Back to Baltimore - 200 years of the American Unitarian Association
By Beth Anz
Thanks to uua.org and uuworld.org and other sources for all this information and credit to all their authors.
https://www.uua.org/beliefs/who-we-are/history/aua-200th-anniversary
Beth Anz is the Director and Service Leader at UUCB. She enjoys juggling her many hats.
This year’s UU GA (General Assembly) happened in the
great city of Baltimore to celebrate the 200th anniversary
of the American Unitarian Association.
It is in Baltimore where we American Unitarians trace
our origins from the famed “Baltimore Sermon” of
William Ellery Channing which led to the formation of the AUA.
But before we dive into the American Unitarian “mic drop”of its time,
let’s go back in time, and start with the basics.
First thanks to uua.org and uuworld.org and other sources
for all this information and credit to all their authors.
You may already know that we as Unitarian Universalists
come from two distinct religious traditions, the Unitarians
and the Universalists. Here is a very condensed history
of how we started and became Unitarian Universalists.
Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religious tradition formed
in the consolidation of these two traditions. In America,
the Universalist Church of America was founded in 1793,
and the American Unitarian Association (AUA) in 1825.
In May 2025, we celebrated the 200th anniversary
of the founding of the AUA.
First a simplified overview of our other tradition,
Universalism, which is defined by a belief in universal
salvation (that we are all worthy and all saved by God).
Universalists believe that the God of love would
not create a person knowing that person would be
destined for eternal damnation.
They concluded that all people must be destined
for salvation. This was a reaction to some
beliefs of the time that humans were
inherently sinful and damned.
Unitarians rejected the idea that our
lives are already predestined and that a
loving god would cause eternal damnation.
They believed that everyone would eventually
be saved as a loving God shows mercy and compassion
(and so should we).
Our other legacy tradition, Unitarianism,
which we are talking about today, traditionally
focuses on reason, social justice, and personal experience.
Jesus as a (possibly) divinely inspired teacher
to humanity, is shown as an example for his life
and good deeds more than his divinity and resurrection.
Good examples of Unitarian worldviews
include A Christmas Carol and Little Women.
Unitarian Universalism later named direct experience
as an important Source of religious and spiritual
understanding, an idea that originated with
nineteenth-century Transcendentalism and Universalism.
Unitarians explored the religious meaning of the
experiences of their lives through sharing of personal
stories and reflection, often in small groups,
just as we do in service today.
These two American traditions merged in 1961
to create a new religion "Unitarian Universalism"
that took aspects of both faiths.
We believe as a living tradition that
we should review our guiding values frequently
(which we did just last year),
so that we continue to grow and evolve with
a changing world. One of the taglines of the UU
faith is "deeds not creeds".
We talk to each other about how to live our
values in the world and encourage a freedom
of religious thought.
Both religions have long histories and have
contributed important theological concepts
that remain central to Unitarian Universalism.
Since 1961, Unitarian Universalism has nurtured
its Unitarian and Universalist heritages to
provide a strong voice for social justice
and liberal religion. In fact, Unitarians were
known as the “liberal church” before Channing
owned his critic’s insult and claimed the word
“Unitarian” for this liberal faith.
The UU commitment to building Beloved Community
has roots on both the Unitarian and Universalist
sides of our tradition.
Beginning with the 1648 Cambridge Platform
signed by English settlers in Dedham, Massachusetts,
our self-governing congregations have gathered
in the spirit of mutual love. In the late nineteenth
century, Universalism’s core message that all
are saved through God’s love had expanded to
embrace the idea that the kingdom of Heaven
is reflected in love for one another.
Both Universalists and Unitarians were involved
in the Social Gospel movement, in which Christianity
is practiced by serving those on the margins of society.
Today’s UUs build community within congregations and
also work for the liberation of all people.
So when do we get to Baltimore?
Six years before the AUA was chartered, the
Rev. William Ellery Channing turned the term "Unitarian,"
until then used pejoratively by religious
conservatives in New England, on its head,
and as we would say today, it went viral.
His sermon “Unitarian Christianity,”
given at First Unitarian Church of Baltimore,
MD in May of 1819, used the word to name a
liberal faith that rejected the commanding
trinitarian God of Calvinism in favor of
an understanding of Jesus as human, not God,
among many other radical and deeply influential
ideas and embracing the name Unitarian.
It was the mic drop of its time.
And it brought together a movement.
In the ninety minutes of what’s commonly
called the “Baltimore Sermon,” Channing
laid out tenets of the new faith:
the unity of God in contrast to the idea
of a Trinity; the use of reason in
understanding religion and interpreting
the Bible; a concept of Jesus as human
rather than human and divine; a rejection
of Calvinism’s idea of depraved humanity
where salvation was reserved for a select few.
Channing preached about a benevolent,
loving God who had endowed humanity with
innate goodness, rationality, and the wisdom
to discern between good and evil.
In the hour-and-a-half-long address,
Channing took on several arguments.
First, he established reason as valid and
necessary for the interpretation of
scripture—not as the only basis for religious
belief, but as an aid to revelation, for reading
and understanding the meaning of the Bible.
He said “Our leading principle in interpreting Scripture
is this, that the Bible is a book written for men,
in the language of men, and that its meaning is to
be sought in the same manner as that of other books...
With these views of the Bible, we feel it our
bounden duty to exercise our reason upon
it perpetually; to compare, to infer,
to look beyond the letter to the spirit.”
Next, he laid out four reason-based conclusions
of Unitarian Christians. He began with the
unity of God, as opposed to the doctrine of
the Trinity. Next, he postulated Christ as
fully human, as opposed to having two natures,
human and divine. Then he spoke of the moral
perfection of God, which negated such doctrines
as Original Sin and the eternal suffering of
some while others were elected to salvation.
Finally, he talked about the purpose of Jesus'
mission on earth. He rejected the idea that Jesus'
death atoned for human sin, allowing God to forgive
humanity. Channing admitted Unitarians differed
on Jesus' role in human salvation. Some, he said,
saw Jesus' life as a moral example. Others
understood Jesus' death leading humans to
repentance and virtue.
Yet, he said, Unitarians did not consider Christ
and his death as a blood atonement for human sin.
Christian virtue had its foundation in the moral
nature or conscience of humans, defined by love of God,
love of Christ, and moral living.
The wealthy men who a year earlier had established
what’s now called First Unitarian Church of
Baltimore knew exactly what they were doing when
they invited Channing to preach at the ordination
of its first minister, Rev. Jared Sparks.
They made sure Channing’s seminal message would
reach as many people as possible, inviting many
leading liberal clergy and arranging for the
sermon to be quickly printed and disseminated
around the country and in Europe.
He was a sensation, drawing large crowds
and creating buzz. So much so, that six years
later, it led to the formation of the
American Unitarian Association.
On May 25, 1825, the idea of creating the
American Unitarian Association was presented
to the Berry Street Conference. The next day,
May 26th, the AUA was officially formed with
the approval of bylaws. (In a fine coincidence,
the British and Foreign Unitarian Association
was also formed on May 25, 1825!)
In the beginning, only individuals could join the AUA.
In fact, William Ellery Channing was asked to serve as
the AUA’s first President — and Channing refused,
because he felt that by accruing power,
the institution would take power away from individuals.
American Unitarians also did not evangelize their faith
in the traditional ways, although they did share pamphlets
and print outs of sermons with others.
Which meant they only reached literate populations
and therefore grew mainly in cities and not in rural areas.
But the legacy of William Ellery Channing and
Unitarianism continues in our faith today.
In his second-most-famous sermon, “Likeness to God,”
Channing in 1838 argued that humans are made in
the image of God, which later led him to the idea
of the divine spark in each of us, Kirk explains.
That “later leads us to the inherent worth and
dignity of everyone”— one of the Seven Principles
of Unitarian Universalism that were adopted in
1984—which, in turn, “leads us to Love at the Center,”
a core tenet of the statement of UU Values
adopted at general assembly in 2024.
Early Unitarians like Channing helped to
shape our core values today, and ground us
in our values, especially when we see them
under attack in the world today.
The first principle adopted by the Unitarians
in 1887 was “We believe that to love the
Good and to live the Good is the supreme
thing in religion”.
Today we share that value with our statement a
dopted last year. “Love is the power that
holds us together and is at the center
of our shared values. We are accountable
to one another for doing the work of
living our shared values through the
spiritual discipline of Love.”
As we do the good work of this world,
let us remember our heritage and our
obligation to put love at the center
in all things. And in this timely quote,
from Channing The great hope of society
is in individual character.
May we remember his courage to live
his truth and so may we.
