17 Examples of Erasing Universalist History, Ignoring Universalist History, or Burying it under the Label of Unitarian History

. . . A collection of examples of Universalism or Universalist history being left out of the picture, destroyed, ignored, misrepresented, treated with substantially less space than Unitarian history, called Unitarian history, or buried under Unitarian history.

I have seen so many examples of this casual disregard for Universalist history that I just had to start collecting them. Please note: These are not all the examples I have ever found, just examples from people who should know better.

How would it be if, every time someone mentions Channing, Emerson and Parker and implies that they are the whole foundation of UU history, someone snuck in and added Murray, Winchester, Balfour and Ballou? Hmmmm. (Listed in chronological order, more or less.)

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Exhibit #1

1922

The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Volume 5
by Clarence Monroe Burton

Page 188, in the biography of Rollin Howard Stevens, states:

"Dr. Stevens served on the board of trustees of the Church of Our Father and has long been identified with the Unitarian faith."

Comment: Church of Our Father was a Universalist church. After this book was published, their name changed (1934) to First Unitarian-Universalist Church when Detroit's Unitarian congregation consolidated with the Universalists. It is incorrect to refer to members of this Universalist church as Unitarians, particularly prior to the 1934 event in which the Unitarians "moved in" with the Universalists.

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Exhibit #2

1933

Of the 34 people who signed Humanist Manifesto I, it is often stated that "about half (15) were Unitarians."

Comment: This fact is mentioned in the Preface of the Manifesto. In fact, the signers included only 12 Unitarians, 1 Universalist, and 2 individuals who were dually fellowshipped.

The sole Universalist is called a Unitarian and the two in dual fellowship are stripped of their Universalism and called solely Unitarian.

(Email me if you would like a list of the Universalists and Unitarians who signed the Manifesto.)

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Exhibit #3

1956

The famous group of murals, 24 Saints of Liberalism, painted at 3rd Unitarian Chicago 1956–69 by church member Andrene Kauffman, includes 9 Unitarians, 15 non-U/Us, and no Universalists.

The Unitarian subjects are: Susan B. Anthony, Edwin T. Buehrer, William Ellery Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Jefferson, James Martineau, Thomas Paine, Theodore Parker, Joseph Priestley.

The Non-U/U subjects are: Jane Addams, John Peter Altgeld (progressive governor of IL), Albert Camus, Confucius, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Suddhartha Gautama, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Jesus of Nazareth, Socrates, Harriet Tubman, Walt Whitman, Woodrow Wilson, Roger Williams.

Info from UU World, Summer 2009, pages 36-39

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Exhibit #4

1991

Book title: Thomas Starr King: Eminent Californian, Civil War Statesman, Unitarian Minister, by Robert A. Monzingo. NY: Boxwood Press, 1991

Comment: Thomas Starr King was ordained both Universalist and Unitarian but here he is described only as a Unitarian.

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Exhibit #5

1991

The UU Alphabet

Song lyric by yours truly, listing one famous U/U for each letter of the alphabet.

The song lists 14 Unitarians (61%), 3 Universalists (13%), 2 UUs (9%), 3 borderline or wrong names (13%), and three letters (U, X, Z) that I had to fudge entirely, not included in percentages.

In my own defense, I wrote the lyric before I knew much Universalist history. I collected the names from list of "famous UUs" that I got from various sources. Since most lists of "famous UUs" at the time were — and still are — approximtely 80% Unitarian, 10% Universalist and 10% wrong, my song lyric ended up being about the same.

(Email me if you would like to see the song.)

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Exhibit #6

1996

"[The Rev. James] Stoll was a minister of the Unitarian Universalist Association--known as the Unitarians--and his act [coming out] was the first of many that came to mark the Unitarians as the country's most accepting, welcoming denomination for homosexuals."

-- Mark Oppenheimer, History Department, Yale University

This is the third sentence in his article, "The Inherent Worth and Dignity": Gay Unitarians and the Birth of Sexual Tolerance in Liberal Religion, published in Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 7, 1996

Article excerpt found online at Questia at

http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=L1rMSv1h95SD1n1t0HKQJZp0wqkLYw1TYQ2k7WV0npv33fjFDP1C!-997264469!1888687908?docId=96428120 (viewed online Jan 2, 2010)

Should I be shocked that a professor of history at Yale doesn't know or doesn't care about the difference between a Unitarian and a Unitarian Universalist?

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Exhibit #7

1999

"UUs seem to have two conflicting "myth of origin" stories that influence our sense of roots. One is that we began with Akhenaten, Moses and Jesus, and we're the REAL monotheists. (Though that theory is somewhat out of fashion with the change from "one God at most" to "one God more or less.") Then there's the "creation ex nihilo" out of the heads of Servetus and Channing -- this myth is operationally what many members in UU churches believe. It's interesting what you learn by listening at coffee hours and online UU chats, just to understand what the average congregational member really thinks is the history of our idea and association!"

-- Jone Johnson Lewis, on the UU Historical Society listserv

Comment: She says "UUs" have two origin myths but describes origin myths of Unitarians alone.

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Exhibit #8

date unknown (circa 2000)

I once sat through an entire sermon in a UU church in which the speaker -- a guest and layman -- referred to Walt Whitman three or four times as "a gay Unitarian minister." I don't know who the speaker was thinking of but Walt Whitman was not a minister and was not a Unitarian (he was borderline Universalist at best).

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Exhibit #9

16 Jun 2000

David M. Robinson, Distinguished Professor of American Literature, Department of English, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, posted the following to the UU Historical Society listserv:

BEGIN QUOTE

Dear Fellow UU History Buffs,

I'll be giving a talk at GA on UU History in a session sponsored by the Fulfilling the Promise Task Force (session 446). The official title is "What Our History Might Teach Us," but it has evolved over the spring into a paper with the working title "The Five Phases of Unitarian Universalist History." I thought I would put my basic thesis out on this list in advance for possible reaction, and will perhaps be able to speak with some of you at GA. The "Five Phases" will probably not surprise you, but they gave me the best broad overview of the denomination's development that I could work out. What I was interested in developing was a broadly comprehensive, and thus necessarily very general, "big picture" encapsulation of our history. The five phases are:

(1) the Unitarian Controversy (Great Awakening to the 1830s)

(2) Transcendentalism (1830s to 1860s)

(3) Free Religion (1860s to 1890s)

(4) Humanism (1920s to 1940s)

(5) Social Justice Movements (1960s [or late 1950s?] to the present). . . .

END QUOTE

Comment: This is not an outline of UU history, it is an outline of Unitarian history. It ignores Universalist history and has almost no direct relevance to Universalism. There's nothing wrong with that except that Professor Robinson refers to it as "UU History" and as a "broad overview of the denomination's development."

To Robinson's credit, when it was gently pointed out to him by several others on the list that his outline did not apply to Universalist history, he responded, saying:

"I also agree with you that it falsifies Universalist history to try to read it through categories derived from Unitarian history, such as Transcendentalism and Free Religion. This need to keep things separate historically of course presents some problems. In one sense, all UUs after the merger must own the histories of each denomination. And the history of the denomination after the merger is of course "Unitarian Universalist." But to own those histories does not mean to merge them or erase their uniqueness."

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Exhibit #10

27 Dec 2003

"Still we, in our dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist biography and elsewhere state that Ralph Waldo Emerson, Clara Barton, Horace Mann, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and others, were 19th century Unitarians. How many Unitarians were there in the 19th century?" [emphasis added]

John Keohane, UUHS listserv

Comment: Clara Barton was a Universalist but here she is lumped in with Unitarians and called a Unitarian.

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Exhibit #11

2004

This Day in Unitarian Universalist History: A Treasury of Anniversaries and Milestones from 600 Years of Religious Tradition, by Frank Schulman, published by Skinner House Books, an imprint of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Comment: This is, overall, a well written book, with clear, concise entries. It is well laid out and easy to read. It lists, for each day of the calendar year, around two to four milestones in UU history.

The problem is that it is almost all Unitarian history and only a little bit Universalist history. And I hazard to say that the Universalist history seems to be based on Unitarian sources.

I made a count of how many entries are Unitarian, how many Universalist, and how many are Borderline (regarding someone who was a small-u unitarian, for example) or Both.

I was going to count the whole book but stopped after three months (January 1 to March 31) since the trend was obvious.

Out of a total of 293 entries for the first three months, I found:

85% (248) Unitarian entries

10% (28) Universalist entries

3% (9) Borderline

3% (8) Both (Unitarian Universalist combined) (total is 101% due to rounding)

I also checked the bibliography and found a preponderance of Unitarian sources. There were 26 Unitarian, 11 Universalist, and 5 UU history books listed, as well as one general biographical dictionary and one history of the Humanist Manifesto (see Exhibit #2).

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Exhibit #12

2008 (approx)

On the poster entitled 100 Unitarians and Universalists there are 79 Unitarians, 9 Universalists, 5 UUs, 1 labeled "you" (with a little mirror instead of a portrait), and 6 who don't even belong on the poster.

The nine Univeralists are: Hosea Ballou, P.T. Barnum, Clara Barton, Olympia Brown, Augusta Jane Chapin, Mary Livermore, John Murray, Benjamin Rush, Clarence Skinner.

The five UUs are: Tim Berners-Lee, Laurel Salton Clark, Robert Fulghum, Thomas Starr King, Christopher Reeve.

The six who shouldn't be on the poster are: Isaac Asimov, Thomas Carlyle, Theodore Giesel, Thomas Huxley, Robert LaFollette, Daniel Webster.

I do not know who published this poster. There is a framed copy of it hanging in the First UU Church of Detroit, but no publication data visible.

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Exhibit #13

7 Apr 2008

Clint Richmond, on the UU Historical Society listserv, said:

BEGIN QUOTE

The historic First Church in Boston has invited me to speak as part of their adult RE Learning Community. The illustrated presentation is based on my guidebook 'Political Places of Boston' . . .

I will be surveying neighborhood landmarks/events and their UU connections (Boston Pride parade, Boston Common and Faneuil Hall) as well as UU sites (such as UUA headquarters, Beacon Press, Arlington Street Church, and Community Church).

UU people to be mentioned will include Emily Greene Balch, Elliot Richardson, Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Theodore Parker.

The UUA bookstore has kindly carried the book since it was released in 2004. Their copies also have a special insert that makes some of these same connections, which allow you to take a similar such "UU Freedom Trail" if you visit Boston.

END QUOTE

Comment: He calls his book and his talk and his freedom trail all "UU" but with the exception of the UUA headquarters, everything mentioned is 100% Unitarian; there seems to be nothing Universalist included.

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Exhibit #14

Apr 2009

Dictionary of UU Biography

Comment: I counted the Unitarians and the Universalists in the Dictionary of UU Biography because it seemed as if most of the entries were on Unitarians. I made the count in Apr 2009.

Of the 932 Individuals listed:

68% (633) are Unitarian

18% (172) are Universalist

3% (32) are Both

11% (98) are Unknown (to me at this time)

Comment: The editor in chief of this project specializes in Universalist history, so I am hopeful that as the project goes forward, the difference between the number of Unitarian and Universalist articles will be lessened.

(Email me if you would like to see a list the actual names and how I counted them.)

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Exhibit #15

May 2009

This website gives a brief history of "UUism" based solely on Ralph Waldo Emerson who was a Unitarian minister for about 4 years (1829-1833) then withdrew from the denomination.

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Exhibit #16

Jun 2009

Philosopedia

Warren Allen Smith's website has a summary page listing the names of 325 notable Unitarians who are profiled on his site (there are a few doubles and other anomalies so the correct number is about 323), and another summary page listing all the Universalists, of which there are 45.

But wait, four of the individuals listed as Universalists were actually Unitarians, so the actual number of Universalists listed is only 41. (The four are Dan McKanan, Winifred Latimer Norman, Arpad Szabo; plus Hosea Ballou I is listed twice, the second time as Josea Ballou.)

I also checked the Unitarian list to see if any names belong on the Universalist list and found four (Johannes Auer, Adin Ballou, Angus MacLean, Clinton Lee Scott).

Comment: The site is about 85% Unitarian and 15% Universalist.

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Exhibit #17

4 Nov 2009

UU historian John Keohane's proposed four-session "Course in Adult Religious Education on UU History," as posted on the UU Historical Society listserv.

BEGIN QUOTE

1) Ballou and Channing Both were 19th century Protestant Christian ministers in Boston. Each read the Bible more seriously than their "orthodox" brethren. They were from different strata of society, and they didn't like each other. Hosea Ballou (1771-1852) was a Universalist. He found in the Bible evidence for Universal Salvation. William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) was a Unitarian. He found lack of Biblical evidence lacking for the Trinity. He thought the Bible must be read with the use of reason.

2) The Humanists of the mid-20th century Evidence that Unitarians had gone clearly beyond our Christian roots. We'll discuss the Humanist Manifesto (1933), and some of those who signed it, including ministers John Dietrich and Edwin H. Wilson. We'll then go to another Humanist, the distinguished scientist and physiologist Maurice Visscher, learning of some of the early medical missionary work of the Unitarian (now UU) Service Committee. We'll also learn of Visscher's social action, of the science, and his actions to end atmospheric nuclear tests.

3) Unitarians and Universalists for Civil Rights We'll discuss UU martyrs at Selma, James Reeb, a minister from Boston, and Viola Liuzzo, a housewife and mother from Michigan, whose Oldsmobile with the Michigan plates stood out in the red clay of Alabama. We'll then move our discussion to a giant of the United States Senate, the Quaker-Unitarian Paul H. Douglas, of Illinois, who led the way for civil rights in his 18 years in the US Senate (1949-67), and each year reported his net worth and income to the penny, while rejecting any gift over $5, and refusing his disability pension from the United States Marines.

4) Unitarians and Universalists in the last 50 years Pre-merger cooperation on Religious Education, a hymnal, etc. leading to merger in 1961, to become the Unitarian Universalist Association.

END QUOTE

Comment: His course includes about 85% Unitarian and 15% Universalist material. The number of Universalist people mentioned here is exactly one: Hosea Ballou, although one could also count Viola Liuzzo who belonged to a joint Unitarian Universalist congregation.

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28 Universalist Members of Congress

. . . I often hear that Universalists were never historically significant compared to Unitarians. This is an irritating myth that needs to be thoroughly quashed.

Today I am posting a list of 28 Universalists who happened to have served in the US Congress as either senators or congressmen. (6 senators, 24 congressers, including 2 who are on both lists, total 28.)

This page lists senators first, followed by members of the house of representatives. Each list is in chronological order based on the date the individual was elected to congress. (Two of these gentlemen served in both the house and senate and are therefore on both lists.)

For each individual I have also mentioned a few of their other major accomplishments.

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Universalist Senators

Timothy Pickering (17 Jul 1745–29 Jan 1829) (also known as Thomas Pickering), patriot in American Revolution; officer in the Massachusetts militia 1766–75; judge of the Massachusetts general court 1774–77; appointed by George Washington army adjutant general 1777–91; US postmaster general 1791–95, US secretary of war 1795, US secretary of state 1795–1800; US senator 1803–11 and congressman for Massachusetts 1812–17; SS Timothy Pickering named in his honor 1942 (sank 1945)

John Milton Niles (20 Aug 1787–30 May 1856), abolitionist; founding owner-editor Hartford Weekly Times c.1817–1847; wrote Life of Oliver Hazard Perry 1820, History of South America and Mexico 1838 (2 volumes) and other books; member of Connecticut legislature 1826–28; postmaster of Hartford 1829–36; US senator for Connecticut 1835–39, 1844–49; US postmaster general 1840–41

Joseph Cilley (14 Jan 1791–16 Sep 1887), brevet captain in the 21st New Hampshire Infantry in the War of 1812; US senator for New Hampshire 1846–47

William Drew Washburn, Sr. (14 Jan 1831–29 Jul 1912), as owner of lumber, railroad, mining and milling enterprises credited with putting Minneapolis on the map; surveyor general of Minnesota 1861–65 (federal position); congressman for Minnesota 1879–85; trustee of Tufts College 1883–95; US senator 1889–95; one of the seven Washburn brothers

Obadiah Gardner (13 Sep 1852–24 Jul 1938), master of the Maine State Grange 1897–1907; US Senator for Maine 1911–13; member of the Joint Commission for Settlement of Questions Arising on Boundary Waters between US and Canada

Marcus Allen Coolidge (6 Oct 1865–23 Jan 1947), mayor of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 1916; appointed by Calvin Coolidge (a distant cousin) special envoy to Poland for the Peace Commission 1919; US senator for Massachusetts 1931–37

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Universalist Members of US House of Representatives (including one member of the Continental Congress)

James Mitchell Varnum (17 Dec 1748–9 Jan 1789), Colonel to Brigadier General in the American Revolution 1774–79; instrumental in allowing African Americans to enlist (they formed the First Rhode Island Infantry); Major General in the Rhode Island militia 1779–80; member of the Continental Congress 1780–82, 1786–87; as supreme court justice in the Northwest Territory 1787–89 opened the first court in present-day Ohio

Timothy Pickering (17 Jul 1745–29 Jan 1829) (see above)

John Galbraith (2 Aug 1794–15 Jun 1860) (also spelled Galbreath), founding editor-publisher Palladium and Republican Star 1818–20 (first newspaper in Butler County, Pennsylvania); member of the Pennsylvania legislature 1829–32; congressman for Pennsylvania 1833–37, 1839–41; district judge in Pennsylvania 1851–60; at the Universalist General Convention of 1859 he made a motion to allow women to be ordained (it did not pass)

Rev. Charles Hudson (14 Nov 1795–4 May 1881), soldier in the War of 1812; member of the Massachusetts legislature 1828–39; member of the governor's council 1838–41; Massachusetts state board of education 1837–45; congressman for Massachusetts 1841–49

Horace Greeley (3 Feb 1811–29 Nov 1872), newspaper publisher; supporter of women's equality, abolition of slavery and other progressive causes; founding owner-editor New-Yorker 1834–72 (became NY Weekly Tribune 1840); congressman for New York 1848–49

Israel Washburn, Jr. (6 Jun 1813–12 May 1883), congressman for Maine 1851–61; instrumental in founding the Republican Party and credited with choosing the party name 1854 (formed at a meeting in Jackson, Michigan, the Republican party was, in the beginning, a left-wing, anti-slavery party); trustee of Tufts College 1852–83; trustee of the Universalist Publishing House 1860–63; Governor of Maine 1861–63; one of the seven Washburn brothers

Elihu Benjamin Washburne (23 Sep 1816–23 Oct 1887), known as 'Father of the House' during his time as a congressman for Illinois 1852–69; US secretary of state under Ulysses S. Grant 1869 (2 weeks); Ambassador to France 1869–77; one of the seven Washburn brothers but always spelled his name in an E

Cadwallader C. Washburn (22 Apr 1818–15 May 1882), congressman for Wisconsin 1855–61, 1867–71; Major General in the Civil War; founding president of Gold Medal Flour 1866 (Minneapolis, now part of General Mills); adopted a new process that revolutionized the flour industry 1878; Governor of Wisconsin 1872–74; the town of Washburn, Wisconsin, was named in his honor 1883; one of the seven Washburn brothers

Portus Baxter (4 Dec 1806–4 Mar 1868), congressman for Vermont 1861–67; as a Civil War nurse at Battle of Fredericksburg 1864 became known as 'the Soldier's Friend'; Marine Hospital at Burlington, Vermont, renamed Baxter General Hospital in his honor 1864

Sidney Perham (27 Mar 1819–10 Apr 1907), member of the Maine legislature 1854–55; congressman for Maine 1863–69; board president of the Westbrook Seminary 1865–80; Governor of Maine 1871–74; founder and president of the Aine Industrial School for Girls, Hallowell, Maine, 1872–99 (27 years); trustee for 27 years and president 1866, 1870, 1875, of the Universalist Church of America

Hosea Washington Parker (30 May 1833–21 Aug 1922), member of the New Hampshire legislature 1859–60; congressman for New Hampshire 1871–75; trustee of Tufts College 1883–1913; president of the Universalist Church of America 1887–91

Samuel Freeman Hersey (12 Apr 1812–3 Feb 1875), philanthropist; member of the Maine legislature 1842, 1857, 1865, 1867, 1869; congressman for Maine 1873–75

Latimer Whipple Ballou I (1 Mar 1812–9 May 1900), co-founder of the Cambridge Press 1835–42; president of Woonsocket Hospital; congressman for Rhode Island 1875–81

William Smith King (16 Dec 1828–24 Feb 1900), newspaper editor; postmaster of the US House of Representatives 1861–65, 1867–73; congressman for Minnesota 1875–77

Horatio Bisbee, Jr. (1 May 1839–27 Mar 1916), enlisted as Private in Civil War, promoted to Colonel of the 9th Maine Infantry 1861–63; US Attorney for the Northern District of Florida 1869–73; congressman for Florida 1877–79, 1882–85

William Drew Washburn, Sr. (14 Jan 1831–29 Jul 1912) (see above)

Henry Lee Morey (8 Apr 1841–29 Dec 1902), enlisted as Private in Civil War, promoted to Captain; prosecuting attorney of Butler County, Ohio, 1873–81; congressman for Ohio 1881–84, 1889–91

Rev. Luther Franklin McKinney (25 Apr 1841–30 Jul 1922), Cavalry Sergeant in Civil War 1861–63; congressman for New Hampshire 1887–89, 1891–93; Ambassador to Colombia 1893–96; member of the Maine legislature 1907; master of the New Hampshire State International Order of Odd Fellows

Willfred Weymouth Lufkin (10 Mar 1879–28 Mar 1934), congressman for Massachusetts 1917–21

Allen Francis Moore (30 Sep 1869–15 Aug 1945), mayor of Monticello, Illinois, 1901–03; congressman for Illinois 1921–25

Frank Herbert Foss (20 Sep 1865–15 Feb 1947) (no relation), city council 1906–12 and mayor of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 1917–20; congressman for Massachusetts 1925–35

Henry Leland Bowles (6 Jan 1866–17 May 1932), member of the governor's council of Massachusetts 1913, 1918, 1919; congressman for Massachusetts 1925–29

Jesse Paine Wolcott (3 Mar 1893–28 Jan 1969), Infantry Second Lieutenant in World War One 1917–19; prosecuting attorney in St Clair County, Michigan, 1927–30; congressman for Michigan 1931–57

Simon Moulton Hamlin (10 Aug 1866–27 Jul 1939), mayor of South Portland, Maine, 1933–34; congressman for Maine 1935–37

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Top Ten Reasons U/Us aren't identified as U/Us by historians, when Quakers are almost always identified as Quakers.

. . . (With apologies to David Letterman because this is his shtick.)

10. General cultural prejudice against U/Us.

9. The term "Universalist" carries almost no recognition.

8. The term "Unitarian" started out as an insult, and probably still is to some.

7. Some of our churches bear nondenominational names. (Examples: King's Chapel, All Souls, First Parish, Church of Our Father.)

6. Some of our churches carry the names of other denominations. (Examples: Unity, Congregational, Non-Subscribing Presbyterian, Polish Brethren.)

5. Our well-known forebears are confused with Congregationalists, Puritans, or some other religious movement.

4. Our well-known forebears are identified with nonreligious movements. (Examples: Priestley is often labeled a scientist, not a Unitarian minister; Emerson is often labeled a Transcendentalist.)

3. Biographers may lack specialized knowledge of religious history and may therefore avoid mentioning the subject's religious affiliation.

2. Being Universalist or Unitarian is simply not considered relevant. (One prominent biographer, David McCullough, whose massive best-selling biography John Adams makes no mention of Adams' Unitarianism, stated that being a Mennonite or Quaker is "historically significant" but being a Unitarian isn't.)

And, the number one reason historians often identify Quakers by their religion but seldom identify U/Us:

1. The Quakers have a line of breakfast cereal and we don't.

9 Differences between Universalists and Unitarians, and 4 Things They Have in Common

. . . In my experience, the average Unitarian Universalist knows very little about UU history, and what they do know is usually superficial and often downright incorrect. Even more alarming is that often, when I chat about Universalism, I find that the average UU knows even less about Universalist history. Inevitable they will ask me, what's the difference between Unitarians and Universalists anyway? Hence this little list.

Please note: These lists are historical in content. By the 1920s-1940s, most of these differences ceased to matter. American Universalists and American Unitarians consolidated in 1961, although among UUs today there are still some that identify more with one side than the other.

(Much of this material is from the massive book by Russell E. Miller, The Larger Hope, Volume 2: The Second Century of the Universalist Church in America, 1870–1970.)


9 Differences between Universalists and Unitarians

1. In the early days, Universalism appealed mainly to the common people while Unitarianism appealed to a much smaller and wealthier class.

2. In the early days, there were few college graduates among the ministers of Universalism but nearly every Unitarian preacher was a graduate of Harvard.

3. In the early days, Universalist preachers, typified by Hosea Ballou I (1771–1852), were philosophers, poets, reformers, philanthropists. Unitarian preachers, typified by William Ellery Channing (1780–1842), were thinkers, logicians, theologians, controversialists.

4. Unitarians appealed to the aristocratic, cultural, trained mind. Universalists appealed to the democratic, spiritual, "warmth and fervor" side.

5. Universalists hung on to the Bible longer than the Unitarians. Universalists emphasized the goodness of God and the moral leadership of Jesus. Unitarians emphasized biblical criticism and the ethical elements in political and social problems.

6. Unitarianism never took hold among the common people. Unitarians saw their mission being with the scholarly and elite.

7. Universalists were ahead of Unitarians in racial equality. African Americans were members of the first Universalist congregation in America. Universalists started schools and social service agencies to help poverty-stricken blacks after the Civil War. Universalists had interracial congregations in Northern cities and black congregations in the rural South. On the other hand, the American Unitarian Association (AUA) systematically ignored the few black preachers and congregations their faith attracted. In slavery days there were even some Unitarians who owned slaves and defended human slavery, and in the early 20th century the AUA actually published books by Unitarian authors on white racial superiority.

8. Universalists led the way in women's equality. They accepted a woman preacher as early as 1811 (Maria Cook, 1779–1835), ordained the first woman in 1860 (Lydia Ann Jenkins, 1824–1874), and in 1869 had a national organization of Universalist women that stood on par with the church. Unitarians did ordained a few women in the late 1800s, but in the early 20th century they actually pushed women who wanted to be ministers into "parish assistant" roles.

9. There is no record of a Universalist ever excluding a Unitarian from their circle. There are several examples on record of Unitarians excluding Universalists.


4 Things Unitarians and Universalists had in Common

1. Both were radical Protestant denominations with their roots in Europe; both started in North America in the late 1700s. The first Universalist congregation here was formed in Massachusetts in 1779. The first Unitarian congregation, also in Massachusetts, came into being in 1785.

2. Both denominations preached absolute freedom of religion, asserting that each person had the right to question, to learn, and to make up his or her own mind on matters of religious doctrine.

3. Both denominations practiced democracy in church governance.

4. Unitarian and Universalist views of the nature of Jesus have been essentially identical since the late 1700s.

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6 Universalist Unitarian Congregations Formed Prior to 1934, and 11 Other Examples of Unitarian Universalist Cooperation Prior to 1934

. . . Why 1934, you ask? That is the date in which the Unitarian congregation in Detroit joined up with the Universalist congregation in Detroit to form the "First Unitarian-Universalist Church." (*)

Members of this congregation are often heard to say that theirs was the first congregation in which Universalists and Unitarians joined. Well, being a stickler for accurate history, I feel compelled to dispell this local myth, so I put together these two little lists. (Please email me if I have missed anything that should be on these lists, thanks.)


6 Universalist Unitarian Congregations Formed Prior to 1934

1. 1827, in Louisville, Kentucky, a religious society was organized and a joint meeting house was built by Unitarians and Universalists. Soon, however, the Unitarians excluded the Universalists and the society fell apart. Universalists reorganized in 1840 and again merged with the Unitarians in 1870.

2. 1834, the first Universalist meeting house in Alabama was erected at Montgomery. It was a joint venture, named the "First Unitarian Universalist Society of Montgomery." The congregation was dormant by 1839.

3. 1858, Unitarians and Universalists joined in Dubuque, Iowa. There was much debate at the time over whether to use "Unitarian," "Universalist," or "Liberal Christian" as the name.

4. 1871, in Oak Park, Illinois, "Unity Temple" was founded jointly by Unitarians and Universalists. Their famous edifice was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

5. 1878, the local Unitarian and Universalist churches in Englewood Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, combined and named themselves the "Christian Union Society."

6. 1909, "All Souls Universalist-Unitarian Church," in Waterbury, Connecticut, was dedicated.


11 Other Examples of Unitarian Universalist Cooperation Prior to 1934

1. 1848, the Rev. Thomas Starr King, already ordained Universalist, became dually fellowshipped as a Unitarian and Universalist.

2. 1868, a combined Universalist Unitarian organization called the "Conference of Liberal Christians" was formed in the Missouri Valley.

3. 1899, Unitarians and Universalists formed the "Committee of Conference," a national organization for closer cooperation. It lasted until 1907.

4. 1916, Unitarian and Universalist clergy of the Boston area held their first joint meeting. Both Lee S. McCollester, president of the Universalist Church of American and dean of Crane Theological School, and Samuel Atkins Eliot, president of the American Unitarian Association, spoke.

5. 1928, the Illinois Universalist Convention and the Illinois Unitarian Conference held their first joint meeting.

6. 1931, the "Free Church Fellowship" was founded to join Unitarians and Universalists. It lasted until 1937.

7. 1932, "Uni-Uni" was in use as a nickname among the national youth organizations of both denominations.

8. 1932, a joint hymnal commission was established, made up of Universalists and Unitarians. They published Hymns of the Spirit ("the red hymnal") in 1937.

9. 1933, the Minnesota Universalist Convention and the Minnesota Unitarian Conference held their first joint meeting.

10. 1933, the "Wayside Pulpit," a Unitarian program, joined with its Universalist equivalent, the "Community Pulpit."

11. 1933, the Universalist Publishing House began printing the "Unitarian Register," a national Unitarian periodical.


(Most of these facts are found in Russell E. Miller, The Larger Hope, published in 2 volumes, 1979, 1985)

(*) The Unitarians' building was partly demolished when Woodward Avenue, the main thoroughfare in Detroit, was widened in 1934. They sold what was left of their building and moved in with the Universalists, about six blocks away, whose small but handsome 1916 edifice is still serving as the congregation's home.

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Find more Universalist and Unitarian history in my little booklet, A Who's Who of UUs

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24 Goldwynisms from UUs

. . . The word Goldwynism was coined in the early 20th century for a quotation that carries an internal contradiction. It was named for famed movie producer Samuel Goldwyn (1879-1974) who was notorious for making firm pronouncements that seemed clear but, technically speaking, simply made no sense, such as: "Include me out"; "I'll give you a definite maybe"; "We're overpaying him but he's worth it."

The following Goldwynisms, lovingly collected over many years, sprung from the mouths of confused Unitarians and Universalists all across the world.


1. "I cherish the greatest respect toward everybody's religious obligations, never mind how comical." Herman Melville

2. "Say NO to negativity." the Rev. John Corrado

3. "The Garden of Eden is boring as Hell." the Rev. Davidson Loehr

4. "He's universally loved by dozens." U. Utah Phillips, singer-songwriter

5. "If you're going to misuse a word, do it right." Jessie Munro, author, critic

6. "I know what pot smells like because I've read all about it." Jessie Munro

7. "It just isn't Christmas until we've sung the Hanukkah song." overheard during coffee hour at a UU church, reported by Elizabeth Norton, 2008

8. "I have approximately nothing to report." William Hatton, committee chair

9. "It's so hot my armpits are sticking to each other." college student Kathleen Jacobs-Johnson

10. "I like the Ann Arbor art fair better because they have a better variety of crap." art fair visitor Kathleen Jacobs-Johnson

11. "Compassionate conservativism? When I hear neocons using the word compassion I just want to slug them." liberal-minded Kathleen Jacobs-Johnson

12. "Turn off that noise—I can't hear a word edgewise!" disgruntled roommate Kathleen Jacobs-Johnson

13. "I've had an excellent vocabulary since before I could talk." Gwen Foss

14. "You're throwing money out the window when you leave the door open." Gwen Foss, trying to convice thoughtless roommates to close the door during winter

15. "There are three kinds of people: those who can count and those who can't." overheard

16. "I washed a sock. Then I put it in the dryer. When I took it out, it was gone." overheard

17. "You can go with me or we can go together; it's up to you." Henry Clerval, college professor

18. "Occasionally I decide to be impulsive." Vanity Decklestad, author, folklorist

19. "Can you keep your voices down so everyone can see?" Bonnie Schorer Clark, trying to run church auction, to unruly crowd

20. "No one can shut me up unless they tie my hands behind my back." Heather Hicks, religious education teacher

21. "Does the album have any songs you like that aren't on it?" Henry Newt, music critic

22. "He had the same condition I've got, only mine is much worse." overheard at a funeral

23. "The show's only a half hour long. You can't do Hitler justice in half an hour." Peter H. Foss, my dad, complaining about the length of a certain television documentary

24. "If you haven't seen it before, it's certainly worth seeing again." Millie Foss, my mom, trying to talk a friend into seeing one of her favorite movies

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Many of these quotes first appeared in The Confused Quote Book: 395 Slips, Misses and Errors Spoken by the High, the Mighty and other Celebrities, compiled by Gwen Foss, Avenel NJ: Gramercy Books/Random House Value Publishing, 1997, long out of print

Click here for my book of UU jokes, The Church Where People Laugh

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