 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
(More details about UU history are available at the UUA website, www.uua.org.)
 |
 |
 |
 |
For about 300 years after Jesus' birth, there were many Christians who viewed Jesus as a great prophet and who thought of God as a separate entity from Jesus. There were others who believed that God was not just one entity, but rather two (including Jesus) or three (including the holy spirit). Finally, in the year 325 at the Council of Nicea, the traditional Christian concept of the Trinity was established as dogma. For centuries after that, persons who believed in the Unity of God - - "Unitarians" - - were persecuted by the church.
During the 16th century, a preacher named Frances David (who had strong links to an eastern European king in the area where Romania is now) was finally able to create an environment in which Unitarian beliefs were acceptable. David, having studied the bible extensively, concluded that it contained no support for the concept of the trinity. However, he also felt strongly that people should be allowed to choose their own faith, that Unitarianism wasn't necessarily for everyone, and that people should be able to love and respect each other, even across differing religions.Outside of this geographic area, however, the persecution continued for several centuries. Michael Servetus (of Spain) was burned at the stake after writing his book "On the Errors of the Trinity." Even just before the turn of the 19th century, Joseph Priestly (a Unitarian minister in England, and the scientist who discovered oxygen) was harassed into leaving his country after anti-Unitarians set his laboratory on fire.
Meanwhile, in mid-18th-century America, Unitarianism was growing out of Congregationalist, Calvinist roots, again as an option for Christians who could not bring themselves to believe in the doctrine of the trinity. By 1825, six years after a stirring Harvard Divinity School sermon titled "Unitarian Christianity" by William Ellery Channing, the American Unitarian Association was formed.
As with Unitarians, Universalist beliefs date back at least to Jesus' time. Many people during the early centuries of Christianity believed that if God was all-powerful and all loving, then there was no need for hell because God would not subject anyone to eternal damnation. In other words, there would be "Universal" salvation.
This belief, like that of Unitarianism, was forced underground as the Christian church became more dogmatic in the 3rd century and beyond. However, it resurfaced strongly in 18th century America, primarily as a reaction to the predestination beliefs and the "fire and brimstone" rhetoric of Calvinism. Much like Frances David and Michael Servetus, 18th century American Universalist ministers well-versed in biblical study found support there for an all-loving and all-powerful (and therefore all-saving) theology but not for the prevailing Calvinist church doctrine.
A natural extension of the Universalists' belief that God loved everyone was that they themselves should love and respect all people as well. Universalists were therefore among those who provided some of the strongest support for freed slaves and the Underground Railroad. Likewise, Universalists also have the distinction of having ordained the first female minister in the US, Olympia Brown, in 1863.
Unitarians and Universalists Together
Both Unitarians and Universalists had long traditions of being independent thinkers not prone to accepting religious dogma without critical study and reflection. Both Universalists and Unitarians also had developed substantial track records in the areas we now call Social Justice. For these reasons and others, in 1961 the two denominations merged into a single entity, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).
Unitarian Universalists ("UUs") have continued together in the traditions developed by our separate forebears. For example, our Unitarian tradition of a freethinking church that requires no particular creed or dogma for membership means that our members can (and do!) obtain spiritual inspiration from a wide variety of the world's great religious teachings. These include not only Christianity and Judaism, but also Buddhism and earth-centered traditions. Our humanist members, who assert that belief in God is not necessary for a religious, spiritual, ethical, and moral life, rub elbows with Christians, Jews, and other theists on the one hand and with atheists and agnostics on the other.
Our Universalist roots carry through to our modern UU church as well. We have become well known for our Social Justice activities, from Civil Rights in the 1960s to gay and lesbian rights in more recent decades. For example, over 50% of ordained Unitarian Universalist ministers are female - - UUs are the first to reach this mark - - and our denomination officially supports same-sex marriages. These accomplishments are the modern reflection of our historical Universalist belief that all people are worthy in the eyes of God.
Congregational Autonomy ("Polity")
Our Congregationalist roots, too, are still visible in the modern UU denomination, particularly in terms of how our individual congregations relate to each other and to the larger UU denomination.
In 1648, the Congregational churches in Massachusetts organized themselves around "The Cambridge Platform." This document included a claim of autonomy from the Church of England for local congregations on matters of church leadership, standards for accepting and removing members, and church discipline. That was the start of our UU concept of "congregational polity."
American Unitarians, who grew out of this Congregationalist tradition, valued autonomy so highly that they did not become a formal association of congregations for nearly 100 years. American Universalists, on the other hand, were more at ease with the idea of a community of congregations, even while simultaneously seeing one's individual congregation as the primary focus of one's religious life.
For today's Unitarian Universalists, congregational polity means that only persons who have been elected by the members of a particular congregation have any authority over that congregation. There are no synods, bishops, popes, or any other individuals or groups who have formal authority or power over an individual congregation.
Therefore, Unitarian Universalist congregations select their own clergy, and may ordain their own clergy as well. Congregations also elect their own officers, who report directly to the members of that congregation, and who may be replaced by that congregation when necessary.
However, in addition to the concept of congregational polity, the Cambridge Platform delineated six duties that congregations owe to each other: care, consultation, admonition, participation, recommendation, and relief. The Cambridge Platform, written over 350 years ago, articulates a vision that remains ideal for Unitarian Universalists today: autonomous congregations joined together in devoted and beloved community.