UU=Deist ??

[Rex]

If they are then we need to move this forum to its own and not in Christianity.

 

[Green Gaia]

I think that some UUs are definitely Deists. The more I learn about Deism, the more I agree with it. But as with any other idea, even within UUism, some people are, some people aren't. But I would support moving the forum to it's own though, despite UUism roots in Christianit, I think that would be appropriate.

 

[Rex]

I think that some UUs are definitely Deists. The more I learn about Deism, the more I agree with it. But as with any other idea, even within UUism, some people are, some people aren't. But I would support moving the forum to it's own though, despite UUism roots in Christianit, I think that would be appropriate.

I'm confused why you say that about the roots. Where is that written?

 

[Runt]

I wouldn't say that UUism IS Deism, but that Deism is indeed one of the roots of UUism (roots including: Christian Unitarianism, Christian Universalism, some Quaker influences--such as the emphasis on social responsibility, Deism, Transcendentalism, Humanism, etc), and that there are some UUs who are Deists (but not all).

I personally don't like classifying UUism as Christianity, for this reason: many UUs I know are NOT Christian, myself included. Especially among the high school and college age group. However, some are Christian... I think it fits better in the Western Religions forum... but whatever, I can access the link no matter where it is

I'm confused why you say that about the roots. Where is that written?

UUism began as liberal Christianity (very liberal, especially for its times--Unitarians rejected the idea of the trinity and the idea of miracles, and Universalists rejected the notion of damnation and original sin). Later (in the 1800s) it picked up some outside, non-Christian influences (transcendentalism, humanism, Eastern philosophies). So, its earliest roots are Christian, is later roots are non-Christian, and the modern religion includes philosophies ranging from Christianity to Taoism and people following every path from Christianity, to Buddhism, to Atheism.

 

[Green Gaia]

I'm confused why you say that about the roots. Where is that written?

Unitarianism has it's origins with some of the most historic congregations in Puritan New England where each town was required to establish a congregationally independent church that followed Calvinist doctrines. Initially these congregational churches offered no religious choice for their parishioners, but over time the strict doctrines of original sin and predestination began to mellow. By the mid-1700s a group of evangelicals were calling for the revival of Puritan orthodoxy. They asserted their belief in humanity’s eternal bondage to sin. People who opposed the revival, believing in free human will and the loving benevolence of God, eventually became Unitarian. During the first four decades of the nineteenth century, hundreds of these original congregational churches fought over ideas about sin and salvation, and especially over the doctrine of the Trinity. Most of the churches split over these issues. In 1819, Unitarian minister William Ellery Channing delivered a sermon called “Unitarian Christianity” and helped to give the Unitarians a strong platform. Six years later the American Unitarian Association was organized in Boston, Massachusetts.

Universalism developed in America in at least three distinct geographical locations. The earliest preachers of the gospel of universal salvation appeared in what were later the Middle Atlantic and Southern states. By 1781, Elhanan Winchester had organized a Philadelphia congregation of Universal Baptists. among its members was Benjamin Rush, the famous physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

At about the same time, in the rural, interior sections of New England, a small number of itinerant preachers, among then Caleb Rich, began to disbelieve the strict Calvinist doctrines of eternal punishment. They discovered from their biblical studies the new revelation of God’s loving redemption of all. John Murray, an English preacher who immigrated in 1770, helped lead the first Universalist church in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the battle to separate church and state.


So Unitarian Universalism came from the Puritans and Baptists, funny huh? lol

 

[Green Gaia]

I personally don't like classifying UUism as Christianity, for this reason: many UUs I know are NOT Christian, myself included. Especially among the high school and college age group. However, some are Christian... I think it fits better in the Western Religions forum... but whatever, I can access the link no matter where it is

I agree, I'm not Christian as well and most UUs I know, are not either. But from a historical perspective, UUs were Christian. But yeah, I would say most today aren't. Perhaps UUism does need it's own forum lol.

 

[Rex]

I agree, I'm not Christian as well and most UUs I know, are not either. But from a historical perspective, UUs were Christian. But yeah, I would say most today aren't. Perhaps UUism does need it's own forum lol.

I thought it went back to Transelvania(sp) or something?

 

[Green Gaia]

I thought it went back to Transelvania(sp) or something?

That is part of Unitarian history, but the American branch of what is now UUism grew independently out of the Puritians.

A little history
During the first three centuries of the Christian church, believers could choose from a variety of tenets about Jesus. Among these was a belief that Jesus was an entity sent by God on a divine mission. Thus the word “Unitarian” developed, meaning the oneness of God. Another religious choice in the first three centuries of the Common Era (CE) was universal salvation. This was the belief that no person would be condemned by God to eternal damnation in a fiery pit. Thus a Universalist believed that all people will be saved. Christianity lost its element of choice in 325 CE when the Nicene Creed established the Trinity as dogma. For centuries thereafter, people who professed Unitarian or Universalist beliefs were persecuted.
This was true until the sixteenth century when the Protestant Reformation took hold in the remote mountains of Transylvania in eastern Europe. Here the first edict of religious toleration in history was declared in 1568 during the reign of the first and only Unitarian king, John Sigismund. Sigismund’ s court preacher, Frances David, had successively converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism to Calvinism and finally to Unitarianism because he could find no biblical basis for the doctrine of the Trinity. Arguing that people should be allowed to choose among these faiths, he said, “We need not think alike to love alike.”

In sixteenth-century Transylvania, Unitarian congregations were established for the first time in history. These churches continue to preach the Unitarian message in present-day Romania. Like their heretic forebears from ancient times. these liberals could not see how the deification of a human being or the simple recitation of creeds could help them to live better lives. They said that we must follow Jesus, not worship him.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Unitarianism appeared briefly in scattered locations. A Unitarian community in Rakow, Poland, flourished for a time, and a book called On the Errors of the Trinity by a Spaniard, Michael Servetus, was circulated throughout Europe. But persecution frequently followed these believers. The Polish Unitarians were completely suppressed, and Michael Servetus was burned at the stake. Even where the harassment was not so extreme, people still opposed the idea of choice in matters of religious faith. In 1791, scientist and Unitarian minister Joseph Priestley had his laboratory burned and was hounded out of England. He fled to America where he established American Unitarian churches in the Philadelphia area.

 

[Runt]

I agree, I'm not Christian as well and most UUs I know, are not either. But from a historical perspective, UUs were Christian. But yeah, I would say most today aren't. Perhaps UUism does need it's own forum lol.

LMAO, perhaps instead of giving UUism a new forum, we could create ANOTHER religion heading called "Eclectic Religions". I know UUism goes in there.... but other than that, I'm not sure what else yet

Just kidding Rex!

 

[Green Gaia]

Hmmm, maybe we need a Deism forum in Alternate beliefs?

 

[Runt]

P'haps. Of course, we also would need a guaruntee that more the one or two people would go there.

 

[phantom]

i'll make three

while were here....what are the major differences between deism and taoism?

thanks for the help

 

[Green Gaia]

That sounds like a great question to ask in the General Religious Discussion forum or the Taoism forum, Phantom. Let's not get too OT here.

 

[phantom]

ah, now that I analyze the path...

I realize where I have wondered...kinda like steppin into the women's bathroom...

sorry

 

[Davidium]

Well, this certainly is an interesting thread... considering I am a UU Deist.

I am a long time Deist, Deist activist, and Deist organizer. Some call me a minister.... I hope to attend Starr King and make that official within the UUA someday.

Deism and Unitarianism do have a long history together, and indeed you will find many Deists within the UUA and the AUC. In fact, myself and Dr. Jeff Lusk from Purdue University are working to create a contact and communcation organization, to try and bring all the UU Deists into closer communication...

Call it an online Deism covenant group!

http://unitariandeism.dynamicdeism.org/

You often find that many Deist groups and UU Groups claim some of the same founding fathers... including good ole Tom Jefferson. Tom Paine was more Deist than Unitarian, and Ben Franklin managed to do both as well. Both also claim honest Abe.

The major difference between Deism and UU'ism is that Deism has a stronger reliance on reason and rejection of revelation. But it is mostly a matter of degree. Many UU's hold Deistic ideas, and do not even know it.

If someone is interested in Deism, well, I am here to help with that, now that I have discovered this forum!

Oh, and if anyone would like to read my personal "Deistic testimonial"... here it is...

http://dynamicdeism.org/library/anewpath.htm

Thank you for this forum... I hope to enjoy conversing with my fellow UU's here....

Reason and Respect in all you say and do,

David Pyle
Galveston Island, Republic of Texas

 

[Green Gaia]

Welcome to the forum, David! I look forward to your posts!