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Religion plays a major part in the lives of many of the world's people. From simple faiths to large, complex organizations, the religions of the world fill a void in their lives, providing answers to the questions in their lives. There are as many different religions as there are types of people and each can evolve and change to meet their specific spiritual needs. The Unitarian Church was developed by people who supported the full freedom of religious belief among the members of their church. The term "Unitarian" came from those who protested against the doctrine of the trinity, believing instead in the unity of God.
The history of the Unitarian Church began in Europe. In the 1500s a man named Miguel Servet, (or Michael Servetus) a doctor, geographer, and editor, wrote several books questioning the validity of the trinity and infant baptism. He was subsequently burned at the stake for hearsay by John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Many in the church disagreed with this action and Servet's views began to become more widespread in areas such as Poland and Transylvania, where their supporters like Francis David and Faustus Socinus managed to gain religious tolerance from the ruling powers. That state did not last for long and liberal thinkers once again began experiencing persecution.
In the 1700s, English churchmen began to be interested by liberal religion, while in America two ministers had been preaching subjects considered heretical at the time, including the unity of God. Englishman Joseph Priestley, head of a group that would later call themselves Unitarians, fled across the Atlantic to America after repeated threats against his life. Many others remained in England in varying levels of secrecy to continue practicing and discussing the tenets of Unitarian faith.
In America, Unitarianism grew as more and more people rebelled against Calvinist Christianity and it strictness and intolerance, as well as its emphasis on human sinfulness and adherence to the doctrine of the trinity. During this time William Ellery Channing became the most vocal spokesman for the church, publishing a sermon called "Unitarian Christianity" that was widely accepted as a statement of the Unitarian position. Many of the younger ministers began to argue, however, that Unitarianism was still too bound by doctrine. They contended that the faith had moved past Christianity and should be based more on universal experiences rather than recorded histories. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Theodore Parker continued that train of thought, maintaining that truth and inspiration could come from other faiths aside from Christianity. Such views came to be known as Transcendentalism because it stated that religious experiences could transcend the experience of the senses.
In 1863 the Unitarian Church became the first denomination to ordain a woman minister. The Church continued to work to ensure religious freedom and to protect the rights and encourage freethinkers. During World War II, the Unitarian Service Committee worked in Europe to help Jews and Eastern Europeans escape Nazi persecution. The head of the committee, Rev. Charles Joy, met an Austrian artist named Hans Deutch, on the run for drawing unfavorable political cartoons of Adolf Hitler. Deutch, moved by Joy's willingness to help even at the risk of his own life, created the symbol most commonly associated with the Church, the flaming chalice.
In 1961 The Unitarian Church merged with the Universalist Church to form the Unitarian-Universalist Association. Both churches had been evolving similar beliefs and moving toward each other in ideas for some time, and after heavy dialog decided to combine. The decision was made with the consent of a majority of the members of the church and was celebrated as a major event in tolerance and religious understanding.
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