Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Sunnyvale, California
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Are Unitarian Universalists "Christian"?
Depends on whom you ask. Not anymore. Not necessarily.
Some of us are. Some of us used to be.
Some of us never were. Some Trinitarian Christians would say we're
not, no matter what any one of us would say. But we
are Protestant, I say.
Let me start from the beginning. Universalism was first a Christian theological heresy, then a movement, then a church. Unitarianism also was first a Christian theological heresy, then a movement, then a church (first in Europe in the 1570s, then in America in the 1800s). Both movements took place in Protestant churches. Our church culture is a Protestant culture. Our worship structure is Protestant in its origin, especially in the emphasis on the sermon.
The oldest UU churches were founded as Protestant churches. Until a few decades ago, what we know as the
UU World magazine was the
Christian Register. Historically we are part of Mainline Protestantism. Sociologically, it's been middle-class, educated, socially aware, socially tolerant, and not politically radical. The Mainline is not Evangelical or fundamentalist or Pentecostal or Catholic or Orthodox.
Within our inherited structure and culture we have fostered a rich, varied, contentious mixture of theological perspectives. Our mixture of Jews, agnostics, atheists, Buddhists, Pagans, Transcendentalists, etc., etc., makes us distinctive in the Protestant world, but we are of the Protestant world.
We are a liberal religious movement; we affirm the freedom of conscience and the evolving nature of the truth about God, the universe, and human life and purpose. In terms of these values, we have more in common with liberal Christians than liberal Christians have in common with fundamentalist Christians. A source of intellectual and spiritual nourishment for me is The
Christian Century, a liberal Protestant weekly magazine (ChristianCentury.org).
We UUs are what we are today because of our Judeo-Christian roots. We are what we are today because of a whole lot more. We do not deny our historic identity. We do not forbid the emergence of new beliefs, new doubts, or new expressions of faith. May we strive to respect all honest expression of religious practices and beliefs, whether within our walls or beyond them.
Yours faithfully,
-- Roger Jones, parish minister
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Sunnyvale, California
Comments, Essays, and Sermons
(Collection 1)
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