Should Unitarian Universalism be re-named? Any suggestions as to new names?
It's a mouthful to say, but I haven't heard of any other names I would be comfortable with, especially since I think Unitarianism and Universalism are still important to the religion's history, no matter how much it has changed in some ways.
Absolutely the name of our movement needs to be changed...what our congregations are today has very little to do with the now-obscure 19th-century theological issues reflected in our name.
"Unitarian" is a label for Christians who felt the Trinity was not a biblically-based or provable doctrine, and that the oneness of God is absolute. "Universalist" regards a doctrine of heaven and hell, rejecting the idea of eternal damnation, preaching the eventual salvation of all souls by a loving God (hence "All Souls" as the name of many UU churches/fellowships/societies). Today's UUs aren't necessarily Christian, don't care much about biblical arguments, tend to not believe in an afterlife with punishments. I'm deeply interested in church history and the evolution of our theology myself, but have come to believe that the people we're reaching out to aren't into these issues.
Another issue is confusion with the Unity church, which is nice and liberal but much more "spiritual" and Christian, or with the Unification Church of Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
Think about it...in my lifetime, New England Telephone became Bell Atlantic, then NYNEX, now Verizon. Same old Bell telephones, but a whole different logo for a new time. Are we missing something?
I'd hold off on a "rebranding" until UUs actually go through a transformation justifying a rebranding...which I believe will happen in the next 25 years. However, note the "folder" our group is in here on Religious Forums: "Syncretic Religions". Syncretic means we're taking parts of other religions and putting them together, looking for the best of each. I'd never heard this term before coming to RF, but think it's much more about who we are than "Unitarian/Universalism".
In any case, this "mouthful" is holding us back.
