Unitarian Universalism

In Unitarian Universalism, you can bring your whole self: your full identity, your questioning mind, your expansive heart.

Together, we create a force more powerful than one person or one belief system. As Unitarian Universalists, we do not have to check our personal background and beliefs at the door: we join together on a journey that honors everywhere we’ve been before.

Our beliefs are diverse and inclusive. We have no shared creed. Our shared covenant (our seven Principles) supports “the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” Though Unitarianism and Universalism were both liberal Christian traditions, this responsible search has led us to embrace diverse teachings from Eastern and Western religions and philosophies.

Unitarian Universalists believe more than one thing. We think for ourselves, and reflect together, about important questions.

What Do We Believe About God?

Unitarian Universalists have many ways of naming what is sacred. 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.” We are thousands of individuals of all ages, each influenced by our cultures and life experiences to understand “the ground of our being” in our own way. Unitarian Universalists are agnostic, theist, atheist, and everything in between. We come from Jewish, Catholic, Christian, Buddhist, Pagan and many other religious or spiritual backgrounds.

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. We gather to know and be known, to comfort and be comforted, to celebrate the mystery that binds us, each to all.

We welcome you in the fullness of your beliefs. Join us in exploring life’s deepest questions in a spiritually diverse, supportive, and challenging community. We are excited to meet you where you are, and see how we can all learn and grow together.

We are united in our broad and inclusive outlook, and in our values, as expressed in our Seven Principles.

1st Principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person.

2nd Principle: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.

3rd Principle: Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.

4th Principle: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

5th Principle: The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.

6th Principle: The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.

7th Principle: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

We are united in shared experience: our open and stirring worship services, religious education, and rites of passage; our work for social justice; our quest to include the marginalized; our expressions of love.

In Unitarian Universalism we draw upon Six Traditions for our understanding of our world and our worship services reflect this diversity:

1) 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.

2) Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion and the transforming power of love.

3) Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life.

4) Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves.

5) Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.

6) Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.