This is an historic year for Unitarian Universalists. May 25, 2025 is the 200th anniversary of the chartering of the American Unitarian Association (AUA), one of the founding organizations that makes up today’s Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). In 1961, the Universalist Church of America, founded in 1793, and the American Unitarian Association, founded in 1825, consolidated to become the UUA.
In a few weeks, many of us will gather in Baltimore, MD for our annual General Assembly – a location not far from the pulpit that, in 1819, the Rev. William Ellery Channing preached ninety minutes of what we now call The Baltimore Sermon – that foundational text which came to serve as a kind of declaration that Unitarianism existed as a point on the landscape of American religion. I hope you will join us at GA to celebrate this anniversary and so much more, together in community.
It’s also true that the chartering of the AUA as an institutional representation of Unitarians was met with ambivalence – indeed, Channing himself declined to lead the organization out of a concern about the consolidation of power. However, out of that age-old dance of interconnection and individuality that we have been practicing for generation upon generation, an organization was born. Its initial purposes were to propagate Unitarian religious views and aid in benevolent work in the community.
The AUA – and we Unitarian Universalists – have become so much more. Our roots run deep in this country and abroad, and the foundational concepts brought forth by liberal religion, including Unitarianism, have paved the way for more inclusive religious practice, congregational commitment, and institutional leadership. In fact, our own UUA President, the Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt joined with the Chief Officer of the UK Unitarians, Liz Slade, to celebrate the happy coincidence that both the AUA and the original UK Unitarian organization, the British and Foreign Unitarian Association, were founded on the same day in 1825. You’ll find that video message and so much more about this historic moment in this email.
May you feel the deep roots of our traditions as you explore the content below, and may it spark more reflection and discussion for you, as it has for so many of us at the UUA, about what this anniversary means for Unitarian Universalism today and in the future.
Faithfully,
Nancy
Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd is UUA Director of Communications and Public Ministry. Previously, she served as Senior Minister at River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation from 2012 – 2024. She lives in Bethesda, MD with her spouse and two children.
It is a happy coincidence that the American Unitarian Association and the British and Foreign Unitarian Association were founded 200 years ago, on the same day. This message from Liz Slade, Chief Officer of the UK Unitarians and the Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, UUA President, celebrates this special international connection.