Because one of the guiding principles of Reform Judaism is the autonomy of the individual. A Reform Jew has the right to decide whether to subscribe to this particular belief or to that particular practice." Reform Judaism affirms "the fundamental principle of Liberalism: that the individual will approach this body of mitzvot and minhagim in the spirit of freedom and choice. Traditionally, Israel started with harut, the commandment engraved upon the Tablets, which then became freedom. The Reform Jew starts with herut, the freedom to decide what will be harut&nbsp;&ndash; engraved upon the personal Tablets of his life." [Bernard Martin, Ed., Contemporary Reform Jewish Thought, Quadrangle Books 1968.] In addition to those, there were the 42 Affirmations of [[Liberal Judaism (United Kingdom)|Liberal Judaism]] in Britain from 1992, and the older Richtlinien zu einem Programm für das liberale Judentum (1912) in Germany, as well as others, all stressing personal autonomy and ongoing revelation.