What is a Unitarian?
Being a Unitarian is about having an open-minded and welcoming approach to faith that encourages individual freedom, equality for all and rational thought. We see different opinions and lifestyles as valuable and enriching and do not discriminate on grounds of gender, age, race, religion or sexual orientation.
As Unitarians, we like to say: ‘We need not think alike to love alike’. We think everyone has the right to decide for themselves what they believe.
With roots in Jewish and Christian traditions, our heritage includes being regarded as ‘dissenters’, who could be damned as heretics and even martyred for a belief in one God, rather than the Trinity. Since the 1960s, the general theology has broadened to recognise wisdom from all world religions, humanist philosophy and science. Beliefs are based on rational enquiry rather than external authority, and moulded by conscience, life experiences and a reverence for the earth and our natural world.
We welcome anyone who shares our tolerant and inclusive views, who embraces the freedom of being in a faith community that doesn’t impose creeds or specific beliefs, and who bases their approach not on dogma but on reason.
