Unity Church

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Unity also known officially as Unity School of Christianity and informally as Unity Church, is a school of thought founded upon holistic Christian principles within the New Thought movement. It is informed by a wide range of spiritual, metaphysical and philosophical ideas, and has as its principal essence that God is the only power, and is all that is both seen and unseen.

It was founded in 1889 by Charles Fillmore (1854-1948) and Myrtle Fillmore (1845-1931), in Kansas City, Missouri. It currently has its headquarters in Unity Village, Missouri.

Contents

[edit] Basic teachings

The five basic ideas that make up the Unity belief system are: [1]

  1. God is the source and creator of all. There is no other enduring power. God is good and present everywhere.
  2. We are spiritual beings, created in God’s image. The spirit of God lives within each person; therefore, all people are inherently good.
  3. We create our life experiences through our way of thinking.
  4. There is power in affirmative prayer, which we believe increases our connection to God.
  5. Knowledge of these spiritual principles is not enough. We must live them.

[edit] Overview of Unity

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Charles Fillmore expressed Unity's approach to affirmative prayer as:

Paul said, "Pray without ceasing." Do not supplicate and beg God to give you what you need, but realize, affirm, and absolutely know that your supreme mind is functioning right now in God-Mind itself and that your thought substance and the spiritual substance of the Most High are amalgamated and blended into one perfect whole that is now being made manifest in the very thing you are asking for.

– Charles Fillmore, Teach Us to Pray, [2]

[edit] History

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H. Emilie Cady, a former homeopathist, wrote Unity’s first and seminal text, Lessons in Truth in 1894. Her writing became a cornerstone of Unity’s teachings.[3]

In 1947 Unity School moved to its new headquarters at its Unity Farm site between Lee's Summit and Kansas City Missouri. Beginning as a locally renowned produce farm, the site expanded and incorporated as Unity Village in 1953. Today the campus occupies 1400 acres and is open to the public.[4]

[edit] Relationship to Christianity

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Unity was founded in 1889 by Charles Fillmore (1854-1948) and Myrtle Fillmore (1845-1931), in Kansas City, Missouri. The Fillmores considered themselves Christians, though they did not subscribe to the Nicaean Creed. Unity minister Eric Butterworth stated that the Council of Nicaea was "a bitterly contested struggle, during which Arius got up to speak and Nicholas of Myra punched him in the nose." He describes this as a meeting concerning a "religion about Jesus" rather than the "religion of Jesus" as presented through Jesus's teachings.[5]

[edit] Prominent members

Celebrities affiliated with Unity include Betty White, Eleanor Powell, Wally Amos, Licensed Unity Teacher Ruth Warrick, Barbara Billingsley, Matt Hoverman, Patricia Neal,[6] Holmes Osborne[7] and Esther Williams.

In March 2008 Maya Angelou stated that she plans to spend part of the year studying at the Unity Church. In 2005 she attended a Unity Church service in Miami and decided that day to "go into a kind of religious school and study" on her 80th birthday.[8]

[edit] Unity symbol: Wings

The Unity wings symbol, the winged globe, appears in many Unity publications. Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, explained the symbolism of the winged globe this way:

It is an ancient Egyptian symbol, but it is found in various forms in the religions of other races. It represents the relation existing between Spirit, soul, and body. Soul gives wings to body. Spirit is the enveloping principle, like the atmosphere in which both soul and body exist, and from which they draw their original inspiration. The winged globe is also a symbol of the earth and its soul. The earth has soul, as have its products of every description. All exist in the ether, the anima mundi, the divine mother. When people of the earth lift up their thoughts to God, and the Animus Dei or directive Spirit, then the planet takes wings into a higher radiation of universal life. As man develops spiritual consciousness, he attains the realization of the soul as the wings of the body. Back of the Soul is Spirit, which quickens and energizes the soul; that is, gives the soul wings. Artists paint their angels with wings representing in this way their freedom from physical fetters. But the soul does not have wings like a bird. The life activity of the soul is quickened by Spirit until it rises above the thought of matter and floats free in the ether of the fourth dimension, which Jesus called the kingdom of the heavens.

– Charles Fillmore, Good Business, April 1956

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ What Does Unity Believe?. Unity Church. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
  2. ^ Fillmore, Charles. Teach Us to Pray, p159. 
  3. ^ Vahle(2002), p71
  4. ^ Unity Village - History
  5. ^ Butterworth, Eric. Discover the Power Within You: A Guide to Unexplored Depths Within. (1968) Twentieth Anniversary Edition. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1989. Paperback edition 1992. p. 30 ISBN 978-0-06-250115-8
  6. ^ Raven, Barbara C. Badge of Courage. Unity Church of New York, 2002.
  7. ^ Holmes Osborne mentioned attending on the cast commentary on the Donnie Darko DVD
  8. ^ Maya Angelou at 80: Life is still an adventure, Hillel Italie, Phillyburbs.com, March 29, 2008

[edit] References

  • Vahle, Neal (September 2002). The Unity Movement: Its Evolution and Spiritual Teachings. Templeton Foundation Press, 504 pages. ISBN 1890151963. 

[edit] External links

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The following religious groups are often confused with one another:

Unification Church | Unity Church | Universal Life Church | Unitarian Universalist Association | Canadian Unitarian Council

United and uniting churches: Churches Uniting in Christ | United Church of Canada |
United Church of Christ | United Methodist Church | United Free Church of Scotland | United Reformed Church | Uniting Church in Australia