Unitarianism

Unitarianism is the belief in the oneness of God, as opposed to trinitarianism, the belief in the doctrine of the Christian Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It thus contradicts the Nicene Creed; as a Unitarian minister has written, "Unitarians and Universalists have always been heretics." The word does not simply mean monotheism and is not applied to Jews, but to people who consider themselves Christians.

Unitarians are religious liberals who stress the freedom of the individual to seek religious truth through the use of reason. Considering the dogma of the Trinity a corruption of Christianity, they believe in the unity of God and view Jesus as strictly human. The name Unitarian derives from this opposition to the Trinitarians. Unitarians accept Jesus as one of humanity's great teachers and generally hold an optimistic view concerning the ability of man to achieve his own salvation.

Unitarian denominations are notable for their high turnover, as people move through briefly on their way into or out of Christianity.

History

Europe

Unitarianism somewhat resembled Arianism, a once-powerful Chruistian sect that died out by 400.

Modern Unitarianism first emerged in the teaching of the Italians Lelio Sozzini, or Socinus (1525-1562), and his nephew Fausto (1539-1604). Thus "Socianianism" was one of many theological innovations during the Protestant Reformation. It was propagated by Fausto in Poland, where a strong community was in existence until persecution scattered its members about 1650. Francis Dávid (or David) (1510-79), a Hungarian, was the leading proponent in Transylvania after 1565, where the Church continues to this day.

England

In England, the movement grew out of the work of dissenters from the Church of England, including Theophilus Lindsey (1723-1805), who established the first Unitarian church in London in 1774. It also spread among the English Presbyterians. The noted clergyman and scientist Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) was a Unitarian minister; he formed the first Unitarian Society in Philadelphia, in 1796. The Unitarians later claimed Thomas Jefferson as a sympathizer, as well as Isaac Newton. Jefferson decided not to join the group. Newton was an Arian but died before the Unitarians became active.

United States

Unitarians emerged primarily within the Congregational churches of New England, in reaction against the excessive emotionalism of the First Great Awakening (from 1734) and subsequent revivals. Unitarians were rationalists who distrusted emotionalism and saw revivals as unholy. A sharp division emerged between the liberals and conservatives within Congregationalism; in 1805 the Hollis Professorship of Divinity at Harvard College was filled by Unitarian Henry Ware. The bitter debate that ensued was responsible for a great number of schisms among the New England churches. The most celebrated leader of the new liberal theology was William Ellery Channing, especially for his sermon "Unitarian Christianity" at Baltimore in 1819. The American Unitarian Association was formed in 1825 as an organization of individuals; not till 1865 was a conference of churches formed. The philosophical movement of Transcendentalism, typified by Ralph Waldo Emerson, further liberalized the Unitarian churches, as a result of the influence of Emerson and Theodore Parker. They vigorously championed the abolition of slavery and many other reforms. Parker brought to the denomination a social consciousness and a political activism that has continued strong through the years.

Many leading literary and scientific figures have been Unitarians, including Emerson's contemporaries Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894), a poet who was the father of the justice; and Henry W. Longfellow (1807-1882), along with many scholars and educators. Unitarians include four presidents : John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, and William Howard Taft.

Liberal theology

William Ellery Channing, in his 1819 sermon "Unitarian Christianity," did much to define Unitarianism. Channing described Jesus as a man sent by God to inspire moral excellence on earth by his exemplary virtue. Thus the connection between God, Jesus, and human beings was moral, with God's universal love transmitted throughout. Therefore, there was no need for the distinctions of a Trinity. Influences on Channing toward this Christology included the writings of Francis Hutcheson and Joseph Butler.

Unitarian minister Theodore Parker (1810-60) viewed religion as an instinctive expression of human needs. Critics say he was following German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-72) from Hegelian idealism into speculative atheism. Parker did agree with Feuerbach that religion was a spontaneous affair of the heart, but whereas Feuerbach believed that such concepts as God were an illusion without foundation, Parker consistently affirmed that human religious sentiment actually made the transcendent reality of God accessible to human beings.

The controversy that greeted Ralph Waldo Emerson's delivery of the "Divinity School Address" in Boston in 1838 was a symptom of the erosion of basic assumptions about religion, truth, and social order. Emerson's radical assertion of the individual's ability to perceive spiritual truth without the aid of scripture both reflected and contributed to a growing split between liberal and conservative tendencies in Unitarian theology. But the address became a sensation throughout Boston because Emerson's transcendentalist attack on institutional religious authority resonated with two political movements of the 1830s that similarly challenged the political, cultural, and moral authority of Boston elites. The "Free Enquirers", led by former Universalist minister Abner Kneeland, an associate of the radical Frances Wright, linked freethinking on social issues with a Tom-Paine-like radicalism akin to the Workingmen's movement. Abolitionists led by William Lloyd Garrison made a broad-based assault on legal authority, attacking even the legitimacy of the Constitution. This emergent discursive pluralism reflected the pervasive effects of the transformations wrought by Jacksonian politics.

Unitarians were among the first to accept Darwinian evolution views as applied to religion and "higher criticism" of the Bible and have continued to modify their theology to accord with new fads. Since the 1930s the Unitarians have been influenced greatly by religious humanism--the belief that mankind should set aside unsolvable theological problems and concentrate on the application of the scientific method to the task of creating a better life

Unitarian Universalism

In the United States, Unitarianism is also an informal name for the beliefs of a religious denomination, originally the American Unitarian Association, known since its 1961 merger with the Universalists as the Unitarian Universalist Association. Members of the denomination are often called "Unitarians", although members of the organization, not wishing to overlook Universalism, prefer to call themselves "U-Us." The Unitarians appealed to a Harvard-educated Boston elite, while Universalism was common in the hard-scrable farmers f remore New England villages.

The American Unitarian Association was founded in 1825, based on principles espoused in the sermons of William Ellery Channing, notably an 1819 sermon entitled "Unitarian Christianity."

In 1991 there were 1,020 Unitarian churches in the United States and Canada, with a total membership of 193,000. National headquarters are in Boston. The Beacon Press of Bostonstresses liberal political issues.

Beliefs

Unitarian Universalism is noncreedal. A Unitarian Universalist minister answers the question "Are Unitarian Universalists Christian?" with a forthright "Yes and no." She notes that "At a Unitarian Universalist worship service or meeting, you are likely to find members whose positions on faith may be derived from a variety of religious beliefs: Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, naturist, atheist, or agnostic. Members might tell you that they are religious humanists, liberal Christians, or world religionists."

Unitarian churches are particularly common in the Northeast United States, where the denomination originated. Many Unitarian church structures are picturesque white-painted frame structures of the sort that are emblematic of New England. They are, however, likely to have a rainbow flag flying in front of them, as the denomination has been at the forefront in welcoming same-sex couples; one U-U pamphlet is entitled "Unitarian Universalism, A Religious Home for Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender People."

Unitarians self-describe as religious liberals. It is probably fair to say that the denomination has a reputation for political liberalism as well. As one sermon put it, "Sometimes we act as if we believe we can effect a complete separation of our liberal faith and our politics. Some of us confuse liberal religion with liberal politics and seem to operate under the belief that if we are registered with the Democratic party we have fulfilled our religious obligations in the public sphere. Both these beliefs are actually false. I say this even though I myself have at different times acted as if I believed one of these two things.".

The American Unitarian Conference, founded in the year 2000, believes the Unitarian Universalists have departed from the "Unitarian Christianity" of Channing and regards itself as a "reborn" version of the American Unitarian Association, which it says "disbanded" in 1961 when it merged with the Universalists.

Unitarian Universalists and Christianity

A Unitarian minister has answered the question "Are Unitarian Universalists Christian?" in these words:

Yes and no.

Yes, some Unitarian Universalists are Christian. Personal encounter with the spirit of Jesus as the Christ richly informs their religious lives.

No, Unitarian Universalists are not Christian, if by Christian you mean those who think that acceptance of any creedal belief whatsoever is necessary for salvation. Unitarian Universalist Christians are considered heretics by those orthodox Christians who claim none but Christians are "saved." (Fortunately, not all the orthodox make that claim.)

Yes, Unitarian Universalists are Christian in the sense that both Unitarian and Universalist history are part of Christian history. Our core principles and practices were first articulated and established by liberal Christians.

Some Unitarian Universalists are not Christian. For though they may acknowledge the Christian history of our faith, Christian stories and symbols are no longer primary for them. They draw their personal faith from many sources: nature, intuition, other cultures, science, civil liberation movements, and so on.

Further reading

• Buehrens, John A.. and Forrest Church. A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism (1998) excerpt and text search
• Bumbaugh, David, Unitarian Universalism: A Narrative History (2001)
• Smith, Leonard. The Unitarians: A Short History (2008)