ABOUT UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISM
Are you just
a bit curious about what Unitarian-Universalism is, believes and
does? |
Unitarian
Universalism in Brief (Top) Our congregations
are self-governing. Authority and responsibility
are vested in the (Excerpts from "We Are Unitarian Universalists", pamphlet #3047). Copyright Unitarian Universalist Association, 1995. 5/22/95 Unitarian Universalism History (Top) Because there have always been men and women who question the religion handed them in childhood, a religion of the free mind, like today's Unitarian Universalists, was inevitable. If the specific events and personalities that shaped this religious movement had never existed other religious liberals would have filled the vacuum. Though it would be known by a different name, this religion of the free mind would exist today. Nevertheless, there are those illustrious personalities who forged the way during difficult times. Struggling against ostracism, violence, and even murder they moved through history down the separate paths to Unitarianism and Universalism. The Unitarian and Universalist movements both germinated in specific religious issues. Both grew to encompass religious doubters of many views, and both eventually welcomed to their ranks all thoughtful men and women who would accept the right of others to have different views. Though Jesus had been dead several hundred years before the word "Unitarian" came into use, the movement that eventually acquired that label began shortly after his death. Then, many who knew Jesus talked of his humanity and his teachings, while others who had only heard of him touted his divinity and began to construct a religion that was more about him than of him. The issue that polarized
the inheritors of these philosophical differences was the doctrine
of the Trinity, adopted in 325 AD by means more political than religious.
The Trinitarians, who believed in, "God the Father, God, the
Son, God the Holy Ghost," said that those who stressed the
unity of God (later known as Unitarians)
were heretics. Many of the Unitarians More than a hundred years before the affirmation of the Trinity the seeds of Universalism were being planted by the articulate and prolific intellectual, Origen. Origen, who, like the Unitarians, stressed the humanity of Jesus, produced the issue on which this liberal religious movement would be built. He argued that there was no hell and talked of a benevolent God who would offer salvation to all people. The same century that saw the Unitarian Servetus murdered also saw Unitarian beliefs under a variety of names gain a tenuous foothold in Switzerland, Britain, Hungary and Italy. This stubborn movement produced its own dynamic ministers. Literature was distributed. In many cases entire congregations broke away from the orthodox church. In 1638 the first Unitarian church to use that name was established in Transylvania, which had become fertile ground for religious doubt eight years earlier under its Unitarian king Sigismund. In the 17th and 18th century England, though anti-Trinitarians were still outcasts, their numbers grew. Often they were men and women who found their way into the history books for reasons other than their religious activities. John Milton, Isaac Newton, John Locke, and Florence Nightingale were all people who fought for religious tolerance. By the first decade of the 19th century 20 Unitarian churches had been established in England and many others had taken on a Unitarian character. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Universalist view also made great strides. In Germany many Universalist groups expanded and further defined the Universalist doctrine. In 1759 in England James Relly published "Union," which denied the Calvinistic doctrine of salvation for the few and claimed that all would be saved. John Murray, a follower of Relly, helped deliver the Universalist movement safely to the shores of America. In 1779 Murray occupied the pulpit of the Independent Christian Church of Gloucester, Massachusetts, which was the first organized Universalist church in America. Twenty-six years later the movement's greatest exponent, Hosea Ballou, articulated Universalist doctrine in his book, "A Treatise on Atonement," which sought to prove the doctrine of the trinity was unscriptural, and argued against miracles and the view of men and women as depraved creatures who would burn in hell. One of those who
carried the torch of Unitarianism to America was
Joseph Priestley, a In the 19th century
both Unitarianism and Universalism took on an association with the
causes of social justice that has endured to this day. Often led
by women, like Julia Ward
Howe, Susan B. Anthony and Clara
Barton, the liberal religious movement became the champion
of the abolition of slavery, women's rights, and penal reform. Though
these issues sometimes divided the religious liberals, the gap was
often greater between members of the same movement than it was between
Unitarians and Universalists. As the two movements grew Both movements became more organized. In 1785 a Universalist convention adopted a Charter of Compact which eventually evolved into the Universalist Church of America. In May of 1825 the American Unitarian Association was formed. In 1842 the first Unitarian church in Canada was founded in Montreal. The Unitarians and
Universalists shared first a philosophy of religious tolerance and
religious questioning. Later they shared resources such as religious
education materials, a joint hymnal, and finally on May 11, 1961
they combined their organizational strength by becoming the Unitarian
Universalist Association of Congregations in North America. However,
nothing stopped on that day. There are still questions to be asked,
views to be heard, a journey to be shared. The paths have merged
but the road goes on. Copyright 1992 Unitarian Universalist Association, UUA Pamphlet Commission Publication #3005. The Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association (Top) We, the member congregations
of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and
promote The living tradition which we share draws from many sources: • Direct experience
of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures,
which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the
forces which create and uphold life; Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision. As free congregations we enter into this covenant, promising to one another our mutual trust and support. The Purposes of the Unitarian Universalist Association (Top) The Unitarian Universalist Association shall devote its resources to and exercise its corporate powers for religious, educational and humanitarian purposes. The primary purpose of the Association is to serve the needs of its member congregations, organize new congregations, extend and strengthen Unitarian Universalist institutions and implement its principles. The Association declares and affirms its special responsibility, and that of its member societies and organizations, to promote the full participation of persons in all of its and their activities and in the full range of human endeavor without regard to race, color, sex, disability, affectional or sexual orientation, age, or national origin and without requiring adherence to any particular interpretation of religion or to any particular religious belief or creed. Nothing herein shall be deemed to infringe upon the individual freedom of belief which is inherent in the Universalist and Unitarian heritages or to conflict with any statement of purpose, covenant, or bond of union used by any society unless such is used as a creedal test. What Do Unitarian Universalists Believe? (Top) 1. We believe in
the freedom of religious expression. All individuals should be encouraged
to develop their own personal theology, and to present openly their
religious opinions without fear of censure or reprisal. -- David O. Rankin Copyright 1989 by the Unitarian Universalist Association Religious Education. (Top) Unitarian Universalist religious education is unique because, in addition to teaching about our Unitarian Universalist faith, we help our children build an openness to the richness of other religious traditions. We encourage our children to develop a reverence for all life and a sense of interdependence with the universe. Our goals are to provide each child with opportunities for personal and group religious experience, with exposure to the range of diversity of religious activity, and with support for their ongoing personal religious development. While introducing our young people to the place of religion in human experience, we help them learn to think and respond affirmatively for themselves. Unitarian-Universalist Covenants. (Top) We Unite to Seek Truth
As a Free People
Love is the Spirit of This Church
Unitarian Universalists
frequently have trouble answering the question "Well, what
is it that you DO believe?" Here are two attempts to answer
that question: Acknowledgements
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membership of the congregation. Each Unitarian Universalist congregation
is involved in many kinds of programs. Worship is held regularly,
the insights of the past and the present are shared with those who
will create the future, service to the community is undertaken,
and friendships are made. A visitor to a UU congregation will very
likely find events and activities such as church school, day-care
centers, lectures and forums, support groups, poetry festivals,
family events, adult education classes and study groups.
were
executed for their beliefs. Best known of these martyrs is Michael
Servetus, who was burned at the stake
in 1553 for writing "On The Errors of the Trinity."
Unitarian
minister better known as the discoverer of oxygen. After being harassed
and nearly killed in England by those of a less liberal bent, Priestley
established the first openly Unitarian church in America in Philadelphia
in 1796. Soon many well-established American churches acquired Unitarian
ministers or Unitarian views. By now the day was long gone when
an aversion to Trinitarian doctrine was sufficient to define these
religious liberals. In Unitarianism and Universalism virtually every
aspect of religion was fair game for doubt and debate. Many smaller
liberal movements began, later to be reabsorbed into the Unitarian
Universalist movement as it learned greater and greater tolerance.
and acquired greater definition in the sermons of Ballou,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Ellery Channing, Theodore Parker
and others, the two paths of religious liberalism grew ever closer.