By Lewis Loflin
"We cannot learn anywhere from the Scripture of God that his words and religion are meant to be spread by fire and sword. God always took care of his truth Himself and He will always do that in the future as well."
Francis David
Unitarianism begins with a straightforward idea: God is one. The First Unitarian Congregation in Budapest captures this well: “No one is allowed to threaten anyone with imprisonment or deprivation of his office; for faith is the gift of God, this comes from listening to the words of God.” Here’s a summary of their principles, drawn from their own words:
My thanks to the Budapest congregation for this clear outline.
“Unitarian” stands for God’s oneness, distinct from the Trinity—a concept not found in the Bible. The phrase “Father, Son, Holy Spirit” appears once, tied to baptism, not theology. It emerged later, blending Jewish faith with Greek thought, and was formalized at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD under Constantine’s influence. Early challengers, labeled “Arians” after Arius of Alexandria, faced exile as heretics, surviving briefly among Germanic tribes.
Arius viewed Jesus as a created being, divine yet not God—a mediator in a Neoplatonist framework. That’s distinct from Unitarianism or my own classical Deism, where Jesus is human, not a lesser deity. Arius’ idea—that God made Jesus, who then made everything—differs from the Trinity’s three-in-one, but both wrestle with complexity. Unitarians, and Deists like me, prefer a simpler view: one God, Jesus as a moral guide. The printing press spread Bibles widely, revealing no Trinity—Unitarian ideas took root naturally.
Opposition was fierce. In 1553, John Calvin had Michael Servetus burned in Geneva—a slow, painful death, his book tied to his leg—for rejecting the Trinity. Servetus, a physician who traced blood’s pulmonary flow, had already been symbolically burned by Catholics. Such resistance underscores the stakes of these ideas.
Unitarians often wore two hats—faith and science. Poland’s king employed a Unitarian doctor; Krakow became a refuge, hosting a university and press that sent books to England. A royal shift forced a grim choice: convert to Catholicism, join the Jewish community (spared as non-heretics), or flee. Many chose Judaism or Romania, near Muslim borders, where Unitarian churches still stand, over 500 years old—nearly lost to Communist demolition.
In America, Unitarians arrived with the Pilgrims, parting from Congregationalism by the early 1800s. New England towns reflect the split—some kept Congregational roots, others went Unitarian. A 1930s rift between Theists (personal God) and Humanists (human values) lingers, despite claims it’s resolved. The Unitarian-Universalist Christian Fellowship holds Jesus as Son, not God—incarnate and risen, a mystery beyond science’s grasp, yet central to faith.
Enlightenment Deism, led by figures like Joseph Priestley, nudged Unitarianism toward reason—nature and logic over supernatural claims. Some, like me, see evolution as God’s sustained work, science merely charting the course. Then transcendentalism—Emerson, Parker—pulled it into Romanticism (here), a New Age drift (here) far from Deism (here) or Unitarian origins. It’s more sentiment than substance.
The American Unitarian Association (1825) grew in New England, but the Unitarian-Universalist Association (UUA, merged with Universalists in 1961) shifted—46% humanist, 19% earth-centered, 13% theist, 9.5% Christian, per a 1997 survey. It’s often more humanist than theistic now, a shift some lament. The American Unitarian Conference (AUC) broke away, seeking older roots. My AUC piece reflects this:
Unitarians aren’t atheists. We hold to one God—Jesus’ God—whose teachings shape our choices. We offer a path for liberal Christians, Deists, Jews, and Muslims seeking faith without fundamentalism or forced politics. Spiritual trends—New Age, pantheism, extremism—challenge reason today, as in Late Antiquity. The AUC aims to reclaim a reasoned, monotheistic faith that adds moral depth to our lives.
AUC website at http://www.americanunitarian.org is dead.
Acknowledgment: I’d like to thank Grok, an AI by xAI, for assisting with this revision. The final perspective is my own.
John Nelson Darby
Christian Premillennialism