Who are Unitarian-Transcendenalist? We are people who believe in the one only God and celebrate all branches of Unitarianism. Unitarian roots are over 3,000 years old. Beginning with King David of Israel who served the one only God and wrote the Psalms, the oldest and largest book in the Bible. This was the beginning of Judaism and Jewish Wisdom. Later Reformed Judaism would produce some of the greatest minds of western civilization: Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. We celebrate Jewish Wisdom every year during Hanukkah.
Out of Judaism, Jesus Christ began Original Christianity. Jesus condemned the Puritanical teachings of his day and sought enlightenment in nature while fasting and meditating. When Jesus was crucified, his brother James the Just became the 1st Bishop of Jerusalem, leader of Original Christianity, and writer of Universal Epistle of James. We know a great deal about the historical James because of Josephus. James was revered for his treatment of orphans and widows, prayers and vegetarianism. He rejected Puritanical teachings and was the first to ordain women in Christianity. We celebrate Original Christianity every year during Christmas.
Mohammed, whom millions believe to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ, restores many of the truths of Original Christianity: there is one only God and that we are born pure, free from original sin, forgiveness comes from mercy from a most merciful God. He gives rights to women that are 1200 years ahead of his times. We celebrate with Sunni Islam during Ramadan. A group of Christians still following the teachings of the Apostle John come under Islamic rule, they become known as Sufi. Later Nanak in India would combine Sufi with Yoga and Meditation to produce a religion called Sikhs. We celebrate the Sikhs Festival of Lights.
The Enlightenment produces modern day Unitarianism and influences many European intellectuals. Some famous Unitarians include Sir Isaac Newton who was one of the first to realize that the writings of the Apostle John had been corrupted. Other famous Unitarians include: John Locke, E. E. Cummings, Charles Dickens, John Milton, Oliver Wendell Holmes among others.
In 1630 the Mayflower Pilgrims, fleeing the persecution of the Puritans, landed in America. They founded the oldest church in America, First Church of Plymouth Mass. and also Harvard University, both are Unitarian. We celebrate our Mayflower and Harvard heritage every Thanksgiving.
Paul Revere hangs his lanterns in the 2nd Unitarian Church of Boston, he goes to warn Samuel Adams. Fifty six of America's Founding Fathers pick 3 Unitarians to write the Declaration of Independence: Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. We celebrate America's Unitarian heritage every July 4.
The Declaration of Independence is theologically Deism and appeals to "nature's laws and to nature's God." What is Deism? Deist are Unitarians who reject the claims of divine revelation and look for the one only God through reason and observation of nature. This includes: Voltare, Charles Darwin (whose only training was as an Anglican priest), Thomas Paine, George Washington, James Madison, James Monroe, Abraham Lincoln, among others. Every Presidents Day we celebrate the fact that nearly every American President from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln was either Deist or Unitarian!
Ralph Waldo Emerson, pastor of the 2nd Unitarian Church of Boston believes that the Unitarian Church should include other Unitarian branches: Sikhs, Buddhism, Judaism, Deism, Sufi and Islam. This becomes known as Unitarian-Transcendentalists. They immediately began preaching Original Christianity. Other Transcendentalists include: Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Frank Lloyd Wright, among others.
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