| So, yeah. I'm a Unitarian Universalist. And what is that, you ask? Well, in the many arguments I've had with a very conservative Christian friend of mine, we end up agreeing that it's more of a philosophy than a religion, per se. For example, UUism is known as a "faith without a creed". This means that there's no authority within the church to tell us what to believe. Each member is encouraged to find their own truths. We believe that spiritual truth cannot be spoonfed to us by someone claiming to have the answers- you have to search your own experiences and inner beliefs. In other words, we are not compelled to believe what the church would have us believe, but we are compelled to believe what we have to believe, whatever's in our own hearts and minds. Therefore, it isn't true when people claim that Unitarian Universalists can "believe whatever they want to." We have to believe what we know is true. Although each of our individual beliefs about things such as God, an afterlife, the meaning of life, etc., can be very different, we have unifying principles that basically every member of the church share. We affirm and promote: 1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person 2. Justice, equity and compassion in human relations 3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement of spiritual growth 4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning 5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process 6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all 7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are all a part The terms "Unitarian" and "Universalist" came about independently of one another far in our history. We can see the roots of Universalism in the beliefs of a man named Origen, who lived in the third century. At that time, people believed that God favored certain people and that others were condemned, but Origen claimed that God loves everyone. Today, Unitarian Universalists that believe in traditional Judeo-Christian concepts promote the idea that everyone is going to heaven; no one is damned. Others in our church simply do not believe in either a heaven or hell. The roots of Unitarianism came in the fourth century when some people saw Jesus as a very good man, but not part of God. They believed in the "unity" of God- that he was one entity- instead of the "trinity"- that he could be manifested in three ways. They were called unitarians and were punished because the Christian church had declared that Jesus was a part of God. Today, our church agrees that Jesus existed and was a good man, but he was not divine. Some people in our church believe in God, others think of "God" as a simple force of "good" or "nature" and others are athiests. Virtually all of us see Jesus as a man that set a very good example for others, though. The American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America shared a philosophy of religious tolerance and questioning. They merged in 1961 to become the Unitarian Universalist Association. Now there are more than 205,000 Unitarian Universalists in the U.S. and Canada. |
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