Unitarian Christianity

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Unitarian Christianity (not to be confused with the Unity Church) is a form of Unitarianism that promotes the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, as found in the New Testament. Unitarian Christians believe that the exemplar model of how men and women should live was lived by Jesus of Nazareth, who was a man and a prophet of God. Unitarian Christianity encourages open-minded, freethinking views of God, Jesus, the world and purpose of life as revealed through reason, scholarship, science, philosophy, scripture and other prophets and religions.

Unitarian Christians believe that reason and belief are complementary and that religion and science can co-exist and guide them in their understanding of nature and God. Unitarian Christians would be considered Rationalist Unitarians in terms of the various schools of thought of Unitarianism. Unitarian Christians follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ and view him in the same regard as Jews view Moses and Muslims regard the Prophets Mohammed and Jesus.

Unitarian Christians distinguish themselves from Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and other Christian denominations in that they believe that their belief system is structured around "following the religion of Jesus, not a religion about Jesus." They do not "pray to Jesus", but to God, as Jesus taught. They also do not require belief in creeds or have any dogmatic structure to their faith. Although there is flexibility in the nuances of belief or basic truths for the individual Unitarian Christian, general principles of faith have been recognized as a way to bind the group in some commonality. Members generally accept religious pluralism and find value in all teachings, but remain committed to their core belief in Christ's teachings. Unitarian Christians value a secular society.

Some Unitarian Christians differ from Unitarian Universalism, arguing that the Unitarian Universalists have moved away from the traditional Christian roots of Unitarianism. They believe that the larger Unitarian-Universalist organizations are becoming too political and liberal to be considered a religious movement or faith.

In the United States, a few Unitarian Christians feel that the mainstream UUA churches are not accepting of Christians, and therefore have decided to join the American Unitarian Conference, a splinter group from the Unitarian Universalists, while many Unitarian Christians have chosen to stay within the Unitarian Universalist church as, for example, the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship. Finally, others prefer to join other Christian churches (sometimes with a dual membership).

1 Distinctions between Unitarians
2 Principles of Faith
3 Ecclesiology
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Distinctions between Unitarians

As Unitarian Christians are Unitarian in the traditional sense, they have no creeds or dogmatic requirements for fellowship. Unitarian Christians, do however differ from Unitarian Universalists (UU) in that Unitarian Christians profess a common regard and supreme respect for Jesus Christ and his teachings.

Unitarian Christians generally do not believe in the Virgin Birth, the deity of Christ, or Biblical inerrancy. Some Unitarian Christians may share some of the beliefs of Biblical Unitarians, which are considered to be the forerunners of the modern Unitarian movement. An example of Biblical Unitarian churches are those originally found in Transylvania that continue to closely follow principles of Arianism, Servetism, and/or Socinianism.

Evangelical Unitarians came out of the Evangelical or Revivalist movements of the 19th century in America. Examples include Jehovah's Witnesses and Christadelphians.

[edit] Principles of Faith

Unitarian Christians do not have a creed or formal statements of faith that must be believed in its entirety or used as a test of character in order to be accepted into fellowship with other Unitarian Christians. However, they have set out some basic principles that distinguish their faith from other Christian religions.

Although there is no specific authority on these principles, the following represent the most generally accepted -

the belief in One God and the oneness or unity of God.
the life and teachings of Jesus Christ is the exemplar model for living ones' own life.
that reason, rational thought, science, and philosophy together with religion and faith are not mutually exclusive.
that man has the ability to exercise free will in a responsible, constructive and ethical manner with the assistance of religion.
the belief that human nature in its present condition is neither inherently corrupt nor depraved, but capable of both good and evil, as God intended.
the conviction that no religion can claim an absolute monopoly on the Holy Spirit or theological truth.
the belief that the works of the Bible are inspired by God, but were written and edited by humans and therefore subject to human error.
the rejection of traditional doctrines that they believe malign God's character or veil the true nature and mission of Jesus Christ, such as the doctrine of predestination, eternal damnation, the Trinity, and the vicarious sacrifice or satisfaction theory of the Atonement.

Most Unitarian Christians would say that Jesus of Nazareth and his followers and disciples would today be defined as Unitarian Christians, and that Unitarian Christianity is the form of Christianity most closely following the direct teachings of Jesus. However, Unitarian Christians respect the beliefs of others and do not believe that the Unitarian Christian way is the only way to follow God's will.

Unitarian Christians believe Jesus did not claim to be God nor did his teachings hint at his divinity or the existence of a triune God. Unitarian Christians generally do not believe that Jesus was conceived in the womb of a virgin or performed miracles to the extent reported in the Gospels. Unitarian Christians give the most weight regarding the accounts of Jesus, his character, and his life to the four canonical Gospels (Mark, Mathew, Luke, and John). Most also accept other sources of information about Jesus including newly discovered Gospels that were not included in the original canon of the Bible (e.g. Nag Hammadi Library).

Unitarian Christians reject the doctrine of some Christian denominations that God chooses to redeem or save only those certain individuals that accept the creeds of, or affiliate with a specific Church or religion, from a common ruin or corruption of the mass of humanity. They generally do not believe that God merely demands belief in certain principles of faith and that no good works in life are required to be morally righteous.

Most Unitarian Christians believe that the mixing of political activism and religious fellowship is not an acceptable practice. Unitarian Christians believe that one's personal moral convictions will guide their political activities and a secular society is the most viable, just and fair society.

[edit] Ecclesiology

Unitarian Christianity is a tradition in Unitarianism that asserts a connection with Arian beliefs in the early Christian Church preceding the Nicene Creed's establishment of the Trinity as orthodox Christian belief. Arius, son of Ammonius, who was a popular priest appointed presbyter for the district of Baucalis in Alexandria in 313. His views of the nature of Jesus, although not original, conflicted with the views held by Bishop Alexander of Alexandria. Bishop Alexander's position was that Jesus was God, in human form.

The issue ultimately resulted in the Nicene Creed adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, wherein with the involvement of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, the issue was settled and the adoption of Alexander's view became the orthodox doctrine and all other views were considered heresy and officially suppressed. At the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, the position that God was actually the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost was agreed and the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity was complete. Christian Unitarians believe that God is a single oneness, whereas the vast majority of those calling themselves Christian in the world today, including Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, and other denominations, are Trinitarians. Many Christians consider any religion that does not adhere to the basic tenants formulated by the Nicene Creed, including Trinitarianism, to be non-Christian.

Unitarianism developed in the 1600s during the Protestant era of the evolution of the Christian church with strongholds in Eastern Europe and eventually Britain and the North Eastern parts of the United States. As liberal Christians and Freethinkers, these small congregations developed into more formal associations of churches. In America, in 1961 the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America merged to form the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), which is the largest organization of Unitarians in the US. The UUA no longer is an explicitly Christian organization and does not focus on the core teachings of Jesus Christ or Christianity.

Several Unitarian organizations still promote Christianity as their central theme including the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship (UUCF, an affiliate of the UUA), the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (GAUFCC) of the United Kingdom, and the Unitarian Christian Association (UCA, an affiliate of the GAUFCC).

In the US, the newest organization promoting a return to the theistic roots of Unitarianism is the American Unitarian Conference (AUC), formed in 2000. The AUC's stated goal is to formulate and promote classical Unitarian-based, unifying religious convictions, which balance the needs of members with a practical approach to inclusion and progressive free thought.