Changes

==Politics==

==Politics==

The Unitarian Universalism Association takes liberal positions on most issues. For example they hold that women should be free to choose abortion. They argue for equality for homosexuals, gender equality, and work to end poverty, promote peace and nonviolence, and environmental protection.

The Unitarian Universalism Association takes liberal positions on most issues. For example, they hold that women should be free to choose abortion. They argue for equality for homosexuals, gender equality, and work to end poverty, promote peace and nonviolence, and environmental protection.

==Creed==

==Creed==

Unitarian Universalists lack a single creed or dogma, but is organized around the following seven principles:

Unitarian Universalists lack a single creed or dogma, but is organized around the following seven principles:

European positivism had a major impact on Unitarian intellectuals.  Positivism in its English and French versions was eagerly received by many, and, for some, it helped undermine the Old Unitarianism and suggested forms for the New. Unitarians never adopted European positivism totally; rather, they selected those segments which fit their needs and often modified their original composition in the process. One from whom they borrowed heavily was French philosopher [[Auguste Comte]], who with F. C. Baur, James Martineau and [[Charles Darwin]] were important in the transformation from Old to New Unitarianism.<ref>Charles D. Cashdollar, "European Positivism and the American Unitarians." ''Church History'' 1976 45(4): 490-506. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3164350  in JSTOR]</ref>   

European positivism had a major impact on Unitarian intellectuals.  Positivism in its English and French versions was eagerly received by many, and, for some, it helped undermine the Old Unitarianism and suggested forms for the New. Unitarians never adopted European positivism totally; rather, they selected those segments which fit their needs and often modified their original composition in the process. One from whom they borrowed heavily was French philosopher [[Auguste Comte]], who with F. C. Baur, James Martineau and [[Charles Darwin]] were important in the transformation from Old to New Unitarianism.<ref>Charles D. Cashdollar, "European Positivism and the American Unitarians." ''Church History'' 1976 45(4): 490-506. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3164350  in JSTOR]</ref>   

===Seminary===

===Seminary===

Harvard Divinity School was the main seminary in the east. The Meadville Theological School was established in Meadville, pennsylvania, 1844 in order to train Unitarian ministers to work in the West. The chief founder was Harm Jan Huidekoper, a local businessman and land agent, who believed that the West was ripe for conversion to religious liberalism. His son Frederic, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, taught at the new institution during 1844-77. Rufus Phineas Stebbins, president from the school's establishment to 1856, initiated a program of studies modelled on Harvard's. Stebbins devoted much energy to developing ties with the [[Christian Connection]], a nearby church which was a major source of theology students. The entente with the Christian Connection began to deteriorate in 1848, but Stebbins continued to seek an accommodation with that body, and became a member of its Western Reserve Conference. However, the alliance was short-lived, and the Unitarians did not have great success in winning western adherents.<ref>Bruce M. Stephens, "Liberals in the Wilderness: The Meadville Theological School, 1844-1856." ''Pennsylvania History'' 1975 42(4): 291-302. 0031-4528</ref>

Harvard Divinity School was the main seminary in the east. The Meadville Theological School was established in Meadville, Pennsylvania, 1844 in order to train Unitarian ministers to work in the West. The chief founder was Harm Jan Huidekoper, a local businessman and land agent, who believed that the West was ripe for conversion to religious liberalism. His son Frederic, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, taught at the new institution during 1844-77. Rufus Phineas Stebbins, president from the school's establishment to 1856, initiated a program of studies modelled on Harvard's. Stebbins devoted much energy to developing ties with the [[Christian Connection]], a nearby church which was a major source of theology students. The entente with the Christian Connection began to deteriorate in 1848, but Stebbins continued to seek an accommodation with that body, and became a member of its Western Reserve Conference. However, the alliance was short-lived, and the Unitarians did not have great success in winning western adherents.<ref>Bruce M. Stephens, "Liberals in the Wilderness: The Meadville Theological School, 1844-1856." ''Pennsylvania History'' 1975 42(4): 291-302. 0031-4528</ref>

===African Americans===

===African Americans===

Unitarians were leaders of the abolition movement and always advocated racial equality, but never attracted many black members. One exception was civil rights leader [[Whitney M. Young]], Jr. (1921–71), director of the [[Urban League]] during 1961-71. He bemae intellectually attracted to Unitarianism in the 1940s, and was a member of Unitarian churches from the 1950s until his death. While the white Unitarian denomination was proud to claim and honor him, in 1963 Young was bitterly disappointed that the denomination refused to deny privileges to churches maintaining racial segregation. He was also disappointed in the separatism of the Black Power movement in the denomination in 1967-70. Shaken by the discrepancy between the professed values of unity and the reality of division in the denomination, and caught in a religious dilemma between the intellectual Unitarianism that he believed in and the culture of the separate black church that increasingly nourished him, Young died in 1971 with his inner religious tension unresolved.<ref>Dennis C. Dickerson, "Black Leader in a White Denomination: Whitney M. Young and the Unitarians." ''Journal of Unitarian Universalist History 1998 25: 26-40.</ref>  

Unitarians were leaders of the abolition movement and always advocated racial equality, but never attracted many black members. One exception was civil rights leader [[Whitney M. Young]], Jr. (1921–71), director of the [[Urban League]] during 1961-71. He bemae intellectually attracted to Unitarianism in the 1940s, and was a member of Unitarian churches from the 1950s until his death. While the white Unitarian denomination was proud to claim and honor him, in 1963 Young was bitterly disappointed that the denomination refused to deny privileges to churches maintaining racial segregation. He was also disappointed in the separatism of the Black Power movement in the denomination in 1967-70. Shaken by the discrepancy between the professed values of unity and the reality of division in the denomination, and caught in a religious dilemma between the intellectual Unitarianism that he believed in and the culture of the separate black church that increasingly nourished him, Young died in 1971 with his inner religious tension unresolved.<ref>Dennis C. Dickerson, "Black Leader in a White Denomination: Whitney M. Young and the Unitarians." ''Journal of Unitarian Universalist History 1998 25: 26-40.</ref>