“Although there have been many chronicles of the history of Unitarian Universalism, perhaps the most notable one is the widely-read pamphlet Unitarian Universalist Origins: Our Historic Faith by Mark W. Harris. The following are several excerpts from this valuable document:

“Two thousand years ago liberals were persecuted for seeking the freedom to make religious choices, but such freedom has become central to both Unitarianism and Universalism. As early as the 1830s, both groups were studying and promulgating texts from world religions other than Christianity. By the beginning of the twentieth century, humanists within both traditions advocated that people could be religious without believing in God. No one person, no one religion, can embrace all religious truths.

“By the middle of the twentieth century it became clear that Unitarians and Universalists could have a stronger liberal religious voice if they merged their efforts, and they did so in 1961, forming the Unitarian Universalist Association. Many Unitarian Universalists (UUs) became active in the civil rights movement. James Reeb, a Unitarian Universalist minister, was murdered in Selma, Alabama after he and twenty percent of the denomination’s ministers responded to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s call to march for justice.

“….Our history has carried us from liberal Christian views about Jesus and human nature to a rich pluralism that includes theist and atheist, agnostic and humanist, pagan, Christian, Jew, and Buddhist.”

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/support