Welcome Newcomers

Unitarian Universalists believe that religious faith is uniquely personal and evolves as we each engage our inner search in our life journey. We find our quest is enriched and empowered in community, a community that embraces and welcomes all persons. We affirm, promote, and celebrate the full participation of everyone in all of our activities without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, physical or mental challenge, affectational or sexual orientation, marital status, age, or national origin. If you are interesed in becoming a member, please contact the office to learn more about the path to membership or to make an appointment with the minister. Our minister and our members welcome your questions.

Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion that emerged from the Jewish and Christian traditions. Unitarianism has its roots in the early Christian era. We trace our history to the Socinians, to Michael Servetus, whom John Calvin had burned at the state for heresy in the 13th century, and even back to the 4th century controversies about the natures of Jesus and God - in the rejection of the doctrine of the Trinity ("Father, Son, and Holy Ghost"). It developed along especially tolerant and humanist lines after being brought to America by noted minister and chemist Joseph Priestley, among others, late in the 18th century. Influential people in our more recent history include Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Ellery Channing, and Theodore Parker.  Universalism, the doctrine of universal salvation, developed in Germany and England in the 17th and 18th centuries; the first Universalist church in America was founded in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1796. The two denominations merged in 1961.  

To learn more about our religious philosophy click here for sermons by UU ministers across the country. Also, read the side bar to your right.

To read an email list discussion about whether UUs have a creed, written or assumed, click here.

We are a Welcoming Congregation. Click here for more information.

Click the following for our church's Membership Process.

Click here to be taken to a site with fifty illustrated biographies portraying the Unitarian Renaissance of the twentieth century -- from "Unitarians Face a New Age" (1936) to the creation of the UUA in 1961. You will see the itemization of Series One: women and men who have notably expressed liberal religion in their lives. They can help both us and others in the wider world more truly know who we are. Comments and suggestions for Series Two are invited.

Our local UU church was formed over 80 years ago. In 1962 it moved from 11th and Ferry (where U-Lane-O is today) to its current location in a portion of an old oak forest in the south hills.

Covenant

We gather to celebrate life, to minister to one another, to shape a community that hears all our voices, honors each search for meaning, and reaches out to enrich the world with caring. Thus we live our covenant, one with another.

Mission Statement

We welcome a diverse community of all ages. We celebrate together, minister to one another, and encourage free inquiry and liberal religious values.We work to advance social justice and peace in our society, and upon this planet.

Unitarian Universalist Association
Principles and Purposes

PURPOSES

The Unitarian Universalist Association shall devote its resources to and exercise its corporate powers for religious, educational and humanitarian purposes. The primary purposes of the association are to serve the needs of its member congregations, organize new congregations, extend and strengthen Unitarian Universalist institutions, and implement its principles.

PRINCIPLES

We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

Acceptance of one another and encouragement of spiritual growth in our congregations;

A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

The right of conscience and the use of the democratic proces within our congregations and in
society at large;

The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;

Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. 

Our Living Tradition draws from many sources

Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;

Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;

Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;

Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;

Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.

Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision. As free congregations, we enter into this covenant, promising to one another our mutual trust and support.

Our Governance

We are affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA, 25 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass 02108-2800, 617-742-2100), and the Pacific NorthWest District (PNWD, 12700 SE 32nd Street, Bellevue, Washington 98005-4317, 800-313-PNWD).

ByLaws and Policies - The ByLaws are the legal foundation by which we operate. This includes how the Board is structured, how elections will be held, how the minister is chosen, rules about financial management, endowments, membership, certain contingencies, and the running of meetings. The ByLaws may only be changed by a vote of the membership.

The Policies - These are the formal expression of the ByLaws: how we actually administer the business of the church. The Policies can be changed by a vote of the Board.

Safe Congregation Policies - This document specifically defines protections and remedies for members. These policies can be changed by vote of the Board.

All of the above documents are available in hardcopy by request from the church office or are downloadable on this web site.   Click any of these links:
   ByLaws | General Policies | Safe Congregation Policies

Connections to UUs around the World

  UU-News 

UU-News is a local email-list will bring you information relating to the local UU church, including memorial notices, reminders of deadlines and local events, announcements, etc. To subscribe to this local info list, click here and say: uu-news and your name

To unsubscribe, use the same address, but say simply: unsubscribe uu-news

  UU-Chat and UU-Share

UU-Chat is a wild and crazy group of local UUs who enjoy philosophical discussions, cheerful disagreements, jokes and silliness, as well as strongly felt discussion about the local church. UU-Share is much gentler and focussed on Caring issues. To subscribe to this local info list, click here and say:  uu-chat and your name or here and say uu-share and your name       
To unsubscribe, use the same addresses but say simply: unsubscribe uu-chat or unsubscribe uu-share

  Biz-UU

Biz-UU is for local church members. It is a discussion list of the Board and ordinary members who are interested in Board discussions. To subscribe, send your request here.

Netiquette Guidelines

 PNWD - Pacific Northwest District    

Ann Heller, District Executive. The PNWD website is at www.pnwd.uua.org. Look for the free PNWD email list too.

  UUA - Unitarian Universalist Association

John Buehrens, President. The Unitarian Universalist Association web page includes links to UU Church web sites all over the world, and many continental email lists.

 Other UU Email lists and Web Sites

Discussions, specific committee work, lay leader questions, finances, music, children's RE, youth matters, other -   to see what's available, double-click on www.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/

Newcomers to the church might be interested in the 101 Questions about UUs or Famous UUs sites.

Religious Education Cirricula Resources

The UU World magazine, on line

UUA Online Bookstore

Notable UU Women

Famous UU Quotes

Or to get on a continental UUA list called, of all things, NEWCOMERS, click here and look for the world-wide UUA Newcomers List

To get ON or OFF any continental UUA email list, go to www.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/ - it will help you do it quickly and easily.

A heretic is one who is able to choose.
     - Forrest Church
     in A Chosen Faith

Love is not concerned with whom you pray or where you slept the night you ran away from home. Love is concerned that the beating of your heart should kill no one.
    - Alice Walker

The Saturday, April 8th, 2000 edition of The New York Times includes religion editor Gustav Niebuhr's article, "A Civil Rights Martyr Remembered"  about the murder of the Rev. James Reeb in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. Niebuhr interviews the Rev. Clark Olsen who, along with the Rev. Orloff Miller, was with Reeb when all three were attacked on a Selma street by a white mob on March 9, 1965. Reeb died on March 11, 1965. The three UU ministers were among the many clergy people who responded to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's call to Selma in the wake of the vicious attack upon marchers several days earlier at the Edmund Pettus bridge.

What does the Eternal ask of you but to be just and kind and to live in quiet fellowship with your God?
     - Micah

...Salvation is by character; character is not an end, but a means, and salvation lies in being saved from sin here, not from punishment in the hereafter. Hell and eternal punishment are held to be inconsistent with the concept of a loving and all-powerful God.
     - Mead and Hill in A Handbook of Denominations in the United States

The Unitarians challenged the belief in the trinity which was held by the majority of Christians. The Universalists questioned the doctrine of original sin, claiming rather that the "elect" for whom Christ died were indeed all people, not just a few.

...It appears to me, one gradually formulates one's religion, be it what it may.  A person has no religion who has not slowly and painfully gathered one together, adding to it, shaping it;  and one's religion is never complete and final, but must always be undergoing modification.       
   - D.H. Lawrence

Universalism struck hell from the theological menu; Unitarianism removed original sin.
       - Forrest Church

The bond of unity in a church is not a shared belief but a shared worship. Worship (worth-ship) is an act of reverence for what is regarded as of great or supreme worth. In the ultimate analysis, this is but another way of capturing the real meaning of love... Worship in a Unitarian setting becomes a shared act of celebration expressing our love for things of worth - those values by which and for which we live, in whatever picture-language they may be symbolized.
     - Phillip Hewett, Canadian Unitarian minister

Cherish your doubts for doubt is the attendant of truth; it is the servant of discovery. Truth, if it be truth, arises from each testing stronger.
     - Robert T. Weston

A major Unitarian Universalist "sin" is a sophisticated resignation which prevents action. It is, in Martin Luther King, Jr's words: "a paralysis of analysis."
       Quoted by Rev. Rick Davis

For us, religious experience is direct and personal... we do not try to make one another fit a given pattern of experience. We discover together that there are religious dimensions in all our varied human experience.        
- A. Powell Davies

Emergency UU Prayer
We give thanks for Being
We give thanks for Being Here
We give thanks for Being Here Together

I can believe a miracle because I can raise my own arm. I can believe a miracle because I can emember. I can believe it because I can speak and be understood by you.
       - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Skepticism has its place in the religious life, but to glimpse the Spirit and to be gladdened by Grace require more than a sophisticated skepticism - These require a kind of radical authenticity which, in Rilke's words, lets "our hidden weeping arise and blossom."
       - Rev. William F. Schultz

Universalism has become a harmonious body of theists, naturalists, humanists, mystics, Christians, and non-Christians who find great significance and meaning in a universal approach to life.
      - Mead and Hill in
A Handbook of Denominations
    in the United States

It is in our lives, and not from our words, that our religion must be read.
     - Thomas Jefferson

 Small as is our whole system compared with the infinitude of creation, Brief as is our life compared with the cycles of time, we are so tethered to all by the beautiful dependencies of law - That not only the sparrow's fall is felt to the uttermost bound but the vibrations set in motion by the words that we utter reach through all space and the tremor is felt through all time.
     - Maria Mitchell

Unitarian Samuel Taylor Coleridge defined reason as 'that intuition of things which arises when we possess ourselves as one with the whole,' opposing this to that mode of consciousness in which, ' we think of ourselves as separated beings, and place nature in antithesis to mind.'

"We must cherish one another because of our disagreement; we must delight in our differences."

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has.      
- Margaret Mead

"To learn from each other, I don't think we have to love each other but we do have to respect and care about each other. We have to want to know each other better ...we have to positively value our differences as the source of our growth."