Go on… admit it! When referring to the faith tradition of your choice and/or to the place where you gather — virtually or not — to be with others who are also freethinkers, how often do you neglect to say the word Universalist when you mention, in whatever context, that you are a Unitarian Universalist?? Fess up! You usually say Unitarian and stop there, don’t you?! Shame on you! It only takes 2-3 seconds longer to say our full name: Unitarian Universalist. When the Unitarians and the Universalists merged in the early 1960s, the biggest fear the Universalists had was that they would lose their identity once they were woven into the larger denomination of Unitarians. And they were correct. Our knowledge of what the Universalists believed and what they accomplished continues to fade away. At one time, Universalism was one of the largest denominations in this country. In many respects, Universalists were a victim of their own success. In the mid-1800s, they denounced the doctrine of “hellfire and damnation” which most of them (in this country) learned as part of their Baptist upbringing. The Universalists believed in universal salvation, refusing to believe that a loving God would condemn anyone to eternal “hellfire and damnation”. We so-called religious liberals of today tend not to give much thought to salvation. Think of that concept this way: not as universal salvation, but as universal love. This universal love holds us all — all the time, whether we recognize it or not — and calls us all to practice a radical form of love and acceptance. I believe that it is more difficult to be a Universalist than a Unitarian! It is way past time to reclaim our Universalist heritage and pay attention to what it demands of us.

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