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Fanny Holmes (wife of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.) once said, when asked why she belonged to the Unitarian Church, "In Boston one has to be something, and Unitar
by currymj 6y ago
Fanny Holmes (wife of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.) once said, when asked why she belonged to the Unitarian Church,
"In Boston one has to be something, and Unitarian is the least you can be."
Unitarianism by the 20th century didn't have any dogma, even atheists and agnostics could be members, and accepted that all religious traditions had spiritual wisdom to offer. But because it had evolved from Christianity it had institutional legitimacy, in a world where church membership was a social requirement.
People's beliefs might have changed less than we think over time, despite the common perception that nearly everyone in the US was hyper-religious until the last few decades.
There might be other factors around the decline in church membership -- perhaps related to the decline in participation in secular community groups as well.
- gwbas1c 6y agoLiving in Massachusetts, what I've found is that the UU still requires a strict adherence to very left-leaning politics. The dogma shifted from a religious dogma to a political one. For example: https://barnstableuu.org/about/history.html https://barnstableuu.org/about/history.html > In the early 19th century there was considerable theological debate in the “churches of the standing order” in New England. Many churches actually split over this debate, the traditionalists becoming Congregationalists and the liberals becoming Unitarians.
- cwwc 6y agoSuperb point. To quote Holmes, ‘Most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but few will use it as a rudder by which to steer.’
- drewg123 6y agoMy great Aunt who is 95 belongs to a UU church, and remembers when the Universalists merged with the Unitarians. She says "The Universalist brought too much God stuff into church and wrecked it"