The Unitarian Universalist Association

An association of congregations formed in 1961 by the merger of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America, held together by a covenant of shared values and by no creed.

UUA Bylaws, Article II, "Purposes and Covenant," as adopted at General Assembly 2024 (the adopted bylaw text)

uua.org, Six Sources of Inspiration (a "recent past expression" since 2024)

uua.org, A Brief History of the Adoption of Shared Values Language

uua.org, Many Beliefs Welcome

uua.org, Existence of a Higher Power in Unitarian Universalism

uua.org, Sacred Texts in Unitarian Universalism

uua.org, Unitarian Universalist Views of the Bible (a pamphlet of six ministers' accounts, edited by Rev. Tom Goldsmith)

uua.org, Christian Unitarian Universalists

Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship, home page

uua.org, Beliefs about Life and Death in Unitarian Universalism

UUA Tapestry of Faith, Riddle and Mystery (grade 6), Leader Resource 2: Belief Systems and Statements

uua.org, Baptism / Child Dedication in Unitarian Universalism

uua.org WorshipWeb, The Story of Norbert Čapek's Flower Ceremony (a reading by Teresa and David Schwartz)

uua.org LeaderLab, Congregational Governance (Interdependence: Renewing Congregational Polity)

uua.org LeaderLab, Role of the Minister in Bylaws

uua.org LeaderLab, Ordaining a Minister

inSpirit (UUA), Worship in Unitarian Universalist Congregations, by Erika Hewitt (listing)

First Unitarian Church of Orlando, What to Expect in Worship (a UUA-member congregation)

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus, What to Expect in Worship (a UUA-member congregation)

uua.org, UUA Membership Statistics, 1961-2024

uua.org, UUA President Rev. Sofía Betancourt, Ph.D.

uua.org, In Good Faith, "Happy 200th Birthday, Unitarians!" (19 May 2025)

John Cummins, "A History Lesson: the Consolidation of the Unitarian and Universalist Faiths" (hosted on uua.org)

UU World, "The UUA's original Principles (1961)"

UUA Tapestry of Faith, Faith Like a River, Leader Resource 2: A History of Statements of Belief

Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography, Winchester Profession (with the Boston Declaration of 1899)

Sargent House Museum, John Murray

William Ellery Channing, "Unitarian Christianity," Baltimore, 5 May 1819 (Voices of Democracy transcript)

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Divinity School Address, 15 July 1838 (Wikisource transcript)

Theodore Parker, "The Transient and Permanent in Christianity," 1841 (Voices of Democracy transcript)

Two movements became one body. The Universalists, who taught that God saves everyone, took form in America in the 1770s and 1780s. The Unitarians, who held that God is one and that Christ is not God, organized in Boston in 1825. Both began as Christian movements, and both wrote confessions and sermons that named the Bible. Their statements broadened over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The new Association's Principles of 1961 named "the Judeo-Christian heritage" only as one summary of truths taught "in every age and tradition." In 2024 the Association replaced its older statements with a covenant of shared values.

The first Universalist sermon in America

John Murray, an English preacher who had followed the Universalist teaching of James Relly, preached the first Universalist sermon in America at Good Hope, New Jersey, on 30 September 1770. In 1774 Epes and Winthrop Sargent invited him to Gloucester, Massachusetts. He became first minister of the first Universalist church in America, at Gloucester, from 1779 to 1793.

The Philadelphia Convention and its Rule of Faith

Universalists meeting at Philadelphia adopted a Rule of Faith and a Plan of Church Government. The Association's own history says the Rule "called for a common theological understanding based in Christian scripture and dedicated to a life of good works through belief in the Holy Trinity and universal salvation." The Plan "called for the autonomy of congregations on matters of faith and practice."

The Winchester Profession

The Universalists of New England adopted a short confession at Winchester, New Hampshire. Its first article reads: "We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments contain a revelation of the character of God and of the duty, interest and final destination of mankind." Its second names "one God, whose nature is love, revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of Grace, who will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness."

Channing preaches "Unitarian Christianity"

William Ellery Channing preached "Unitarian Christianity" at an ordination in Baltimore on 5 May 1819. He said: "We regard the Scriptures as the records of God’s successive revelations to mankind, and particularly of the last and most perfect revelation of his will by Jesus Christ." He also set the rule for reading them: "the Bible is a book written for men, in the language of men, and that its meaning is to be sought in the same manner as that of other books."

The American Unitarian Association

On 25 May 1825 a group of Unitarian ministers in Boston "met and voted to charter" the American Unitarian Association, which "was chartered the very next day." The Association now counts it as one of the two precursors of the UUA.

Emerson's Divinity School Address

Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke to the senior class of the Harvard Divinity School at Cambridge on 15 July 1838. He faulted "historical Christianity" and said of the miracles: "To aim to convert a man by miracles, is a profanation of the soul."

Parker on the transient and the permanent

Theodore Parker preached at the ordination of Charles C. Shackford in Boston in May 1841. He said that "in actual Christianity ... there seems to have been, ever since the time of its earthly founder, two elements, the one transient, the other permanent." Among the transient things he named "the doctrine respecting the origin and authority of the Old and New Testament." Of the Old Testament he said: "Its present authority cannot stand."

The Universalists' Boston Declaration

The Boston Declaration, amended and adopted at the Universalist General Convention's Chicago session of 1897, was added to the Winchester Profession in 1899 as the conditions of fellowship. It named five principles, among them "The spiritual authority and leadership of His son, Jesus Christ," "The trustworthiness of the Bible as containing a revelation from God," and "The certainty of just retribution for sin." The Association's curriculum says the Declaration "reaffirmed a strong foundation in Christianity while maintaining room for individual conscience."

The debate over naming Christianity

Before the merger the two General Assemblies argued over whether Article II of the new body should name Christianity. John Cummins's account, hosted by the Association, says "the greatest debate was whether to add specific reference to Christianity in Article II." He writes that in the joint session "there was only reference to" one phrase on the matter, "the universal truths taught by the great prophets and teachers of humanity in every age and tradition."

The Unitarian Universalist Association

The American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America merged in May 1961 as the Unitarian Universalist Association. Its first Principles made "a free and disciplined search for truth" the "foundation of our religious fellowship." They named Christianity's heritage as one summary among the truths of every tradition: "the universal truths taught by the great prophets and teachers of humanity in every age and tradition, immemorially summarized in the Judeo-Christian heritage as love to God and love to man."

Shared Values replace the Principles and Sources

At General Assembly 2024 the delegates replaced the Seven Principles and Six Sources with the Article II now in force, "Purposes and Covenant," which sets out six shared values centered on love. The Association describes the vote as one "adopted by a more-than-two-thirds majority vote." The older Principles and Sources remain on its site as "recent past expressions."

John Murray

Murray brought Universalism to America and settled at Gloucester. The Sargent House Museum says he also stood in a lawsuit there that "established the principle of the separation of church and state."

William Ellery Channing

The Association's own page calls him "the leading Unitarian preacher whose ideas influenced both transcendentalism and the formalization of Unitarianism as a religious practice." His Baltimore sermon argued from Scripture, and read it by reason.

Theodore Parker

A Unitarian minister at Boston whose 1841 sermon separated what he held to be the passing forms of Christianity from the lasting truth. He wrote that real Christianity "would make the Bible our servant, not our master."

Norbert Čapek

A former Baptist minister who became a Unitarian and led the Prague Liberal Religious Fellowship. In 1923 he developed the flower ceremony. A reading in the Association's worship library says the Gestapo arrested him in 1942 and sent him to Dachau, and that "the Nazis killed Norbert Čapek."

Sofía Betancourt

The tenth president of the Association, elected in June 2023. She is responsible for administering the staff and programs that serve its member congregations.

Hosea Ballou and the Trinity. The Association's account of the merger says that Hosea Ballou, in his 1805 Treatise on the Atonement, "had decried the Doctrine of the Trinity." The two movements thus began with the same Bible and read it to different ends: the Universalists to say God would save all, the Unitarians to say God is one person.

The Liberty Clause. The Association's curriculum says the Winchester Profession was adopted "with a Liberty Clause which allowed individual societies or groups of societies to adopt additional articles of belief provided these did not conflict with the beliefs laid out in the Profession." The Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography prints the clause under 1899. Either way, the clause governed additions to the Profession, and the Profession's first article named the Scriptures.

The Unitarian statements. The Association's curriculum says the officers of the American Unitarian Association issued a statement of belief in their report of 1853, a statement that did not bind the members, and that the National Conference of Unitarian Churches, founded in 1865, set out "an unmistakably Christian vision." By 1887 the Western Unitarian Conference had given wide support to a statement that its author, William Channing Gannett, did not mean as a creed.

No Scripture and no creed bind. Conscience, reason, experience and the shared values guide, and the Bible is one source among many.

The Association's bylaw puts the weight on the person and the congregation: "Congregational freedom and the individual's right of conscience are central to our Unitarian Universalist heritage." It bars any creed as a condition of membership. Its inspiration comes from "direct experiences of transcending mystery and wonder" and from "sacred, secular, and scientific understandings." The bylaw says the members "draw from our heritages of freedom, reason, hope, and courage." The Association's page on sacred texts begins, "One might say that life is our scripture," and adds: "From the beginning we have trusted in the human capacity to use reason and draw conclusions about religion," and "each of us ultimately chooses what is sacred to us." It says the Bible is the sacred text of the Protestant Christian tradition from which Unitarianism and Universalism grew, and that "we now look to additional sources," and it adds that the Bible and other scripture are to be read as "a product of its time and its place." The six sources of the older statement list "Jewish and Christian teachings" beside humanist teachings, the wisdom of the world's religions and the teachings of Earth-centered traditions. Members hold six shared values in covenant, with love at their center: interdependence, pluralism, justice, transformation, generosity and equity.

Congregational freedom and the individual's right of conscience are central to our Unitarian Universalist heritage.

We draw upon, and are inspired by, sacred, secular, and scientific understandings that help us make meaning and live into our values.

But in our tradition, scripture is never the only word, or the final word.

The older statement. The Six Sources, in force until 2024 and now described by the Association as a "recent past expression," listed these: direct experience of transcending mystery and wonder; "words and deeds of prophetic people"; "wisdom from the world’s religions"; "Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves"; "humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science"; and the "spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions." Scripture appears in the fourth item only, and it appears as teachings that call us to love.

The Christian minority. The UU Christian Fellowship, an organization of members, says on its own home page that its resources are there "to deepen your relationship with God, with Jesus, with Scripture and/or with your own spiritual practice." That is the Fellowship's statement, and the Association does not require it of its members. The Association's page on Christians says that most UU Christians "believe in God, but not the traditional God-as-Trinity," and that to UU Christians "Jesus is an inspiration."

What members say of the Bible. A pamphlet hosted on the Association's site, edited by Rev. Tom Goldsmith, gathers six ministers' accounts. The editor writes that "all contributors agree that the Bible is riddled with historical errors but nonetheless can serve as an important repository of human truth." One contributor writes that the Bible "remains for me but one rich source among many human records." Another, the Rev. David McFarland, writes: "No universalistic faith can relinquish the Bible and claim to be either religious or liberal." These are the ministers' own views, offered in a pamphlet the Association hosts.

No doctrine of sin and atonement. Every person is inherently worthy, and an infant is dedicated, not baptized.

The Association does not teach that people are sinners who need saving. Its page on life and death says: "You could say we believe in “original blessing” rather than “original sin.”" The bylaw's value of Equity declares "that every person is inherently worthy and has the right to flourish with dignity, love and compassion." Its curriculum describes the Universalist inheritance this way: "Today, our First Principle is an expression of Unitarian Universalist belief that all people are worthy of “salvation” in this life." Baptism is not an ordinance: "Rather than holding Christian-style baptisms or christenings, most Unitarian Universalist congregations have child dedication ceremonies for infants and children." A dedication includes a blessing for the child, the parents' hopes and the congregation's promise to nurture the child. The pages read for this chart state no teaching on atonement or on how a person is forgiven.

Rather than holding Christian-style baptisms or christenings, most Unitarian Universalist congregations have child dedication ceremonies for infants and children.

You could say we believe in “original blessing” rather than “original sin.”

We declare that every person is inherently worthy and has the right to flourish with dignity, love and compassion.

The history behind it. The Universalist side of the inheritance taught that God saves everyone. The Association's curriculum says: "Our century-long Universalist heritage taught that God is good, and saves everybody’s soul after death. Nobody goes to Hell forever." The Unitarian side denied the older doctrine of the atonement. Channing's 1819 sermon said of the popular view that Christ's death makes God merciful: "we reject with strong disapprobation."

A UU Christian view. The Association's page on Christian members says UU Christians hold that "Jesus is an inspiration and his teachings are profound" and that "he possesses a divine spark that is born in all of us." That is the account the Association gives of the Christians among its members. It is not a statement of the Association.

No Lord's Supper in the Association's order of worship. A flower ceremony stands in its place in some congregations, and some Christian-oriented congregations offer Communion.

The order of service the congregations list has no sacrament in it: a chalice, readings, music, a sermon and an offering. A reading in the Association's worship library, by Teresa and David Schwartz, tells why the flower ceremony was made. Norbert Čapek led a Unitarian church in Prague, and "the traditional Christian communion service of bread and wine wouldn’t meet the needs of his congregation, because his church—like ours—had people who believed different things." In 1923 he asked each person to bring a flower, place it in a vase, and take a different one home. The worship library files the reading under "Flower Communion." The Association also says that "some of our UU congregations are Christian in orientation, worshipping regularly with the New Testament, offering Communion, and celebrating Christian holidays throughout the year."

The traditional Christian communion service of bread and wine wouldn’t meet the needs of his congregation, because his church—like ours—had people who believed different things.

Following the service, each person could take a flower from the vase—a different one than they had brought.

Some of our UU congregations are Christian in orientation, worshipping regularly with the New Testament, offering Communion, and celebrating Christian holidays throughout the year.

A minister's account. In the pamphlet of ministers' views of the Bible, the Rev. Donna Morrison-Reed of Toronto writes: "I served Communion that day with bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ." She writes that it was Easter, that the text was from Mark 16, and that she took the bread and wine as "a visceral symbol of the human capacity for rebirth and transformation." That is one minister's account of one service.

What the sources do not say. The Association's pages say nothing about how often any congregation keeps Communion, or who may take it. This chart therefore states no practice on those points.

Each congregation governs itself and calls its own minister. A President and a General Assembly serve the whole Association.

The Association describes its polity in plain terms: "Under congregational polity each congregation is self-governing, choosing its own leadership, handling its own finances, and choosing its own delegates to the General Assembly." A congregation calls its own minister by a vote of the whole congregation, and a board handles many of the operational decisions. The Association says congregations "have the right and ability to call whomever they desire as their minister," though some require the minister to be in fellowship with the Association. A minister's ordination rests on a parish call, and the rituals of ordination and installation follow a vote of the congregation in meeting. The bylaw's value of Justice commits the Association to "inclusive democratic processes to make decisions within our congregations, our Association, and society at large." The Association's purposes include to "support and train leaders both lay and professional."

Under congregational polity each congregation is self-governing, choosing its own leadership, handling its own finances, and choosing its own delegates to the General Assembly

Although under congregational polity our congregations have the right and ability to call whomever they desire as their minister

Ordination in our UU polity is based on a parish ministry.

No hierarchy above the congregation. The Association is a body of congregations. The congregations choose its delegates. The Association's study guide says its polity means "balancing independence with interdependence," and that the "loose association" keeps the Association from "prescribing structures and practices for congregations."

What the pages do not give. No page read here describes a board of elders in a congregation, or how many persons share the oversight. The congregation's own governance varies, and the Association leaves its form to each congregation.

A flaming chalice, readings, music, a meditation or prayer, a sermon and an offering. Worship is defined as exploring how lives fit a larger whole.

The Association defines worship this way: "Worship is our shared Unitarian Universalist practice of exploring, connecting to, and creating the ways that our individual lives fit into a larger whole." The congregations' own pages list what a service holds: the chalice, a story for all ages, "music, both instrumental and vocal and in a variety of styles," joys and concerns, "a meditation or prayer," readings, a sermon and an offering. The pages say styles differ: "Some congregations’ worship is contemporary and high tech. Some congregations’ worship is traditional and formal." One congregation's page says its pagan study group appears in the pulpit at the summer and winter solstices. The Association's page on God says members "gather knowing that life is richer in community than when we go it alone."

Worship is our shared Unitarian Universalist practice of exploring, connecting to, and creating the ways that our individual lives fit into a larger whole.

Unitarian Universalist worship styles vary by congregation, and even within congregations.

Lighting a flaming chalice, the symbol of our faith

What the Association says of God. "We join together not because we have a shared concept of the divine. Rather we gather knowing that life is richer in community than when we go it alone." The Association says some members worship a God, and some do not.

Music. The congregations' pages list instrumental music with the vocal. The pages read here say nothing of a rule for or against instruments, and describe no one way to sing.

Direct experience of transcending mystery is a primary source of inspiration. The Holy Spirit and miraculous gifts are not part of its teaching.

The Association names its own account of the spiritual life. The bylaw says: "Direct experiences of transcending mystery and wonder are primary sources of Unitarian Universalist inspiration. These experiences open our hearts, renew our spirits, and transform our lives." The older Sources said the same experience "moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life." The bylaw's value of Interdependence speaks of "reverence for the great web of life." None of the statements read for this chart speaks of the Holy Spirit as a person of God, of the gift of the Spirit that the apostles promised, or of the signs that the apostles worked. Whether a member believes in the Holy Spirit is, by the Association's rule, a matter of personal conscience.

Direct experiences of transcending mystery and wonder are primary sources of Unitarian Universalist inspiration.

Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;

The Christian minority. The UU Christian Fellowship says its members "walk freely in the spirit of Jesus." That is the Fellowship's language for a way of life. This chart takes it as the Fellowship's own account, and it does not say it speaks for the Association.

Life after death is an open question. Few believe in divine judgment, and the Universalist inheritance rejects eternal punishment.

The Association's page on life and death says: "Unitarian Universalism won’t promise you ironclad answers to these questions." It continues: "Many of us live with the assumption that life does not continue after death, and many of us hold it as an open question, wondering if our minds will have any awareness when we are no longer living." On judgment it says: "Few of us believe in divine judgment after death. It’s in our religious DNA: the Universalist side of our tradition broke with mainstream Christianity by rejecting the idea of eternal damnation." The Association's curriculum for sixth graders says of its own tradition: "We all can have different ideas about an afterlife, whether it exists, and what it might be like. We agree that after physical death, a person lives on through the people who have known them and the deeds they have done." The same lesson sets out the answers of several traditions, among them humanism ("There is no afterlife") and liberal Christianity ("some sort of life after death but we do not know the details"), and notes that many Unitarian Universalists consider themselves humanists.

Many of us live with the assumption that life does not continue after death, and many of us hold it as an open question, wondering if our minds will have any awareness when we are no longer living.

Few of us believe in divine judgment after death. It’s in our religious DNA: the Universalist side of our tradition broke with mainstream Christianity by rejecting the idea of eternal damnation.

We all can have different ideas about an afterlife, whether it exists, and what it might be like.

The older Universalist word. The Boston Declaration of 1899 named among the Universalists' principles "the certainty of just retribution for sin" and "the final harmony of all souls with God." The Association's present page keeps the Universalist rejection of eternal damnation, and says few of its members believe in divine judgment.

No creed, only covenant

No creed may be required of a member, and belief is left to conscience.

The Association holds that a creed is a test no congregation may impose. The bylaw says congregations may write purposes, covenants and bonds of union "so long as they do not require that members adhere to a particular creed." The Association's own history says: "Today, still, no creed stands as a basis of membership in our societies." Members are bound by a promise to one another, and not by a statement of what each believes.

Congregations may establish statements of purpose, covenants, and bonds of union so long as they do not require that members adhere to a particular creed.

Today, still, no creed stands as a basis of membership in our societies.

Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema.

Here the Association stands on common ground with this site: no human creed is to be bound beside Scripture. But the Association goes past that. It bars any binding statement of the faith, and Scripture speaks of "the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3). Paul names "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all" (Ephesians 4:3-6), and he curses any gospel other than the one preached (Galatians 1:8). A body that will require nothing about the faith cannot keep what was delivered once for all.

Credit. A free conscience is a good thing when it serves the truth. The Bereans were praised for "examining the Scriptures daily" (Acts 17:11), and every believer is to test what he is taught. The difference is the standard of the test. The Bereans tested by the text. The Association's members test by conscience alone.

God is not defined

Members may be theist, atheist or agnostic. The Association gathers around no shared idea of God.

The Association says it does not unite around a shared view of God. Its page on the subject reads: "Some believe in a God; some don’t believe in a God. Some believe in a sacred force at work in the world, and call it “love,” “mystery,” “source of all” or “spirit of life.”" The page also says "Unitarian Universalists are agnostic, theist, atheist, and everything in between." The Association says this is a welcome: "We welcome you in the fullness of your beliefs."

Unitarian Universalists are agnostic, theist, atheist, and everything in between.

We join together not because we have a shared concept of the divine.

Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah:

For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse:

and without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.

For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this I set forth unto you.

The first church began with God. Moses told Israel that "Jehovah our God is one Jehovah" (Deuteronomy 6:4), and Paul says God's "everlasting power and divinity" are "clearly seen" in the things made, so that men "may be without excuse" (Romans 1:20). The writer to the Hebrews says that "he that cometh to God must believe that he is" (Hebrews 11:6). A gathering that does not ask whether God exists has put aside the first thing every Christian confesses. Paul's word at Athens fits: "What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this I set forth unto you" (Acts 17:23).

Credit. The Association is open about this. It does not hide that its members disagree about God, and it invites the doubting to sit and to ask. It is plain in telling a visitor what it is.

Shared values centered on love

Six shared values, held in covenant and centered on love, replaced the Seven Principles in 2024.

The bylaw of 2024 says the members "covenant, congregation-to-congregation and through our Association, to support and assist one another in our ministries." It says: "Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values." The six values are Interdependence, Pluralism, Justice, Transformation, Generosity and Equity. The Association says it "voted through a democratic process to replace the language of Seven Principles and Six Sources" with them.

Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values.

We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline of Love.

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.

And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Love is a Christian word, and the Association draws it from Christian teaching: its old Sources say the Jewish and Christian teachings "call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves." But Scripture does not leave love to be defined by those who practice it. "God is love," and love was "manifested" when God sent his Son "to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:8-10). The Lord says, "If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments" (John 14:15), and the first commandment is to love the Lord "with all thy heart" (Matthew 22:37-39). In the bylaw, love is the power that holds the members together and the ground of their values. Nothing in it says who God is, or what he commands.

Credit. The bylaw's Generosity ("we covenant to freely and compassionately share our faith, presence, and resources") and its call to be accountable to one another show a real concern for the common life. Churches that treat membership lightly could learn from a body that writes down what members owe each other.

Child dedication in place of baptism

Infants are blessed and dedicated, with a promise from the congregation to support them.

Most Unitarian Universalist congregations dedicate children, and do not baptize them. The Association says the ceremony is usually crafted by the parents, the minister and the religious educator, and that many include "a blessing for the new life of the child," "an expression of the parent or parents’ hopes for the child," and "a promise by the congregation to support and nurture the child." The Association says this affirms "the goodness and the blessing in every human life."

A promise by the congregation to support and nurture the child

At the beginning of life, we welcome children with ceremonies of Child Dedication, in which we affirm the goodness and the blessing in every human life.

And they were bringing unto him also their babes, that he should touch them: but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him, saying, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for to such belongeth the kingdom of God.

Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.

The Lord welcomed children: "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not" (Luke 18:15-16). The Association's welcome and its congregation's promise to a child are in that spirit. But the Lord also gave the church its command to make disciples "baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19-20), and said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). Baptism is for a believer, and it is the Lord's act of receiving him. A dedication in its place may welcome a child, but it does not do what Christ appointed baptism to do.

The flower ceremony

A ceremony in which each person brings a flower and takes another home, made in Prague in 1923.

In 1923 Norbert Čapek, minister of the Prague Liberal Religious Fellowship, developed a ceremony in which each member brought a flower to church and placed it in a vase. "Following the service, each person could take a flower from the vase—a different one than they had brought." The reading in the Association's worship library says the ceremony arrived at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1940 and that Čapek held it with fellow prisoners in Dachau. It says: "This flower ceremony, lovely though it is, isn’t a diversion from ugly reality."

In 1923, he developed the flower ceremony.

Even in starvation and torture, he held a flower ceremony with his fellow prisoners, finding whatever flowers they could among the weeds of the camp.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ? seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the one bread.

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins.

For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

Čapek's courage is not in question, and a ceremony that binds neighbors to one another is not wicked. But it is not the Lord's Supper, and Scripture does not allow a church to put it there. Paul calls the Supper "a communion of the blood of Christ" and "a communion of the body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:16-17), and he writes, "I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you" (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). A church that finds the bread and wine too narrow for its members has chosen the members' comfort over the Lord's table.

Credit. Čapek was arrested in 1942 and killed by the Nazis. The Association tells his story with honor, and he deserves it. He came from a Baptist ministry and left it, and the reading records his words from his diary of 1919: "I cannot be a Baptist anymore, even in compromise."

Justice and Earth as covenants

Members covenant to dismantle racism and oppression, to protect Earth, and to decide by democratic process.

The bylaw turns the works of justice into promises. Under Justice: "We covenant to dismantle racism and all forms of systemic oppression." Under Interdependence: "We covenant to protect Earth and all beings from exploitation." Among its primary purposes is "to heal historic injustices," and it commits to "actively engage its members in the transformation of the world through liberating Love."

We covenant to dismantle racism and all forms of systemic oppression.

We covenant to protect Earth and all beings from exploitation.

He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?

for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Here the Association stands near the pattern. The prophet says Jehovah requires "to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God" (Micah 6:8). The Lord names the hungry, the stranger, the sick and the prisoner (Matthew 25:35-36), and James says that "pure religion and undefiled" is "to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction" (James 1:27). The Association writes that work into its bylaw. What is missing is the last clause of Micah and of James. The prophet's justice is walked "with thy God," and James adds "to keep oneself unspotted from the world." A covenant of justice with no God to walk with is a worthy aim without its foundation.

The test is the same for every body: what the New Testament shows the first-century church doing and teaching, set beside what the church holds today. The Association is not drawn on this site's lineage chart after 1961, because the lineage chart draws only bodies that appeal to the same Scriptures, and the Association's bylaw names no Scripture as its rule. So each placement here rests on the rubric's rungs, and the reason is stated with it. The Association stands nearest the pattern where its congregations govern themselves and where it works against oppression. It stands furthest where it has put conscience and reason in the seat that Scripture holds, and where the ordinances and the judgment to come have gone out of its teaching.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; But the end thereof are the ways of death.

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

The rungs for authority ask what the rule of faith is (A1), how a body treats the silence of Scripture (A2), and whether it binds teaching the New Testament does not teach (G1). The Association's rule is conscience, reason and experience, the far rung on A1; what Scripture does not say is left to each member, a permissive rung on A2; and its covenant binds values while it bars a creed, a middle rung on G1. The mean falls one step short of the furthest, and this chart moves it there. The last rung on A1 describes a body that adds a book to Scripture, and the Association does not keep Scripture as its rule at all: "scripture is never the only word, or the final word." The Unitarian body it grew from already stands at the far end of the rubric on these questions, and the Association has gone past it. Scripture makes the man of God "complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and where each conscience is the last court, Judges names the result: "every man did that which was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25).

Credit. The Association is honest. It does not claim that the Bible rules it. It says the Bible is one source among several and that a member may hold it or leave it. The UU Christian Fellowship, whose members choose to follow Jesus and to read Scripture within a body that does not require either, stands nearer the New Testament than the Association does, and that is to their credit.

Where this goes, in the Association's own record. In 1803 the Universalists wrote that the Holy Scriptures "contain a revelation of the character of God." In 1819 Channing still said, "Whatever doctrines seem to us to be clearly taught in the Scriptures, we receive without reserve or exception," but he made reason the reader: the Bible's meaning "is to be sought in the same manner as that of other books." In 1838 Emerson said, "To aim to convert a man by miracles, is a profanation of the soul." In 1841 Parker said of the Old Testament, "Its present authority cannot stand," and that real Christianity "would make the Bible our servant, not our master," and would have men "revere still more the word of God spoken through conscience, reason, and faith, as the holiest of all." In 1899 the Universalists still named "the trustworthiness of the Bible as containing a revelation from God." In 1961 the merged body made "a free and disciplined search for truth" the "foundation of our religious fellowship," and named the "Judeo-Christian heritage" as one summary of the truths of "every age and tradition." In 2024 its bylaw named "sacred, secular, and scientific understandings" and no Scripture. Reason was the judge from the first, and a judge who may overrule the text will, in the end, overrule it. What was left of the Bible after the judging was the part that already agreed with the judge. Isaiah warned that a people who do not speak "according to this word" have "no morning" (Isaiah 8:20).

for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;

And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

The rungs for salvation ask who is baptized, how, and for what (C1 to C3). The Association keeps no baptism; most congregations dedicate children instead. On the ladder for the purpose of baptism, a body in which baptism has no place in entry takes the last rung, and who is baptized and how have no answer where nothing is performed. Its teaching is a good and sincere one, that every person is of worth, but it replaces a message the apostles preached. Paul says "all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), and Peter says there is salvation in none other than Jesus, for "neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). On the day of Pentecost the apostle's answer was "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38). A teaching of "original blessing" in place of sin leaves no place for the cross the apostles preached.

Credit. The Association's welcome of children and its insistence that every person has worth rest on a truth Scripture teaches: man is made in God's image (Genesis 1:27). The apostles do not deny that worth. They add that every person is also a sinner who needs Christ, and a body that says only the first has left out the part that saves.

The UU Christians. The Association's page says that "the UU Christian God is all-loving, as our Universalist forbears taught, and a unity, as our Unitarian forebears taught." That is the Association's summary of a minority view, and it differs from the apostles on the person of Christ. Whatever a Christian member holds, the Association's own teaching is not that.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

The rungs for the Supper ask how often it is kept (D1), what it is (D2), and who may take it (D3). The Association's order of worship has no Supper, and where the meal is not kept, how often and who may take it have no answer, so nothing is charged on access. As on this site's charts for the Friends and for Christian Science, the placement scores what stands where the Supper stood. Those bodies teach an inward or silent communion with God and stand one step from the edge. The ceremony that stands there in UU congregations was made, in the words of a reading in the Association's worship library, because "the traditional Christian communion service of bread and wine wouldn’t meet the needs of his congregation," and it is a rite of the members' unity in difference that does not remember the Lord's death at all, so this placement is at the edge. The apostolic church "upon the first day of the week" gathered "to break bread" (Acts 20:7), and Paul delivered the Lord's own words: "this do in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

Credit. Some Christian-oriented congregations offer Communion, and a minister may serve it. That is to their credit, and the Lord's Supper is better kept occasionally than not at all. The Association's pages, however, do not say how often, or on what day, and the Association does not make it part of its worship.

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;

Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood.

The rungs for leadership ask whether elders lead the congregation (B1), whether the congregation is autonomous (B2), and where the line between clergy and laity falls (B3). On the second the Association is near the pattern: each congregation governs itself, the President and General Assembly have no power over its faith, and the Association's leverage is voluntary, chiefly the fellowship some congregations require of the ministers they call. On the first, a single called minister leads, with a board, and no plurality of elders is described; on the third, the ministers are a professional clergy with the title Reverend. The mean of those rungs gives this placement with no move. The apostles "appointed for them elders in every church" (Acts 14:23), and Paul charged Titus to "appoint elders in every city" (Titus 1:5-7), men the Holy Spirit made "bishops" to "feed the church of the Lord" (Acts 20:28). The Association has kept the independence of the church, and has set a called minister and a board where the elders stood.

Credit. The Association is nearer the New Testament here than the churches with a hierarchy. It has no bishop over a congregation and no synod that can tell a congregation what to believe. Whatever else is lost, the local church stands on its own.

Why it is not nearer. A congregation that governs itself but has dropped the Scripture that governs the elders has the structure without the standard. The elders' work was to hold the flock to the apostles' teaching, and an eldership is of little use where no doctrine is to be held.

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

The rungs for worship ask about music (E1), acts added to the pattern (E2), and to whom prayer is offered (E3). The congregations list instrumental music beside vocal, and readings may come from the Bible, "the Dhammapada, or the Tao Te-Ching." The pages read here do not say to whom prayer is offered. The rungs that can be scored put the mean on a middle rung, and this chart moves it one step further, on the question E3 asks: to whom the worship goes. The Association defines worship as "exploring, connecting to, and creating the ways that our individual lives fit into a larger whole," and the definition names no God. The Lord said that "they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). A service that may be offered to a God, to nature, to humanity or to nothing is a gathering, and the Lord has not authorized it as worship. It is what Paul found at Athens: "What therefore ye worship in ignorance" (Acts 17:23). Where the congregation sings, the New Testament tells it to sing "with grace in your hearts unto God" (Colossians 3:16).

Credit. The Association says its "style of worship and day of worship are from the Christian tradition." The congregations hear readings and a sermon, sing, pray or meditate, and take an offering, and their doors are open to those who are seeking.

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come.

But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

This placement is authored, not read from a rubric. The Association names "direct experiences of transcending mystery and wonder" as its primary inspiration, and it teaches nothing of the Holy Spirit and of the gifts that came through the apostles. In Scripture the Spirit is a person who guided the apostles "into all the truth" (John 16:13), and who gave them words "which the Spirit teacheth" (1 Corinthians 2:12-13). He now leads those who are guided by that word: "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Romans 8:14). An inspiration that comes from experience of a mystery is not the Spirit's teaching, which came as words that can be read and tested. The miraculous gifts ceased with the apostles, so the Association's silence on them is not the fault. Its putting the member's own experience where the Spirit's word stands is.

Credit. The Association's call to wonder, to reverence and to humility before what is greater than man is not a bad one. Scripture agrees: "The heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1). The fault is in what is built on it, a spiritual life with no Spirit's word to test it by.

And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment;

The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.

But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep.

This placement is authored. The Association says life after death is an "assumption" or "an open question," that "few of us believe in divine judgment," and that its Universalist side rejected "eternal damnation." The apostles teach that "it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Paul told Athens that God "hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness" (Acts 17:30-31). The Lord said of the wicked, "these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46). The whole of the faith rests on a real resurrection: "now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20). A body that holds all this as an open question has set the Lord's own words beside its own doubts, and taken the doubts.

Credit. The Association does not mock hope. It cares for the dying and the grieving, and its congregations stand with families at the grave. That care is real and it should be said. But comfort that leaves out judgment and resurrection comforts with less than the gospel.

The Universalist hope. The old Universalist belief was that God would save all. The New Testament does say that God "would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:3-4), and it names the way: "in none other is there salvation" (Acts 4:12). The Association's page says the Universalist side broke with eternal damnation. Scripture holds that judgment follows death, and that the way of salvation is the Son.

The Association stands with the New Testament in some things. Its congregations govern themselves, with no bishop and no synod above them, and the congregation answering to no hierarchy above it is the pattern the apostles left. Their bylaw commits them to welcome and to work against oppression, and the Lord said his people should care for the stranger, the sick and the prisoner. They dedicate and bless their children, and they promise to raise them with care. They write down what members owe one another and hold one another to it. Their history keeps the name of Čapek, who paid with his life for conviction. The UU Christians among them, who choose to follow Jesus and read Scripture in a body that does not ask it, stand nearer the New Testament than their Association does.

The test falls hardest where the Association is most itself. It has set Scripture down as one voice among many, and Scripture is the word of the Lord and complete. Having set it down, it has no ordinance of baptism and no Supper, no definition of God, no teaching of the Spirit's word, and no judgment to come. The record shows how this happens, and the step from each stage to the next was small. Channing sought the Bible's meaning "in the same manner as that of other books"; Emerson called the appeal to miracles "a profanation of the soul"; Parker made the Bible "our servant, not our master"; the Principles of 1961 made a "search for truth" the foundation and the Judeo-Christian heritage one summary among many; and the bylaw now names "sacred, secular, and scientific understandings." What remained was what a conscience, left alone, can keep: care for the neighbor, love, justice and a wish for peace. These are good, and they are Scripture's own, but they now stand without the Lord who gave them.

These verdicts rest on the text and not on the sincerity of the people. The Association's members are kind, and many of them are seeking. The way back is the one Isaiah named: "To the law and to the testimony!" (Isaiah 8:20). The Bible is the word that does not move when the judge changes.

More illuminations · Harbinger's Lamp