Vessel

On my last post, I said that Unitarian Universalism in the US is not related to the Translyvanian Unitarianism. Some have asked what I mean by that so I’ll attempt to clarify.

The way it was explained to me (by Rev. Thom Belote) is it’s kind of like my surname of Foster. Just because there is another person or ancestor with my same last name doesn’t mean we are kin, though we might come from the same area.

For me to consider the Unitarians in the two nations more directly related, I would have to think that Transylvanian Unitarianism came to England, established a church and then people from that tradition came to the United States.

Instead, English peoples came up with a Unitarian philosophy without the influence of Servetus or the Transylvanian king that instituted Unitarian tolerance as a state religion against Calvinism. Joseph Priestly, who started Unitarian churches in England and then in the states was originally Anglican.

I do agree that we have partnerships now with the Eastern European Unitarian churches through the partner church program and have some great relationships!