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
Expert: Jon Bond Date: 6/15/2004 Subject: denominations
Question In your opinion, which Christian denominations are closest to the Unitarians/Universalists?
Answer Hello Tim -
I'll try to answer your question. Remember, I'm one of over 220,000 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: FIRST, a background of our association and then, SECOND, a discussion regarding which Christian denominations are closest to the Unitarians/Universalists.
FIRST - a background (including where the two groups (Unitarian and Universalist) 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 (UUA) was created in May of 1961 as a merger of Unitarians and Universalists.
SECOND - In this part of my answer, Tim, I must state that the Unitarian Church (hereinafter referred to as UUA) has no creeds, only statements of purpose. We pride ourselves in welcoming atheists and humanists, as well as Christians. Recently (in the last six years), the UU organization took a survey to find out what we believe is important in our religious lives. Almost 10,000 Unitarian Universalists took the time to fill out and return the survey, giving us all an invaluable snapshot of who we are. Our association has been enriched by the knowledge gained from the answers many UUs provided. This survey began a process designed to reach out to all UU individuals and congregations called "Fulfilling the Promise." This Concept was set in motion by the Unitarian Universalist Association's Board of Trustees. Its goal was to help us move toward agreement about why we come together as congregations and as an association, and what we hope to accomplish. The survey questions came from individual UUs, as did the suggested responses. More than 500 people helped create this survey. We hope you will find your own experience reflected in the questions and answers, even if the exact language you would use is not perfectly captured here. What follows are the total tabulations for the first 8118 surveys.
Tim, to discuss your question of which Christian denominations are closest to the Unitarians/Universalists, I would have to refer the results of the aforementioned
survey that clearly shows that there are Unitarians who consider themselves Christian. Question number 30 statement and results follow: "Please check the one of the following which best describes your theological perspective":
The balance of the questions (age, sex, length of church membership, etc.), gave us a picture of who are demographically and as church persons. They provide a picture of what we say our values in religious community are. As you can see, fewer than 10% of the UUA consider themselves Christian. Tim, I must assume that, in comparison with Christian churches, all of the 10% in the UUA would align themselves with what Christian churches believe. The main differences would be the fact that the UUA welcomes people from all faiths (see results of survey.)
Tim, now I'll try to answer your question with an exact response to what you first asked - "which Christian denominations are closest to the Unitarians/Universalists?"
In my opinion, I believe the United Church of Christ (UCC)is closest to the Unitarian Universalist, except, of course, they (UCC) are categorically Christian (i.e. believe that they are born in sin and should accept Jesus of Nazareth as their savior, etc.) Also, I believe that Unity Church (based out of Unity Village, Missouri) is a liberal Christian church. In addition to those two (UCC and Unity), I imagine the "Quakers" are a liberal Christian group.
Tim, I've given you more than you asked for, but they, in my opinion, are the three most "unitarian like" Christian churches.
For more information about the UUA, please feel free to check out our web site http://uua.org/ A good book to check on is The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide - ISBN 0-933840-45-4
Thank you for taking the time to question our beliefs and good luck in your search.
