Unitarianism

[-I---Love]

So Im dealing w/ a Unitarian. However, I doubt he actually is a "real" Unitarian.

Nevertheless, I would appreciate some clear definitions and examples of Unitarianism. And especially it' main errors and differences from Catholicism and even mainstream Christianity.

I obviously can go to wikipedia and get a definition, however I hope I can get more qualified information here.

Thanks!

Btw - I'm not posting this for a debate, but for answers as "facts" so if this is in the wrong forum Im sry and someone please move it...

[picchick]

We are learning this is school right now as we learn about ethics.

The basic thought in Utilitarianism is that actions are right in proportion, as they tend to promotes happ;iness and wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. So this principle is basically "the end justifies the means." If the end is good then the action was acceptable. Also, utilitarianism believes that the best action would be based on the results that produced the most good for the most people.

--I got this from my Mental Health book (Essentials of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing by Mary C. Townsend.)

Meg

[cmotherofpirl]

Unitarianism and utilitarianism are different topics

[LouisvilleFan]

Think he's asking about Unitarianism, as in Thomas Jefferson, not Utilitarianism, as in... whoever I was supposed to learn about in ethics class.

One of my cousins attends a Unitarian church. I went to their "Yom Kippur" service back in October just to see what it was like. Basically, they believe in the equality of all faiths as a common search for the spiritual world, so they recognize the major holidays of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, along with earth religions, wiccan, Hindu, Buddhism... you name it. Theoretically, you can affiliate yourself with any faith or with none and also be a Unitarian. I think my cousin chooses "none of the above." She's not even a member, so I guess she primarily goes for the community aspect.

The Sunday service I attended was basically some songs, a sermon, a collection, another song, and benediction... of course, no Communion... it was a lot like a Baptist church It was kinda neat to be there for Yom Kippur since the songs related to Jewish history, the exile to Babylon, and restoration of Jerusalem. However, at the same time it felt almost like they were making fun of it. They even had someone bring a shofar so we could hear a real shofar blast and the sermon was about all the good aspects of Yom Kippur and Judaism that we could learn from them, but it's almost like in the end you say, "Well, that's nice," and move on with your life like before.

To summarize it, Unitarianism is everything and nothing, all at the same time.

[cmotherofpirl]

form of Christianity which lays emphasis on the unity of the personality of God. The term seems to have originated about 1570, was used in a decree of the Diet held in 1600 at Lecsfalva in Transylvania, and received official ecclesiastic sanction in 1638. It supplanted the various designations of anti-Trinitarians, Arians, Racovians, and Socinians. In England the name first appears in 1682. It became frequent in the United States from 1815

[LouisvilleFan]

I would hesitate to call Unitarianism a form of Christianity. It probably started out that way, but they don't hold Christian faith in any higher regard than anything else.

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='LouisvilleFan' post='1175167' date='Jan 24 2007, 08:44 PM']
I would hesitate to call Unitarianism a form of Christianity. It probably started out that way, but they don't hold Christian faith in any higher regard than anything else.
[/quote]
its definitely not christian

[she_who_is_not]

The current Unitarian church is a merging of the Unitarian church (emphasizes reason over faith) and the Universalist church (all faiths are equal one).

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='she_who_is_not' post='1175213' date='Jan 24 2007, 09:20 PM']
The current Unitarian church is a merging of the Unitarian church (emphasizes reason over faith) and the Universalist church (all faiths are equal one).
[/quote]
Shouldn't they be called reasonable universalists then?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1175250' date='Jan 24 2007, 09:42 PM']
Shouldn't they be called reasonable universalists then?
[/quote]
Maybe the fact that they didn't choose that name should be taken as further proof that they aren't.

[picchick]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1174785' date='Jan 24 2007, 12:48 PM']
Unitarianism and utilitarianism are different topics
[/quote]

I am very sorry. I read it too quickly and overlooked the different spellings. Soon after I posted it my brother called me and told the exact same thing, "You do know that unitarianism and utilitarianism is two different things, right?" I wasn't able to get on here to correct it soon enough though. I am sorry for the misleading information.


Meg

[Socrates]

Someone (forget who) defined a Unitarian as "One who believes in, at most, one God."

It seems lately Unitarianism has become essentially part of the new-age neo-pagan movement.

I once saw a newsletter of the local Unitarian-Universalist church, and they were all about "Wicca" and other forms of neo-paganism/witchcraft.
Basically, anything but Christian.

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='picchick' post='1175328' date='Jan 24 2007, 10:18 PM']
I am very sorry. I read it too quickly and overlooked the different spellings. Soon after I posted it my brother called me and told the exact same thing, "You do know that unitarianism and utilitarianism is two different things, right?" I wasn't able to get on here to correct it soon enough though. I am sorry for the misleading information.


Meg
[/quote]
but I liked your reply anyway :

[-I---Love]

so is it fair to say that Unitarianism is an umbrella group for people who hold reason higher than faith, who believe there is some sort of God, and who believe in the equality of all religions, and think worshipping "something" in community is a decent idea?

if the above is a fair description then it seems they can't claim to believe in the Father, Son, and HS, and hence can't even begin to claim to be Christian.

Do they claim to be Christian?

Is there one official group that spells out what Unitarianism is officially?

Would a "true" Unitarian be able to say that the don't believe the Bible is any more inspired than the Koran?

Edited January 26, 2007 by -I---Love

[LouisvilleFan]

Here are the [url="http://www.uua.org/aboutuua/principles.html"]Principles of the Unitarian-Universalist Assocation[/url].

Their "living tradition" is drawn from Jewish and Christian teaching, among those of Humanism, Earth-centered religions, and other faiths. They don't necessarily hold reason higher than faith (but some probably do) and they aren't necessarily Christian (but some are self-indentifying Christians). You can believe whatever you want as long as you are open-minded and supportive towards other beliefs and perspectives.

I suppose it's possible for even a faithful Catholic to attend a Unitarian church, but they would run into some issues of conscience because you really can't support non-Catholic faiths and practices while remaining faithful yourself. Open-mindedness is one thing, because it's relatively passive, but supporting something implies you are taking some action to, for example, encourage a Wiccan's beliefs or promote rights for homosexual unions.

Edited January 27, 2007 by LouisvilleFan