To fully embrace an understanding of Sacred Autonomy, a foundational question to open the discussion could be:

What makes autonomy sacred, and can a secular society uphold something considered spiritually inviolable without religious or metaphysical belief?

Why this question?

It forces us to examine:

• What we mean by sacred in a pluralistic world

• Whether sacredness is an internal conviction, a social agreement, or something higher

• How to ground universal respect for autonomy when people disagree on moral or spiritual frameworks

• Whether it’s possible to defend sacred autonomy legally or politically without invoking religion

This question invites deep philosophical, ethical, and practical responses from both spiritual and secular perspectives, making it ideal for a diverse forum.

If you’d like to scaffold the conversation, here are a few follow-up prompts that could branch naturally from this core question:

1. Is sacred autonomy an individual belief or a collective responsibility?

2. How do different cultural or spiritual traditions honor or violate sacred autonomy?

3. Can the sanctity of autonomy ever be overridden for the ‘greater good’? If so, by whom—and how is that justified?

4. What are the real-world consequences of treating autonomy as sacred vs. treating it as optional or conditional?