Counterfeit Religions XV: Unitarian Universalists

Right off the bat we see Unitarian Universalists (UU's) consider themselves to be open-minded and welcoming to all people from all faiths at all times. This is usually a death-knell for any true Christian belief as this is a full-on ecumenical approach to religion. It reeks of syncretism or a blending and bending of religions. If Christianity is involved in the mix it is usually to its demise as Christianity is an exclusivist belief system that makes exacting demands that do not jive with the ecumenical open-arms approach of inclusivist religions such as UU, Bahá'í and other pluralistic cults/religions.

Needless to say, Christians are well advised to not accept Unitarian Universalism as a branch of Christianity as they are clearly not Christian by any stretch of the imagination. Foremost, like Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, they reject the doctrine of the Trinity. What’s worse is that they are indeed a syncretistic religion that recognizes traditions from multiple religions. They are rightfully ostracized from orthodox Christian circles.

During the Protestant Reformation a rogue group in Romania decided that the concept of the Trinity was not biblical. Contingent upon this belief, the group established the first Unitarian congregation. It was a heretical outgrowth of the Congregationalist movement. Early Unitarians stated that they were persecuted for questioning the ideas of the church, and for supporting the right of the individual to determine his or her own understanding of doctrine. It is because of the attacks on this unorthodoxy that the founder of Unitarianism in England, a scientist and “theologian”(and I use the term loosely) Joseph Priestley, fled England to the United States. The first Universalist Church of America was established in New England in 1871. In addition we will see within New England a group called the "Old Lights" of Congregationalism give rise to a group called Unitarians. 

What confuses most people outside Christianity and makes it hard to distinguish between true Christianity and the Universalists is the fact Universalists placed a heavy emphasis on evangelism which made them appear Christian-like (i.e.: Jehovah’s Witness). Another dead give-away of UU’s liberal leanings is that a core Universalist belief is that all human beings deserve dignity and respect, therefore UU's strongly supported social justice issues. In other words they believe in social activism. Orthodox Christianity believes that humans deserve dignity and respect also  but only because of the value instilled in them by God and because of their likeness to Him. It is not because of anything intrinsic or inherent in humans that make them deserve such a reward. True Christians understand that the only way social imbalances can be truly righted is by the arrival of the King. Sinful and unrighteous humanity cannot enact a righteous kingdom in full. UU's theology is flawed here too as with adherents of the Social Gospel. Christ alone advances His Kingdom. He brings judgment to victory. We fight in the "power of His might" (Ephesians 6:10) and we overcome in the Spirit by the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 12:11). Mankind's nature is corrupt and we favor ourselves when it comes to finding answers to things. By favoring ourselves we show our lack of faith. A more proper reaction is a willingness to submit to the authority of another (God) as weakness.Instead we usually align ourselves against God. Thinking we can bring in the Kingdom by things that we can do is arrogance and a misunderstanding of the Bible and it's theology.

At first there were two groups, Unitarians, who espoused the unity of God and rejected the Trinity and then came Universalists, who believed that all humans are saved.  In 1961 the two groups merge as there is more power in numbers. One of the reasons for merger of the Unitarians and Universalists is because of their ecumenical open-mindedness and theologically liberal philosophies. Of course these attributes are hardly theological reasons for unity since most liberal theological philosophies can barely be called Theo or God logic and open-mindedness is not a qualification for holiness unless it is open-mindedness to the God of the Bible (which it never is in a UU's case).

The central theme that unites all UU's is diversity. This idea is saturated in modern Orwellian doublespeak and postmodern pluralistic “all truths are true” mentality. One of the core tenants of Universalist belief that there is no one provable ultimate or absolute truth. If they believe there is truth it is subjective and relative to the observer. Therefore for UU's, all subjective truths or opinions are true which from a logic standpoint is impossible and a logical dead end - reductio ad absurdum). Universalists true to their name believe that there are multiple perspectives on spirituality and wisdom that contribute to personal spiritual growth. Because of this pluralistic nonsense which is illogical at its core as described in my post The Death of Truth II: The IllogicalUntruth of Postmoderism , Unitarian Universalist worship services include writings from multiple religious traditions. Along with things like Bhagavad Gita and eastern philosophy they will also merge Judeo-Christian understandings or misinterpretations. Although their services are on Sunday and are almost impossible to discern from Protestant services, they have no sacraments. Again we see another counterfeit religion that removes the elements related to Christ therefore removing salvation from the picture. As such, a pluralistic religion like Unitarian Universalism that has an all-inclusive nature follows no central creed. At least none is discernable from the outside observer.

As for most UU’s, they believe that Jesus was more of a social activist or long-haired revolutionary hippy-type than the literal Son of God. Sadly, this is exactly how many unbiblical “spiritual” people in our culture see Him nowadays also. We begin to see then why this cult is appealing in today’s culture. It allows people to believe in a god and be “saved” without ever having to acknowledge their sin and depravity. How convenient is that? This is another reason why sinful groups of people gravitate to this religion and embrace it. It allows them to continue to live in their sin and allows them to also believe they are good or “saved” when nothing could be further from the truth. Although UU’s often see themselves as monotheists, I have not figured out how this also corresponds to their belief of multiple understandings of God. This understanding doesn’t seem to be logically thought out properly and stinks of confusion and contradiction regardless of how vehemently it is argued for by UU adherents.

It is also ironic that the UU's symbol is a flame within a chalice. It is suppose to represent sacrifice and love. Who's sacrifice and love is uncertain as it is clearly not Jesus Christ's. Since there are so many pluralistic interpretations of the image it will probably be impossible to determine with accuracy what the true significance of the symbol and its supposed sacrifice and love is. So much for being pluralistic. If everyone's right then no one can be singled out as correct so trying to find the truth is a constant game of musical chairs.

Although there are no central creeds there are several nebulous or generalized thoughts they try to live by and even these are subjective and subject to change based on what any given adherent chooses to follow. If one looks closely at the list below it is easy to see other belief systems including Christianity in some of the comments below. This shows how UU’s manage to integrate themselves into other religions. The bottom-line remains…UU is a shape-shifting demon that finds the strength of all religions and turns it to their advantage by pulling it into their cult making it a multi-faceted counterfeit. At first the cult sparkles like a diamond. The trouble is that where there is no light (truth), even a sparkling diamond is dark and black (filled with untruth and lies). The things below look nice but if everyone's truth is true...chaos reigns. If everyone's theory of justice is different...chaos and injustice reigns. If everyone's idea of worth is different...things become worthless and chaos reigns. 

1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
2. Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;
7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part