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American Congress of Liberal Religious Societies

PLAN OF ORGANIZATION.

1. Name. — This organization shall be known as “The American Congress of Liberal Religious Societies.”

2. Objects.—To unite in a larger fellowship and co-operation such existing societies and liberal elements as are in sympathy with the movement toward undogmatic religion ; to foster and encourage the organization of other non-sectarian churches and kindred societies on the basis of absolute mental liberty ; to secure a closer and more helpful association of all these in the thought and work of the world under the great law and life of love; to develop the church of humanity, democratic in organization, progressive in spirit, aiming at the development of pure and high character, hospitable to all forms of thought, cherishing the spiritual traditions and experiences of the past, but keeping itself open to all new light and the higher developments of the future.

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Doctrine of Discovery

Responsive Resolution
Unitarian Universalist 2012 General Assembly

WHEREAS the delegates of the 2010 General Assembly instructed the UUA Board to create a “Justice General Assembly” in 2012, whose business is accountable to partner organizations doing human rights work in Arizona; and

WHEREAS the Unitarian Universalist Association has been asked by partner organizations working with the Arizona Immigration Ministry to educate our member congregations about the Doctrine of Discovery and to pass a resolution repudiating it; and

WHEREAS the UUA Board of Trustees has submitted to the member congregations a report explaining the Doctrine of Discovery and why the Board believes it to be contrary to Unitarian Universalist Principles.

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Williams, Edward

Portrait of Edward Williams (Iolo Morganwg)
Portrait of Edward Williams (Iolo Morganwg)

Edward Williams (1747-1826) was one of the most influential and controversial figures Wales has produced. Raised Anglican, Williams as a young man enjoyed connections with liberal Anglican ministers. When Unitarianism later separated from the state-sponsored church, he associated himself with prominent English Unitarians and became a leading ally of Thomas Evans (Tomos Glyn Cothi), the first avowedly Unitarian minister preaching in Wales.

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Sessions, Kate Olivia

Kate O. Sessions
Kate O. Sessions

Kate Olivia (Ophelia) Sessions chose a very unusual profession for a woman in 1885. Her love of nature, of gardening and flowers caused her to abandon teaching and take up the propagation of plants as a commercial nurseryman.

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Haydon, Eustace A

A. Eustace Haydon

A. Eustace Haydon

A. Eustace Haydon (1880-1975), a pioneer in the study of world religions, was a leader of the Humanist movement. Born in Canada, he was ordained to the Baptist ministry and served a Baptist church in Dresden, Ontario 1903-04.

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Kirkpatrick, James

James Kirkpatrick
James Kirkpatrick

James Kirkpatrick (c.1676-1743), an Irish Presbyterian minister, played a leading role in the development of non-subscription and the creation of the Presbytery of Antrim as a liberal body separate from the Synod of Ulster. He was the first minister in Belfast to argue for the principles of non-subscription.

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Forbes, John Murray

John Murray Forbes
John Murray Forbes

John Murray Forbes (February 23, 1813-October 12, 1898), a leading Boston businessman and philanthropist, financed and operated a great nineteenth century industrial empire. He and his investment group built a transcontinental railroad system, controlled the output of mines and forests, and sped the flow of people and goods throughout America.

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Joy, Charles Rhind

Charles Rhind Joy
Charles Rhind Joy

Charles Rhind Joy (December 5, 1885- September 26, 1978) was a Unitarian minister, American Unitarian Association official, and an international humanitarian worker affiliated with the Unitarian Service Committee, Save the Children Federation, and CARE. He wrote popular articles for magazines and authored numerous books.

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Curione, Celio Secondo

Celio Secondo Curione
Celio Secondo Curione

Celio Secondo Curione (May 1, 1503-December 24, 1569), a classical scholar and professor of eloquence, was a leading religious and humanistic voice in the community of Italian Protestants living in exile in Switzerland during the Reformation. Although too cautious to openly oppose John Calvin, he secretly helped to prepare protests against the execution of Michael Servetus.

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Pethick-Lawrence, Frederick William

Frederick William Pethick-Lawrence
Frederick William Pethick-Lawrence

Frederick William Pethick-Lawrence (December 28, 1871-September 10, 1961), suffragist and Labour  politician, was a member of the British Cabinet following World War II who worked to prepare for the independence of India.

Frederick was born into a wealthy family of London Unitarians, who were major house builders at the time of the capital’s great expansion.

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Theological School of St. Lawrence University

The Theological School of St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, also known as the Canton Theological School, received its charter in 1856, the first of three such Universalist seminaries founded in America during the nineteenth century. (The others were the Crane Divinity School at Tufts and the Ryder Divinity School at Lombard College.)…

Brook Farm

Brook Farm
Brook Farm

Brook Farm, a celebrated nineteenth-century New England utopian community, was founded by Unitarian minister George Ripley and other progressive, Transcendentalist Unitarians, to be, in Ripley’s words, a new Jerusalem, the “city of God, anew.” From its founding in 1841 until it went bankrupt in 1847, Brook Farm influenced many of the social reform movements of its day: abolitionism, associationalism, the workingmen’s movement, and the women’s rights movement.

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