Do you know America’s best kept religious secret?

Unitarian Universalism!

Many have heard our name, but few know anything about us. We are America’s best kept religious secret. We don’t mean to keep ourselves a secret and are delighted when people who find us discover they have been Unitarian Universalists all their lives but never knew that a religion such as ours existed.

Some people are confused by the fact that we have neither creed nor dogma; there is no single statement of belief to which we insist all people subscribe. It does not, however, mean that Unitarian Universalists are non-believers. While we all adhere to basic principles which guide us in our relationships to others and our planet, individual Unitarian Universalists may have different spiritual beliefs.

Visit a UU church and you may be sitting next to a devout theist, or an atheist or an agnostic or a person who believes something else altogether. We are mystics, we are deists, we are pantheists, and we are humanists and more. That is puzzling to many people. They wonder what it is that binds us together.

One answer is our shared values. Surveys show that Unitarian Universalists enjoy the highest percentage of shared values of any denomination in the United States. These values speak to respect for the dignity and freedom of each person and a reverence for the natural world which recognizes that we are part of an interdependent web of existence on the planet and therefore must act accordingly.

Another is our belief that people should be free to walk their unique spiritual path. Because of this belief we do not denigrate other religions, but honor and try to learn from them.

A History of People Living their Beliefs

Unitarians and Universalists (we merged in 1961) have been leaders in almost every major human and civil rights struggle since this country began.

  • Unitarians Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Abigail Adams and John Quincy Adams were leaders in the American Revolution
  • Unitarians Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and Charles Sumner were early advocates for the separation of Church and State
  • Universalists Clara Barton and Olympia Brown (the first ordained woman minister in the U.S.) and Unitarians Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone led the fight for women’s rights
  • Unitarian Universalist minister, Thomas Starr King, was chosen by California to be represented in the Hall of Statuary in our nation’s capital for his efforts to save California for the Union.
  • Unitarians and Universalists were on the front lines with Martin Luther King in the fight against segregation. The Unitarian minister, James Reeb, lost his life in this effort.
  • Adlai Stevenson, a Democratic candidate for president, was a Unitarian. William Cullen Bryant, the founder of the Republican Party, was also a Unitarian.
  • Unitarians and Universalists have forged new frontiers and reformed decaying institutions in education, mental health and science. Among them, Dorothea Dix, Helen Hunt Jackson, Horace Mann, Peter Cooper, Albert Schweitzer, Lewis Latimer, and Joseph Priestley.
  • Unitarians and Universalists who have made significant contributions to literature include Horatio Alger, Herman Melville, Louisa May Alcott, Horace Greeley and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Most of the men and women above who forged our present day institutions and contributed to our rich literary history were not born Unitarian or Universalist. Several were even ministers in other religions but found their birth religion too restricting, rigid or dogmatic. At some point in their lives they discovered that Unitarian Universalism provided them the freedom of thought, expression and search for meaning they sought while, at the same time, instilling a sense of awe and wonder toward life and the Divine.

The same is true today. Most UU’s are born into another religion but gravitate toward a set of beliefs that is more consistent with their values and that encourages activism in the expression of these beliefs.

Without creed or dogma, we are a people who live their religion. Since the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of North Bay was founded in 1983, our members and ministers have worked as leaders, supporters and collaborators on issues critical to our community and the nation: peace activism, environmental stewardship, and human rights among them.

Although we believe Unitarian Universalism is the best kept religious secret, you will not find us knocking on your door to share it. However, when you knock on our door, as we hope you will, we promise you a very warm welcome.

Now that you know the secret, we hope you will share it with others – and share yourself with us!