Membership of most of the Christian Churches rests on the acceptance of a common belief. There is often wide discrepancy between the real belief of a thoughtful individual and the official profession that is expected of him. This leads to suppressed disbelief, to say nothing of insincerity, and tends to check the free exercise of the mind.
The Church of the Rose and Cross permits to its lay members (though not, of course, to its clergy) entire freedom in the interpretation of Creeds, Scriptures and Tradition, and of its Liturgy and Summary of Doctrine. It asks only that difference of interpretation shall be courteously expressed. It takes this attitude not from any indifference to truth or revelation, but because it has so high a regard for truth. It holds strongly that "belief should be the result of individual study or intuition, not its antecedent." A truth is not a truth for a man, nor Revelation a revelation, until he sees it to be true for himself. As a man grows into spirituality, so will he grow into the perception of truth. No mere lip profession or superficial assent of the mind can take the place of this growth, and to ask anything less than this is a sacrilege. Christ very surely meant His religion to be one of love and freedom, which should help people at their many different stages along the path of this spiritual growth; He did not mean it in God's Name to dictate formulae whose literal acceptance should be a condition of salvation. The consequence of being unable to recognise a truth is simply to lose the help that the knowledge of that truth would give.
The Church of the Rose and Cross considers, therefore, that it acts in accordance with the spirit of its Master in welcoming gladly into its ranks those who are still seeking for truth. While it presents certain doctrinal statements to its members, it does not exact from them the acceptance of any dogmatic standards. As a working basis of fellowship, it asks of its members not the profession of a common belief, but their willingness to worship corporately through a common ritual. It aims at helping them to discover truth for themselves by providing them with opportunities for spiritual growth and explaining to them the ancient science of unfolding the divine potentialities which exist in every man. It asks of them sincerity, purity of motive, tolerance, breadth of mind, courtesy of expression, willingness to work and a constant pursuit of high ideals-confident, above all, that the power of the Blessed Sacrament of Christ's love may well be trusted to work God's own true purpose in their souls.
