Unitarian Universalists began among Christians who did not accept the Trinity, and today welcome many beliefs.
Reformed1825 / 1961grew out of Congregational (Puritan)
Anti-trinitarian Reformation currents took church form in Transylvania in 1568, when Francis Dávid's Unitarian Church won legal standing under the Edict of Torda, and among the Polish Brethren. In New England the Unitarian controversy split the Congregational churches, and William Ellery Channing's party formed the American Unitarian Association in 1825. Merged with the Universalists (1793) in 1961 into the Unitarian Universalist Association, now non-creedal, with many members who do not describe themselves as Christian.
Unitarian Universalism came from two convictions that were once separate. Historically, Unitarians affirmed one God without the distinction of three divine persons, rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity 20. Trinitarian Christians also affirm one God, understood as Father, Son and Holy Spirit 21. Universalists held that God saves everyone in the end. Both were arguments among Christians, and the two movements merged in 1961 into a fellowship that now requires no creed at all.
The Unitarian side is the older. Anti-trinitarian teaching cost Michael Servetus his life at Geneva in 1553, and Faustus Socinus gathered its arguments among the Polish Brethren, whose catechism of 1605 set them out 18,11,7. It first became a legal church in Transylvania: the Edict of Torda in 1568, made under a Unitarian king, granted preachers freedom to teach according to their understanding, one of the earliest such laws anywhere in Europe, and Ferenc Dávid's church has continued there ever since 9,10,7. In England Theophilus Lindsey opened an avowedly Unitarian chapel in London in 1774, and Joseph Priestley, chemist and minister, argued the case until a mob burned his house in Birmingham in 1791 and he left for America 15,7.
The Universalist side began in America with John Murray, who preached in New Jersey from 1770 that Christ died for all and that none would be finally lost, and Hosea Ballou, whose Treatise on Atonement in 1805 gave the movement its theology 13,14,8. Meanwhile the Congregational churches of eastern Massachusetts were dividing over the Trinity. William Ellery Channing's Baltimore sermon of 1819 gave the anti-trinitarian party its name and its case, the American Unitarian Association followed in 1825, and Harvard went with them 12,7,1. The two bodies, one drawn from Boston's older families and the other from country parishes, merged in 1961 as the Unitarian Universalist Association 1,6.
When the New England churches divided, the fight was over buildings and endowments as much as doctrine: at Dedham in 1820 the courts awarded the meetinghouse and funds to the parish rather than to the members of the church, and Congregational churches across Massachusetts lost property to Unitarian parishes 16,7.
Unitarian Universalists are not asked to affirm a creed. The association describes a covenant rather than a doctrine, and its members hold a range of beliefs about God, Jesus and life after death, with many describing themselves as humanist, and others as Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, pagan or none of these.
The association states its shared covenant through what it calls shared values, interdependence, pluralism, justice, transformation, generosity and equity, all centred around love 2,4. Before those, and still widely quoted, stood the Seven Principles, beginning with the inherent worth and dignity of every person and ending with respect for the interdependent web of existence 3,2. Authority rests with the congregation, which is inherited from the Congregational churches this movement grew out of: each congregation calls its own minister and orders its own worship, and the association serves them rather than governing them 1,6.
The two founding convictions still show. The historical Unitarian rejection of the Trinity was argued from Scripture: the Shema, John's report that eternal life is to know the only true God, and Paul's one God and one mediator 19,7,12. That everyone is finally saved was argued the same way, from Paul's promise that as in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive 8,14. Those arguments are part of the movement's history, and many present-day members hold neither in that form, which the association states plainly rather than smoothing over 6,2,1.
Worship and practice
A Unitarian Universalist service looks like a plain Protestant one: hymns, readings, a sermon, silence, a chalice lit at the start. The readings may come from the Bible or from other traditions or from poetry, and the sermon is the centre.
The flaming chalice, adopted in the 1940s, is the movement's symbol and is lit at the beginning of worship 1,6. Congregations decide their own practice, so one may keep a service close to the New England Protestant pattern it inherited while another draws widely on other sources 6,1. Children are dedicated rather than baptised in many congregations, though practice varies, and there is no required rite for anything 6,2. Social action has been central since the nineteenth century: Unitarians and Universalists were prominent among abolitionists, in prison and asylum reform, and in the women's movement, and the tradition of the minister as a public voice has continued 1,7,8.
Scripture and Bible translations
There is no prescribed scripture. The Bible is read in many Unitarian Universalist congregations as one source among several, valued as literature and moral witness rather than received as binding, and other traditions' texts are read beside it.
That position followed from the movement's own history. Nineteenth-century Unitarians applied historical scholarship to the Bible earlier than most American Protestants, and by the time Ralph Waldo Emerson addressed the Harvard divinity students in 1838 the question of whether Christianity rested on miracles at all was being argued inside the movement 7,12,1. Congregations that identify as Christian still preach from the Bible weekly; others use it occasionally 6,2. Read here: the King James Version, which is the Bible Channing, Murray and Ballou argued from, and the American Standard Version. The versions guide sets out what these congregations read.
In church
No scripture is prescribed. The Association names Jewish and Christian teachings as one of the six sources of its living tradition, alongside other world religions, humanism and direct experience, so a Sunday reading may come from the Bible or from anywhere.
Heritage
The Unitarian Harvard of Channing and Emerson read the King James Version; twentieth-century Unitarians the RSV.
These passages illustrate themes discussed in this profile; they are not a survey of members' favorite verses. Each is quoted from the King James (Authorized) Version and links to its chapter. You can explore the text for study or personal reflection; memorization is optional.
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
God is love. The verse both movements ended at, and the word the association still puts at the centre of its values.
People
Michael Servetusabout 1511 to 1553 Spanish physician and theologian who denied the Trinity in print and was burned at Geneva; Unitarians count him a martyr and Calvin's part in his death is not forgotten.18
Ferenc Dávidabout 1520 to 1579 Court preacher in Transylvania whose arguments led to the Edict of Torda in 1568 and to the Unitarian Church that still exists there; he died in prison for pressing his position further.10
Joseph Priestley1733 to 1804 Discovered oxygen and argued for Unitarian Christianity with equal energy; a mob burned his house and laboratory in 1791 and he emigrated to Pennsylvania.15
John Murray1741 to 1815 Came from England convinced that no one is finally lost, preached it in America from 1770, and gathered the first Universalist congregations.13
William Ellery Channing1780 to 1842 His Baltimore sermon of 1819 gave New England's anti-trinitarian Congregationalists their name and their argument, and made him the movement's central figure.12
Olympia Brown1835 to 1926 Ordained by the Universalists in 1863, among the first women ordained by a denomination in America, and a suffrage campaigner who lived to vote.17
Today
The Unitarian Universalist Association is small and largely American. Its own count for 2024 was about 153,000 members and religious education enrollees. There are related Unitarian bodies in Britain, Transylvania, Hungary, the Philippines and elsewhere.
The association's membership figures, which it publishes itself, have been falling slowly for two decades 6,4. The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches serves congregations in Britain, and the Transylvanian church founded in the sixteenth century continues in Romania and Hungary, where it remains explicitly Christian in a way much of American Unitarian Universalism no longer is 5,7,6. Congregations remain self-governing, and the association's role is service and shared work rather than authority 1,2. Its public commitments are strongly toward social justice, and it has been among the earliest American religious bodies on several questions, ordaining women from the nineteenth century and blessing same-sex unions long before most 6,17,1.
Words to know
congregational government
Church government in which the members of each local congregation decide their own affairs, including choosing their own minister, with no bishop or presbytery above them. Congregations may join associations for fellowship and shared work, but those bodies advise rather than rule.
covenant
A solemn agreement that binds two parties. In the Bible, God's covenant with Israel at Sinai, and later covenants, shape the whole story.
creed
A short statement of belief said together in worship. The Nicene Creed is shared by nearly every Christian tradition.
Trinity
The Christian teaching that God is one in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A few bodies on the tree do not hold it, and say so.
confession
In the Reformation churches, a written statement of what a church believes, such as the Augsburg Confession. In Catholic and Orthodox use, also the sacrament of telling one's sins to a priest.
Reformation
The movement that began with Martin Luther in 1517 to reform the Western Church, and that produced the Protestant churches.
canon
The list of books a community counts as Scripture. Jewish, Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox canons overlap almost entirely and differ at the edges.
martyr
Someone killed for refusing to give up their faith. The word means witness. The early Church honoured its martyrs and kept the days of their deaths.
Questions people ask
Are Unitarian Universalists Christian?
Some are and many are not, and the association does not require an answer. It grew out of two Christian movements and keeps their inheritance, while its members today include humanists, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, pagans and others. The Transylvanian and British Unitarian churches remain more explicitly Christian than the American association 2,6,5.
What did Unitarians originally believe?
That God is one person rather than three, that Jesus is God's son and messenger but not God the Son, and that, in their interpretation, the Trinity was a later development rather than a teaching of Scripture. They argued it from the Shema, from John 17 and from Paul's one God and one mediator 7,12,19.
What did Universalists believe?
That God will finally save everyone, so that punishment after death is corrective rather than endless. John Murray preached it from 1770 and Hosea Ballou gave it a full theology in 1805, arguing chiefly from Paul's claim that all who die in Adam are made alive in Christ 13,14,8.
Do they have a creed?
No. Congregations covenant together rather than subscribe to a doctrine. The association states shared values, interdependence, pluralism, justice, transformation, generosity and equity, centred around love, and before those the Seven Principles, which are still widely quoted 2,3,4.
Why is a non-creedal movement on a tree of denominations?
Because of where it came from. It grew out of the Congregational churches of New England and out of sixteenth-century arguments among Christians about the Trinity and about who is saved, and it keeps congregational government from that inheritance. What it has become is a separate question, and the association answers it in its own words rather than in anyone else's 1,6,2.
Sources
Numbered references link the account above to its sources. These include the tradition's own documents and outside reference works. The review status below distinguishes source checking from completed member and scholarly review.
BibleVerse. “Unitarian Universalist: where they came from, what they hold, and the Bible they read.” bibleverse.site, version 2026-09-09, https://bibleverse.site/denominations/unitarian/
Awaiting review by a member of the tradition. First published 2026-09-07; last changed 2026-09-09. Years before the common era are written BC, and later years plainly, as the site's Christian pages do.
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