the reluctant believer

The Skeptic Turned Believer

The Reluctant Believer is a self-reflective blog of Dan Waters as he journeys through seminary and becoming a pagan minister.

Pillars of Belief

A Unitarian Universalist Pagan perspective.

“Reverence and respect for human nature is at the core of Unitarian Universalist faith. We believe that all the dimensions of our being carry the potential to do good. We celebrate the gifts of being human: our intelligence and capacity for observation and reason, our senses and ability to appreciate beauty, our creativity, our feelings and emotions. We cherish our bodies as well as our souls. We can use our gifts to offer love, to work for justice, to heal injury, to create pleasure for ourselves and others.”

—Rev. Dr. Rebecca Ann Parker, minister, theologian, and author.

For our ourselves, the community, and Earth.

Care is a foundational pillar of my ministry. The act of care is a human instinct that is often suppressed, and we are often left to neglect ourselves.

I believe in fostering a culture of care that is actively anti-racist, anti-oppression, and honors the Earth and its precious resources.

The worship, veneration, and acknowledgement of the divine.

I believe in an immanent divinity or conciousness within nature and ever-present deities. This also extends to the universe, incorporating the planets and other celestial bodies. I also believe that the energy and remnants of the past are actively reflected in the present and future.

A far simpler explaination would be that while I practice polytheism, I also believe in animism and astrology. I also incorporate ancestral veneration and spirit work in my personal practice.