Many people who find a spiritual home with Unitarian Universalism (UU) didn’t grow up in this tradition, and I frequently get the question: where did UU come from? Some traditions, including religious traditions, live in the past. Others forget their roots and are blown into whatever modern fad speaks to them. UU fellowships today look different from where they came from. UU Historian Susan Ritchie believes that to know one’s history is a bit radical for our times as we are often swayed by popular culture. History, she says, helps us preserve identity and what makes us distinct.
American Unitarianism and Universalism began as two separate entities yet they both started in North America. Unitarian’s ancestry can be traced back to a liberal branch of the Puritans who split away. They adopted the Puritan’s radical organizational model: that centralized power corrupts the church and so the laity, the people, through a democratic process, govern and choose their leadership. The people voluntarily contribute funds to the church, which is where the tradition of offering plates arose. There is no higher authority yet churches are affiliated with one another and connected through a larger spiritual covenant.
Some have credited the Unitarians with forming our current system of democracy and while this is likely a stretch, it is clear that Unitarians were influential in developing the democratic process we still use today. We also see many of the early Unitarian traditions in our fellowships today: self-organized, self-governed, and they call their own ministers. Lay leadership is key, the democratic process is used throughout the system to make decisions, while consent, voluntary contributions and covenant inform how they gather.
This early Unitarian split also began articulating the source of truth. The Puritans held the Bible as authority. Unitarian thinkers and writers, including the Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ellery Channing, began to explore how logic may also be a source of truth, and what is on the inside–what is true to us–could also be a source of truth. Today we see this as well in UU communities, who affirm truth both from outside sources such as science, Jewish and Christian traditions, and humanist writings, along with internal sources of truth such as the voice of consciousness.
Universalism wasn’t a branch that grew off from a tradition, but is likened to a field of wildflowers that popped up around the countryside. Universalism, I would say, was a reframing of what was told as an ultimate truth of the Protestant churches at the time: our souls are eternal and some of us are going to burn in a painful, awful hell forever, and there might be nothing we can do about it. This is, essentially, the Calvinist doctrine of double pre-destination. What became to be known as Universalists were people and communities who said ‘no’ to this supposed truth. Instead, God’s love embraces us all–a universal salvation–and we don’t need the threat of hell because doing good is part of being human. Circuit riders brought this message to rural areas of Pennsylvania and New England, and it took hold in people’s hearts and minds who then formed churches. There is a famous Universalist story that a man named Thomas Potter built a chapel in 1760 because he believed that someone would eventually come to preach a gospel of love. The chapel sat empty for ten years until Potter met John Murray, who had been excommunicated because he believed in an all-loving God. Potter asked Murray to preach at his chapel and Murray declined, saying he was going back to Europe. Potter asked that if the wind didn’t blow and the ship was unable to depart, that Murray would just preach once. The wind didn’t blow, Murray preached to a packed chapel on Sunday morning, and Murray stayed and the first Universalist congregation was founded in the U.S.
The Universalist church was described as a family, and the most confusing thing for members was when they invited someone to join their family and they were refused. Those whom the family symbol resonated with, such as union workers who believed in the brotherhood of man, found Universalist churches to resonate, as a spiritual home.
Using the language of spiritual home and spiritual family is not some feel good cliché, but is actually rooted in this tradition. Unitarian Universalists merged to become a consolidated identity in 1961 and they brought many of their distinct traditions with them but worked to find common ground as well. In the 1980’s, a group of women requested UU principles be reviewed to include gender inclusive language. This opened up a whole process of retelling the story of who we are. Using grassroots, democratic process of engaging congregations and fellowships in study and dialogue, the sources of belief were separated out from the principles. The six sources allow for the plurality and diversity of beliefs, while the seven principles articulate the theological common ground of the UU faith. If there is a shared belief perhaps it is this: by honoring diversity and plurality, we can achieve a unity to heal a fractured world. If this is what you are looking for, welcome home!