AboutJon Bond Expertise Will answer all questions regarding Unitarian Universalist (UU)church; including ancient history (Universalists go back to at least 250 A.D.) and medieval history (Unitarians look to 1553 A.D. as their beginning) up to merger of the two movements in 1961 and continuing up to present. Am familiar with Christian church organizations and relationship of UUs to traditional churches.
Experience Currently member of Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, Colorado. Past vice-president of Board of Trustees and currently on Membership Committee. Have taught UU history for over 20 years. Have attended Unitarian Universalist General Assemblies (annual meetings held in June) for past 15 years.
Organizations Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, Colorado
I'll try to answer your question. Remember, I'm one of over 200,000 people and, if you ask another UU (Unitarian Universalist), you may get a different (but, hopefully, not conflicting) answer. I'd like to divide my answer into two parts: a background of our association and then a discussion regarding your question “how big is the Unitarian movement?”
First – a background (including where the two groups originated):
The concept of Unitarianism generally looks to a Catholic priest, Michael Servetus, as a spiritual originator. Servetus was born in Spain in 1511 and died in 1553, after attacking the doctrines of the Trinity. Unitarianism is a doctrinal system characterized chiefly by a belief in the unipersonality of God and the normal humanity of Jesus, as contrasted with the Trinity and the eternal deity (divinity) of Jesus. Most Unitarians I've spoken with reject the divinity of Jesus, but do recognize him (Jesus) as a great moral teacher
Universalism is the theological doctrine that all souls will ultimately be saved and that there are no torments of hell. Universalism has been asserted at various times in different contexts throughout the history of the "Christian church"--e.g., Origen in the 3rd century. The Universalists also denied the miraculous element in Scripture, and rejected such important Bible doctrines as the total depravity of man and the Trinity.
The Unitarian Universalist Association was created in May of 1961 as a merger of Unitarians and Universalists.
Second – how big is the Unitarian movement?
This is your specific question. Many “old time Unitarians” may still make the distinction (between Unitarian and Universalist). To get the actual number (how big), you may have to check out our web site http://uua.org/ I believe that our combined (Unitarian and Universalist) membership is in excess of 225,000.
Thank you for taking the time to question our numbers - and good luck in your search!
