Unitarians

In England the organization of Unitarianism was effected at a much later date. The first attempt at establishing a congregation was made by John Biddle (1615-62), but the organization did not last its author. More permanency attended the efforts of Theophilus Lindsey (1723-1808). In 1773 he seceded from the Anglican Communion, organized the following year a Unitarian congregation in London, and in 1778 built the Essex Street chapel. About the same time anti-Trinitarian views were spread by the scientist Joseph Priestly, pastor of a congregation at Leeds (1768-80) and later at Birmingham. His work in the latter place was cut short by a popular uprising in 1791, and three years later he emigrated to America. Others, among them Thomas Belsham (1750-1829) and Lant Carpenter (1780-1840), continued to propagate Unitarianism in England. Legal restrictions were still in vigour, however, against persons denying the doctrine of the Trinity and hampered their work. But in 1813 most of these disabilities were removed, and in 1844 complete liberty was obtained, despite opposition, by the Dissenters' Chapels Act, sometimes called the Unitarian Charter. As early as 1825 English Unitarians had concluded a union with their co-religionists abroad under the name of British and Foreign Unitarian Association. This society disseminated religious literature and promoted the interests of the sect. The prospects of this activity were brightened by the appearance of a capable exponent of Unitarian views, Dr. James Martineau (1805-1900). After a successful resistance to early opposition, his personality dominated English Unitariansm for an extended period. His writings exercised a potent influence far beyond England, and still continue to advance the cause of Liberal Christianity. His disciples have taken up his work and outstripped their master in his radical views.

Scotland never proved a fruitful soil for Unitarian propaganda. A congregation was organized in 1776 in Edinburgh and the Scottish Unitarian Association was formed in 1813; but progress in that country has been insignificant and there are very few congregations there. In Ireland Unitarianism is held chiefly in the North where it has found adherants among the Presbyterians. It may not inappropriately be considered a self-governing branch of the Presbyterian body. Some Unitarian congregations are to be found also in the British colonies, notably Australia and Canada, and among the French Protestants a comparatively large number are Unitarian in view, though not in name.

America

About the middle of the eighteenth century Unitarian opinions gained favor among New England Congregationalists. They were propagated by Jonathan Mayhew (1720-1766), for nineteen years pastor of the West Church at Boston, and Charles Chauncey (1705-87), in the same city. The first organized church was King's Chapel, Boston, when the congregation, until then Episcopal, removed in 1785 all references to the Trinity from the Book of Common Prayer and in 1787 assumed an independent existence. Congregations were also organized at Portland and Saco (Maine) in 1792, and in 1794 Joseph Priestly began his propaganda in Pennsylvania. It was particularly in New England, however, that the movement gained ground. The appointment in 1805 of the Rev. Henry Ware to the Hollis chair of divinity at Harvard College and the nomination within the next two years of four other Liberal candidates to important professorships in the same institution, brought that seat of learning under considerable Unitarian influence. Its school of divinity was endowed and organized by the denomination in 1817 and remained under its control until 1878, when it became nondenominational. While the diffusion of Unitarian ideas was comparatively rapid the organization of churches was retarded by the reluctance of many to separate from the Congregationalist communities of which they were members. Before the separation was effected a heated controversy was waged between the liberal and conservative wings of Congregationalism. Matters came to a head in 1819 when the Rev. William Ellery Channing, in a sermon preached at Baltimore at the installation of the Rev. Jared Sparks, advocated the public acknowledgement by the liberal members and congregations of their Unitarian beliefs. This discourse proved decisive, and the parties concerned immediately proceeded to organize themselves independently. Frm this date until his death in 1842, Channing was the acknowledged leader of the denomination. Under his auspices the American Unitarian Association was founded at Boston in 1825 for the promotion of Unitarian interests.

After his death the radical element became predominant under the direction of Theodore Parker (1810-60), who succeeded him in influence. The authority of the Bible acknowledged by the old school was, under Parker, largely sacrificed to the principles of destructive criticism, and Unitarianism drifted rapidly into Rationalistic speculation. The activity of Channing and Parker was supplemented by the more general and far-reaching influence of the Unitarian poet-philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82). Although he resigned his charge of the Second Congregational Church at Boston after a short period (1829-32), he continued to preach for many years and his popularity as a writer and lecturer could not but lend additional prestige to the advanced religious views which he defended. The interests of the Unitarian propaganda were also served by the foundation of the Western Conference of Unitarians in 1852 and that of the National Unitarian Conference in 1865. Of a more universal character was the International Council of Unitarians and other Liberal Religious Thinkers and Workers, which was organized at Boston in 1900. It held sessions in London (1901), Amsterdam (1903), Geneva (1905), Boston (1907), and Berlin (1910). At the last-mentioned convention the official title was changed to International Congress of Free Christians and Other Religious Liberals. The purpose remains the same, namely: "to open communication with those in all lands who are striving to unite pure religion and perfect liberty and to increase fellowship and co-operation among them."

Propaganda; educational institutions; statistics

The Unitarian body sent a missionary to India in 1855, and since 1887 has carried on an active propaganda in Japan; however, its missionary efforts in foreign languages, viewed in the aggregate, have not been considerable. In accordance with its general indifferent attitude toward dogma, its endeavours to advance the cause of Christianity without emphasizing its own specific tenets, and its members have in the past contributed to the missionary funds of other denominations. Their efforts, moreover, are more concerned with the dissemination of literature among civilized nations than with the sending of missionaries to non-Christian lands. This method of gaining adherants has proved successful, partly owing to the Liberal, Rationalistic, and excessively individualistic tendency of the present age, but largely also to the number of eminent men and capable writers who have adhered to or defended Unitarian doctrines. Financial resources for propagandist purposes were provided for by the rich Jamaica planter, Robert Hibbert (1770-1849), through the creation of the fund which bears his name. Out of it grew the well-known Hibbert Lectures, and the more recent "Hibbert Journal". An organization unique in its character is the Post Office Mission which, by means of correspondence and the distribution of books and periodicals, seeks to bring courage to the despondent and joy to the suffering.

The Church has made no determined effort to organize benevolent institutions of its own. A considerable number of the Unitarian ministry (to which women are admitted) receive their training in the educational institutions of other sects. The Church, however, founded the following special schools for this purpose: in Hungary, the Unitarian College at Kolozsvár; in England and Wales, the Unitarian Home Missionary College at Manchester; the Manchester College at Oxford; the Presbyterian College at Carmarthen; in America, the Harvard Divinity School at Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Meadville Theological School at Meadville, Pennsylvania This institution was later moved to Chicago, Illinos, and became known as the Meadville Lombard Theological School.; and the Pacific Unitarian School (later renamed the Starr King School for the Ministry) at Berkelely, California. In the United States the denomination maintains, besides these training-schools for the ministry, seven academies situated, but one exception, in the New England States. The number of persons holding Unitarian views cannot be determined, even approximately; for many undoubtedly reject the doctrine of the Three Divine Persons and retain the belief in a uni-personal Godhead without ever affiliating with the Church. Among these must be reckoned not only a large number of Liberal theologians and advanced critics, but also some religious denominations which, either in their entirety, as the Hicksite Friends, or at least in many of their members, as the Unitarian-Universalists, are distinctly anti-Trinitarian. According to the World Almanac, in 1990 the Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association numbered 173,000 in the United States. A 2007 Pew Forum survey placed that number at 340,000.