Non-theistic · nontheistic

Ethical Culture

Deed before creed: a congregational religious life with ceremony, community and moral education, and no theological claims at all. Keeps rather more ritual than secular humanism, which is the cell that separates the two.

What makes it unusual

The axes on which this tradition sits furthest from the middle of the matrix — which is to say, the positions that actually distinguish it.

A1 Divine realitynothing beyond the naturalFurther toward "nothing beyond the natural" than most traditions in the matrix.
C1 Survival of the selfends at deathFurther toward "ends at death" than most traditions in the matrix.
A2 Personhoodimpersonal principle or orderFurther toward "impersonal principle or order" than most traditions in the matrix.
E2 Origin of the cosmosbeginningless or naturalFurther toward "beginningless or natural" than most traditions in the matrix.

All seventeen positions

Each cell carries a centre, a dispersion — how much internal variation the tradition genuinely tolerates — and the source the position rests on. Disagree with one? Say so; corrections are public and recorded.

The same seventeen values as a single shape, read clockwise from A1 at the top. The outline is where the tradition sits; the wider band around it is the variation it genuinely tolerates, so a tight outline is a tight tradition.

position
tolerated variation

A · The divine

Axis	Position	Value	±σ
A1 Divine realitynothing beyond the natural → a divine reality certainly exists	nothing beyond the naturalAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.12	0.14
A2 Personhoodimpersonal principle or order → a personal being one can address	impersonal principle or orderAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.08	0.10
A3 Pluralitystrictly one → many powers and spirits	strictly oneAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.05	0.06
A4 Locuswholly beyond the world → fully present within it	leaning wholly beyond the worldAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.35	0.20

B · Knowledge and authority

Axis	Position	Value	±σ
B1 Source of truthrevealed and fixed → reason and direct experience	reason and direct experienceAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.92	0.06
B2 Reading of sacred textliteral and binding → metaphorical, or no text at all	metaphorical, or no text at allAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.92	0.06
B3 Institutional authorityclergy and tradition decide → individual conscience decides	individual conscience decidesAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.88	0.08

C · Self and destiny

Axis	Position	Value	±σ
C1 Survival of the selfends at death → continues in some form	ends at deathAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.15	0.15
C2 Shape of timeone life, then judgment → cyclical return	one life, then judgmentAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.12	0.12
C3 The human conditionfallen and in need of rescue → ignorant but fundamentally sound	ignorant but fundamentally soundAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.90	0.07

D · Practice

Axis	Position	Value	±σ
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate goodgiven as grace → achieved by effort or insight	achieved by effort or insightAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.95	0.05
D2 Centrality of ritualessential and prescribed → optional or absent	between essential and prescribed and optional or absentAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.55	0.18
D3 The bodyto be disciplined → to be celebrated	leaning to be celebratedAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.68	0.15

E · World and others

Axis	Position	Value	±σ
E1 Exclusivityone true path → many valid paths	many valid pathsAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.92	0.06
E2 Origin of the cosmosan intentional act → beginningless or natural	beginningless or naturalAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.90	0.10
E3 Locus of belonginga people, inherited → an individual choice	an individual choiceAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.88	0.08
E4 Standing of naturecreation, given for use → animate and itself sacred	between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacredAdler’s founding addresses and AEU statements of purpose	0.58	0.16

Compared with

Where do you sit?

The questionnaire places your own answers on these same seventeen axes and reports how close you are to this tradition and to 64 others. Take it — eight to fourteen questions, nothing transmitted.