Overview:
The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (commonly called the Unitarian Universalist Association or UUA) is a liberal religious organization, serving the Unitarian Universalist (UU) churches of North America. The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches estimated a total membership of 502,000 in 1990. 1 The UUA was formed on 1961-MAY-11 from the merger of the Unitarian and Universalist Churches. Unlike other religiously liberal faith groups, UUs are currently expanding in numbers.

Before about 1960, UUs were largely considered the most liberal of Christian denominations. Since then, the beliefs of Unitarian Universalists have become quite diverse. They are now considered a separate religion and no longer part of Christianity. In 1995-JUN, the UUA acknowledged that its main sources of spirituality are: Christianity, Earth Centered Religions (African-American religions, Native American spirituality, Wicca, other Neopagan religions, etc.), Humanism, Judaism, other world religions, prophets, and the direct experience of mystery. Fewer than 10% of Unitarian Universalists identify themselves as Christians. The organization exists as a very liberal, multi-faith group.

According to a 1997 survey of almost 10,000 UUs gave their theological perspective as:

46.1% Humanist. This is the most common belief system.
19% identify themselves as Nature or Earth centered religion (e.g. Wiccan, Druid or other Neopagan tradition.
13% describe themselves simply as Theist.
9.3% self-identify as Christian.
6.2% are mystic.
3.6% are Buddhist.
Other perspectives listed are Jewish at 1.3%, Hindu at 0.4%, Muslim at 0.1% and other at 13.3% 2

They are certainly a diverse lot!

It is obvious that the "glue" that holds congregations together is not a shared theological belief system, as it is in almost all other religious groups. The 1997 survey found that the four most important factors are:

Shared values and principles: 52.1%
Acceptance, respect and support for each other as individuals: 42.5%
A desire to take religious questions seriously: 14.6%
Commitment to social justice and public witness: 11.5% 2



Definitions:
The term Unitarian has traditionally had two main religious meanings:

A monotheistic belief that God is a unity, not a trinity. This was widespread in the early Christian movement, The exact nature and makeup of deity occupied the thoughts of many Christians during the first few centuries CE. There were many anti-trinitarian movements at the time. Three were monarchianism, sabellianism and patripassianism. A series of church councils decided that God is a Trinity, composed of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Unitarianism then became a heresy and was suppressed. This belief system still exists in the form of Biblical Unitarianism: Christians who believe "in one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ...The "Holy Spirit" is another name for God..." 3
A contemporary religious movement which features a lack of dogma, a belief in the inherent goodness of people, and the obligation for each member to seek out and develop his or her own system of beliefs and ethics.
It is this second meaning of Unitarian that we will use here.

The term Universalism has also had two religious meanings:

The belief that Jehovah as described in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) is the deity for all humanity, rather than just for the Jewish people.
A religious movement which historically promoted the belief that every person will go to heaven after death. This is in contrast with the traditional Christian belief that one's natural destination is eternal torment in Hell. Only those who are saved will attain heaven. Today, the latter beliefs are still held by most conservative Christians. Other mainline and conservative Christians are gradually drifting toward the Universalist belief. Liberal and most mainline Christians are already there.
It is the second meaning of Universalism that we will use here.



History of the movement
Unitarian Universalists value the teachings of:

Origen (circa 185 to 354 CE) Origen is generally considered to be one of the greatest theologians in early Christian movement. He stressed Jesus' humanity, and believed that God might eventually receive all people (even Satan and his demons) into heaven.
Jan Huss, a Bohemian church reformer and martyr, was burned at the stake because of his beliefs in 1415 CE.
Michael Servetus who wrote "On The Errors of the Trinity" which led to his execution at the stake in 1553 in John Calvin's Geneva for his Unitarian heresy.
King John Sigismund of Transylvania (now a part of Romania and Hungary) in 1568 issued the first edict of religious freedom. This allowed citizens to hold diverse religious beliefs and still be loyal to the state.
Writers, scientists, and others who promoted religious tolerance, including Alcott, Bryant, Holmes, Locke, Milton, Newton, Florence Nightingale, and Thoreau.
American politicians such as John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Adlai Stevenson and William Howard Taft.
John Murray, who in 1779 became the minister of the first Universalist church in the U.S. at Gloucester, MA.
Joseph Priestly, chemist and Unitarian Minister who established the first Unitarian Church in the U.S. in 1796.
Hosea Ballou, author (in 1805) of "A Treatise on Atonement" which argued against the Trinity, Hell, and the existence of miracles. He is sometimes referred to as "The Father of American Universalism".
Preachers and theologians Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Ellery Channing and Theodore Parker.
Julia Ward Howe, a fighter in the abolition of slavery.
Clara Barton, who worked for penal reform.
Olympia Brown was ordained by the Universalist denomination in 1863, thus becoming one of the first female ministers in the U.S. She promoted women's rights (particularly suffrage) and pacifism.
Susan B. Anthony, who advocated women's rights.

The first church to call itself Unitarian was established in Transylvania, in 1638. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Universalist groups were formed in England. An organization which was to become the Universalist Church of America was formed in 1785. By 1810, there were 20 Unitarian churches in England. In the U.S., many churches were founded which were Unitarian or professed Unitarian beliefs. Theirs was largely a reaction to the rigidity of Calvinist belief in New England. These churches formed the American Unitarian Association in 1825. The first Unitarian church in Canada was established in Montreal in 1842. In 1961, the Unitarian and Universalist churches merged to become the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).

(Source and Further Reading)

The Unitarian Universalist Association also offers a home for Deists...

I thought you'd like that little inclusion! I have friends that invited me to a UU church service once. Feel the ((HUG)) . It was lovely.

For people who have differing belief systems to get along harmoniously, there has to be some common ground for a start, but there also has to exist a respect and understanding, and an absence of any rigid structure, to allow all to flourish without any member of that community being seen as right or wrong. As an Atheist you believe in no gods, and as a Deist I believe in a Creative Force, but we share a concern for our planet and mankind, a desire to make things better, and a commitment to improving ourselves as human beings so that we may be the change we wish to see in those around us. We are able to work together and exist in harmony without our individual beliefs ever being a wall between us. I think that's what allows the UUA to thrive. I think it is sharing common goals which brings people together... a genuine concern for humanity, and a desire to learn from each other.

There is a UU church in town I would love to go to. I hear great stories about them too.

I would agree. When I attended the service , with my friends, there were wiccans, buddhists, jews, christians. It was like a coming together of a religious united nations. It was excellent. Everyone was hugging and talking, after and it was a true sense of community. They had banners around the walls, which as it's my first service I have no idea what is typical of a UU church motif, but they had banners representing the symbols related to every faith. Pentagrams, Star of David, the cross, etc... There was a meditation, which is always cool because I meditate. Which would be surprising to many that think Atheists don't do any of that. There was a discussion about the state of world affairs, and the input from each person that wanted to share, about how that would best be resolved in a "perfect world" scenario, as well as what we can do locally. It was really a great sense of spirit and community there. I was glad I went.

the one by me shares philosphy and plays classical music i am a great appreciator of classical music. and always love to hear from the mind of a philospher.....I too feel such a true sense of communion and so many unique pov what could be more delightful????..

I think you'd be pleased. I know you know of one near you, but I thought this link may assist others that might want to find a UU church in their area. Find a Congregation

Oh oh, 11.5% are door knocker prone.

Actually, Quakers have strong showing in the UU church, especially in areas where there are no liberal (unprogrammed) Friend Meetings.

I tend to lean more toward the orthodox side of the RSOF, so Anabaptist churches (Bretheren, Mennonite, Amish)are my second choice. While I like a lot of the UU philosophies, they aren't committed enough in their shared values for me, or at least the ones I've attended aren't. They always seemed a little tongue in cheek to me.

Always seemed like a religion that existed solely for someone who wants religion... Not really my cup of tea, but at least it's not causing hate or anything.

Neither do Budhists <--cant be ars*d is I have made a typo lol

I was more or less raised in the UU church and got married there once as well. I'd go again, but... well, it's still church, after all.

Fixed it for you.

Old school Universalists we are.

What is Unitarian Universalist Buddhism?
The history of UU engagement with Buddhism and its growing significance.
By James Ishmael Ford
Summer 2007


Western religious liberals have been fascinated with Buddhism from as early as 1844. In that year, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody published an anonymous rendition of a chapter from the Sadharmapundarika Sutra in the Transcendentalist journal, the Dial. This chapter, “The Preaching of Buddha,” was the first Buddhist text published in the English language. This seminal event was for years wrongly credited to Henry David Thoreau, which undoubtedly contributed to the mystique that Buddhism has held for many Unitarian Universalists. Since then, many UUs have been drawn to Buddhism, studying its sacred writings, practicing its spiritual disciplines, and even taking the Precepts to become Buddhists. There is now a Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship, which counts more than one hundred groups meeting in UU congregations across the continent.

That first flush of interest among our Transcendentalist ancestors was at best confused. In the mid-nineteenth century most people, including scholars, could not distinguish Buddhism from Hinduism. Even those who succeeded in making the distinction frequently failed to fathom what Buddhism is really about. The radical nontheism of most Buddhist writings was bewildering to people who assumed God must be central to any religion. As a result, a number of conservative Unitarians sided with orthodox Christians in seeing Buddhism as a defective faith.
(Continues)

Well if that wasn't fluffy.

I was curious about how they presented Buddhism and got my answer when they started name dropping. I like Thich Nhat Hanh's work for the most part, learned a lot from Zen Keys, but he seems a little too religious for me. So I'm not going to be running out to join a UU congregation. Yeah I know, the UU's will miss me...

But you know what I loved about this article.


He explains a Buddhist quote by paraphrasing one of the Buddha's final teachings "Be ye lamps unto yourselves." I almost choked on my gum. I don't think that the idea of self-realization is properly expressed by using the word "salvation".

Fascinating. Some articles I've read about Buddhism don't seem as opposed to the mere word, salvation. In fact, it's deemed quite relevant. (In the article linked below you'll notice quite a number of references to salvation. )


Excerpt from: The Buddhist Attitude to God By Dr V. A. Gunasekara
{Statement made to a Multi-religious Seminar}

(Buddhism as a Non-Theistic Religion) ....However Buddhism is not atheistic in the sense that modern secularism, rationalism, humanism, etc. could be regarded to be atheistic (although it has much in common with them). Buddhism is not concerned primarily with refuting the notion of God (as some atheistic writers have done). It is principally concerned with developing a method of escape from the worldly ills. This involves undertaking a method of mental discipline and a code of conduct, which is sufficient to satisfy the most demanding of spiritual requirements. Indeed only very little of the Buddha's voluminous discourses deal directly with the question of God. He was more interested in expounding a way to personal salvation, and to improve the weal of mankind both in this world and in the worlds to come. It is this task that informs most of the discourses of the Buddha which later came to be compiled into the various Canons of Buddhism.

(The Notion of God) ....We can easily dispose of the devas in the context of the Buddhist attitude to God because the devas are essentially irrelevant to the human situation. Beings are born in the deva-worlds because of particular karmic factors they have accumulated, and after these karmic factors are exhausted they could revert to any of the other planes of existence depending on their unexpended karma. The devas are not particularly endowed with special powers to influence others, and far from saving anyone else they themselves are not "saved". Salvation in Buddhism comes only from full enlightenment, which could be best accomplished from the human plane of existence.

There's even a book titled: Buddhism: A Religion of Salvation That we are currently looking into, to add to our childrens library.
Excerpt: Buddhism as a religion of salvation is not so much concerned with the question of heaven and hell as much as with the existential question of suffering. It is, thus, the text of human suffering that has determined the soteriological goal of Buddhism, which is characterized as to how to obtain release from human suffering itself. Since suffering is a fact of life, so the aim has been to search for such ways and means by the application of which suffering may be overcome.

It is this concern of Buddhism with suffering that is the focus of this book, that is, what basically suffering means to a Buddhist. It is on the basis of this insight of the Buddha that the Buddhist thinkers have attempted to find such a practical framework that would serve that purpose of reaching the transcendent goal of salvation. Whatever the Buddhists have spoken about suffering, it must be seen as a practical devise of reaching the goal of salvation.

And so my opinion is somehow less because I don't write books?

This is probably better left to another thread, but let me ramble about a little concept known as 'skillful means'. Skillful Means is simply adapting the message to the audience. In the examples of these articles and books the idea is to introduce the concept of enlightenment to an audience that is more familiar with the concept of salvation. "Enlightenment" confuses people, "salvation" people (especially Christians) understand.

The problem with Skillful Means (aside from the fact that it is hardly ever talked about) is that it is a practice that can foster misunderstanding. It is not to say that considering enlightenment as salvation is wrong, but you can mislead yourself by taking the analogy at face value.

The way the concept of enlightenment as salvation is presented leads one to the idea that satori is somewhere outside oneself. External realization is not what the Buddha taught. We are taught to use our own intellect, our own insight, and our own experience to awaken to our true nature.

So I don't like to use the word "salvation" to describe my experience of the Way, they do, big deal. It doesn't make either interpretation wrong. The key to ascertaining a "true" teaching is how well that teaching applies in your life.


P.S. You just love to goad me into writing more than a couple of sentences don't you.

Drats Batman, he figured it out!

I do, I do. I figured if I presented the salvation part, which I can understand appeals or entices a wider audience that is familiar with that concept in the christian and other faiths, it's just good marketing of the way.

I do appreciate the information about skillful means. I was not aware of that terminology or practice. We'll scratch that book off our children's library list of books to buy. What book would you recommend for the most fair and accurate description of Buddhism!?

But if I posted enough about that, you'd speak more about your actual living knowledge of the way.




Damn! Now I just gave up my secret mission strategy! Shucks. ~wanders off to discipline self with a liberal dose of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey. ~

Yeah, that'll teach me but good!

Tights and a utility belt are no match for a man with a sandal on his head.



The Gateless Gate, LOL. I'd say that the best book to introduce a child to the Way would be let them be kids.

Hey where's my ice cream?

Thanks for the book title.

And of course we let our kids be kids. However, they have a keen interest in at home studies, even after school. So we have a curriculum we introduce them to in that regard, which also includes comparative religion studies. Thanks for the book title, we'll look into it.


Nice sandal by the way. Reeeeeally brings out the color in your eyes.