From Stories in Faith: Exploring Our Unitarian Universalist Principles and Sources Through Wisdom Tales (Boston: UUA, 2007). Arius, a Libyan priest, lived in the 4th century, a time when the leaders of the Christian church, freed from persecution by the Edict of Milan in 312, were engaging in…

The Brook Farm Institute of Agriculture and Education of West Roxbury, Massachusetts (1841-1847) was the idea and creation of Unitarian minister and Transcendentalist George Ripley….

From Stories in Faith: Exploring Our Unitarian Universalist Principles and Sources Through Wisdom Tales, a Tapestry of Faith Toolkit Book (Boston: Skinner House, 2007). Once there was a little girl named Cecilia who fell in love with the universe. She felt her heart leap with joy every time she…

Originally published in Harvest the Power: Developing Lay Leadership, a Tapestry of Faith program by Matt Tittle, Gail Tittle, and Gail Forsyth-Vail (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2008). For a short time, religious toleration was the rule of the land in sixteenth century Transylvania.

At the emotional worship service that celebrated the vote to create the Unitarian Universalist Association in Boston in 1960, the Rev….

The Con-Sociate Family of Harvard, Massachusetts (June 1843-January 1844) was popularly known as Fruitlands because its founders planned to live off the fruits of the land. Members expected a daily schedule of farm work mixed with literary pursuits and philosophical discussion. Early rising, cold…

James Reeb’s calling emerged slowly, but steadily. He had grown up in Casper, Wyoming, where he met and married his wife Marie. A devout and conservative Christian, after college James began preparation for the Presbyterian ministry. While in seminary, he began to question his faith….

From John Murray, Letters and Sketches of Sermons, (Boston, 1812), as quoted in David B. Parke’s book, The Epic of Unitarianism.John Murray, a Methodist preacher from England, is often credited with being the founding father of Universalism in America….

Any diner at the Ferry Beach Conference Center can tell you the campers’ favorite song. As coffee cups bounce off soundly thumped tables and kitchen ladles hit impromptu serving tray gongs in time to the tune of “There is a Tavern in the Town,” the campers, with unnerving regularity, close the…

Working through the night, Martha and Waitstill Sharp burned all their notes and papers. After this they would keep no records of the refugees they smuggled out of Nazi-occupied Europe. For their own safety and for the safety of those they were assisting, nothing could be written. A simple church…

As consolidation neared, feelings ran high. Though polling of congregations clearly showed most Universalists and Unitarians favored merger, some still questioned its advisability. Would consolidation dissipate resources that could be better used to strengthen congregations?…

One time…before there were any people walking around this valley there were bear people. They had an agreement with the salmon….The salmon would come upriver every fall and the bears would acknowledge this and take what they needed. This is the way it was with everything. Everyone lived by…

William Ellery Channing was weary of having the epithet “Unitarian” flung at him in disdain. Ever since Henry Ware had been elected to the Hollis Professorship of Divinity at Harvard College, the temperature of public debate between orthodox and liberal factions of New England’s Standing Order…

In 1637, the settlers in what was to become the town of Dedham, Massachusetts, wanted to start a church. The problem was, the roughly 30 families didn’t know each other, and, therefore, didn’t know what sort of church to begin….

It wasn’t the first of the Standing Order churches to split, but it sure made the biggest bang. In Puritan New England, each town was organized around its church. The members of the church were those who made a confession of Christian faith, while members of the parish were those who lived in the…

Between 1948 and 1967, Unitarianism experienced a period of enormous growth, perhaps the most significant increase in numbers for any time in Unitarian, Universalist, or Unitarian Universalist history….

In 1839, Adin Ballou, a radical minister who served both Universalist and Unitarian churches, was one of those who published the “Standard of Practical Christianity.” The Standard read, in part: We are Christians. Our creed is the New Testament. Our religion is love. Our only law is the will of God.

Some of the first women ordained in the United States were Universalist or Unitarian. At the turn of the 21st century, a majority of Unitarian Universalist ministers were women. However, the path for women ministers in our faith tradition has not been easy. Of those early women who achieved…

A traditional story of the Khasi people, as relayed by Darihun Khriam, the first woman minister in the Khasi Hills. Early in the history of the world, heaven and earth were connected by a great tree that grew on the crest of a high hill. Using this tree as a ladder, the sixteen families of heaven…

By the Rev. Dr. Kendyl Gibbons; used with permission. Narrator: We have a very important guest with us today. She has come all the way from Transylvania of the mid-sixteenth century to tell us of a new innovation in her day known as Unitarianism. Please make her welcome, Princess Isabella of Poland.

Toribio S. Quimada was a man who knew the meaning and effects of intolerance. Born in 1917 on the island of Cebu in the Philippines, Toribio was one of thirteen children. As a child, Toribio often heard his parents discuss religion and criticize the lax principles of the Protestant church….

Excerpted and adapted from Frederick T. McGill, Jr. and Virginia F. McGill, Something Like a Star (Boston: Star Island Corporation, 1989). Used with permission.In July of 1896, Thomas H….

Caroline Augusta White Soule had many “firsts” to her credit. She was the first president of the Universalist Women’s Centenary Aid Association and the first president of its successor organization, the Women’s Centenary Association….

Ain’t gonna let nobody Turn me ‘round Turn me ‘round Turn me round Ain’t gonna let nobody Turn me ‘round Gonna keep on a-walkin’ Keep on a-talkin’ Walking up to freedom land. — African American spiritual The protesters sang and chanted on the 50-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. The…

Adapted from “A Step Toward Racial Reconciliation”, UU World, May/June 2002, used with permission. Reverend W.H.G. Carter was a big man with a big personality. Light-skinned, six-feet-two, a man of charm, energy, imagination, and learning, he towered over his wife, Beulah, who was only five feet…

Here are two stories of Unitarianism, Universalism, and Unitarian Universalism unexpectedly in the news which raised our name recognition across the country. For good or for ill? You decide. The Last Blasphemer Abner Kneeland (1774-1844) carried many banners through his lifetime: Universalist…

Adapted from the Tapestry of Faith story “James Luther Adams,” by Jessica York. Present the story Introduction and Part I, reading aloud up to the point marked “STOP.” Then, lead a role play and discussion as instructed in Alternate Activity 3, Description of Activity….