List of Unitarian martyrs

Last updated

Unitarian martyrs are individuals who died for their adherence to Unitarianism, a theological position which claims to derive from the Christian Bible and denies the Trinity, instead maintaining that there is one God in one person (the Father). In modern times as the Unitarian movement broadened to embrace more than simply Christianity, Unitarian martyrs may rightly now also include individuals who died for their adherence to Liberal religion. Following is a partial list ordered by date of some of these martyrs.

Contents

Renaissance

1529: Ludwig Haetzer - beheaded in Konstanz, Germany; believed Jesus was a leader and teacher, not a God due worship

1539: Katarzyna Weiglowa - burned at the stake at age 80 for "apostasy to Judaism", though her stance was anti-trinitarian, not specifically Jewish.

1553: Michael Servetus - burned at the stake after a prison term because of writing a book noting absence of biblical evidence for a Trinity.

1579: Francis David - Lutheran pastor in Transylvania; after Unitarian King John Sigismund died, orthodox views regained power. Francis David was placed in prison, where he ultimately died.

1611: Iwan Tyszkiewicz - Polish member of the Socinian church (also see: Polish Brethren) who was beheaded for the blasphemy of Unitarianism.

Modern times

1697: Thomas Aikenhead - a medical student, executed for denying the Holy Trinity, an offence under England's Blasphemy Act 1697. On the morning of January 8, 1697, Thomas wrote to his 'friends' that "it is a principle innate and co-natural to every man to have an insatiable inclination to the truth, and to seek for it as for hid treasure. . . So I proceeded until the more I thought thereon, the further I was from finding the verity I desired. . ." Aikenhead may have read this letter outside the Tolbooth, before making the long walk, under guard, to the gallows. He was said to have died Bible in hand, "with all the Marks of a true Penitent". [1]

1942: Norbert Capek preached religious freedom (including Unitarianism). Was sent to the Dachau concentration camp, and later gassed to death at Hartheim Castle. Founder of the Czech Unitarian Church, and author of many hymns in Czech. Mother Spirit, Father Spirit and View the Starry Realm are both in Singing the Living Tradition, published by the Unitarian Universalist Association.

1965: James Reeb clubbed in Selma, Alabama, after responding to a call by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for the second of the Selma to Montgomery marches. Selma's public hospital refused to treat the Rev. Reeb, who was taken to University Hospital in Birmingham, two hours away. Reeb died on Thursday, March 11, with his wife by his side. His death inspired thousands to join King and other activists in the successful third march to Montgomery.

1965: Viola Liuzzo was a 39-year-old white mother and a civil rights worker from Detroit who came to Alabama to join in the Selma to Montgomery marches and help with voter registration. She was murdered March 25, 1965 while driving a fellow activist back from the Alabama Capitol Building, the site of the large rally at the culmination of the third march.

1988: Toribio Quimada, founder of the UU Church of the Philippines, shot on Negros Island by unknown assailants believed to have been responding to his social justice ministry. [2] While Rev. Quimada is listed as a Unitarian martyr, his theology was clearly Universalist, rather than Unitarian. His church was founded with Universalist beliefs, but became Unitarian Universalist about the same time (1961) that the Unitarian and Universalist denominations in the United States merged. The church remains affiliated with the denomination in the United States. [3]

2008: Greg McKendry and Linda Kreager, killed as a result of the politically motivated Knoxville Unitarian Universalist church shooting.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unitarian Universalist Association</span> Liberal religious Unitarian Universalist congregations, formed in 1961

Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations. It was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America Christian denominations with Unitarian and Universalist doctrines, respectively. However, modern Unitarian Universalists see themselves as a separate religion with its own beliefs and affinities. They define themselves as non-creedal, and draw wisdom from various religions and philosophies, including humanism, pantheism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Islam, and Earth-centered spirituality. Thus, the UUA is a syncretistic religious group with liberal leanings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unitarian Universalism</span> Non-creedal liberal religion

Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religious movement characterized by a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists assert no creed, but instead are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth. Unitarian Universalists do not have an official, unified corpus of sacred texts but rather draw inspiration and guidance from the six sources: personal experience, prophetic utterances, world religions, Jewish and Christian teachings, humanist teachings, and spiritual teachings. Unitarian Universalist congregations include many atheists, agnostics, deists, and theists; there are churches, fellowships, congregations, and societies around the world.

Unitarianism is a Nontrinitarian branch of Christianity. Unitarian Christians affirm the unitary nature of God as the singular and unique creator of the universe, believe that Jesus Christ was inspired by God in his moral teachings and that he is the savior of humankind, but he is not equal to God himself.

Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the mainstream Christian theology of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence. Certain religious groups that emerged during the Protestant Reformation have historically been known as antitrinitarian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selma to Montgomery marches</span> 1965 nonviolent protests for African-American voting rights in Alabama, United States

The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile (87 km) highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the desire of African-American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote, in defiance of segregationist repression; they were part of a broader voting rights movement underway in Selma and throughout the American South. By highlighting racial injustice, they contributed to passage that year of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark federal achievement of the civil rights movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viola Liuzzo</span> American activist and murder victim (1925–1965)

Viola Fauver Liuzzo was an American civil rights activist in Detroit, Michigan. She was known for going to Alabama in March 1965 to support the Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights. There she was shot and killed by three Ku Klux Klan members while driving activists between the cities and transportation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Reeb</span> American activist and minister (1927–1965)

James Joseph Reeb was an American Unitarian Universalist minister, pastor, and activist during the civil rights movement in Washington, D.C., and Boston, Massachusetts. While participating in the Selma to Montgomery marches actions in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, he was murdered by white segregationists and white supremacists, dying of head injuries in the hospital two days after being severely beaten. Three men were tried for Reeb's murder but were acquitted by an all-white jury. His murder remains officially unsolved.

Thomas Aikenhead was a Scottish student from Edinburgh, who was prosecuted and executed at the age of 20 on a charge of blasphemy under the Act against Blasphemy 1661 and Act against Blasphemy 1695. He was the last person in Great Britain to be executed for blasphemy. His execution occurred 85 years after the death of Edward Wightman (1612), the last person to be burned at the stake for heresy in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All Souls Church, Unitarian (Washington, D.C.)</span> Historic church in Washington, D.C., United States

All Souls Church, Unitarian is a Unitarian Universalist church located at 1500 Harvard Street NW at the intersection of 16th Street, Washington, D.C., roughly where the Mt. Pleasant, Columbia Heights, and Adams Morgan neighborhoods of the city meet. The design of its current building, completed in 1924, is based on St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, England. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. All Souls, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, describes its theology as having evolved from a liberal Christian tradition into a "rich pluralism."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William G. Sinkford</span>

The Rev. William G. Sinkford is a Unitarian Universalist minister who served as the seventh president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA), from 2001 to 2009. His installation as UUA president made him the first African American to lead that organization, or any traditionally white religious denomination in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unitarian Universalism and LGBT people</span> Relationship between Unitarian Universalism and LGBT people

Unitarian Universalism, as practiced by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), and the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC), is a non-Creedal and Liberal theological tradition and an LGBTQ affirming denomination.

Unitarianism, as a Christian denominational family of churches, was first defined in Poland-Lithuania and Transylvania in the late 16th century. It was then further developed in England and America until the early 19th century, although theological ancestors are to be found as far back as the early days of Christianity. It matured and reached its classical form in the middle 19th century. Later historical development has been diverse in different countries.

The Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Shooting was a mass shooting that occurred on July 27, 2008 when an unemployed Tennessee truck driver named Jim David Adkisson went on a shooting rampage at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Adkisson opened fire on members of the congregation during a church youth performance, killing two people and wounding six others before he was restrained by church members; according to police, he had planned to keep shooting until the police arrived and killed him. A letter, or "manifesto", found in his vehicle after the shooting attributed his motivation for the rampage as a hatred of liberals, Democrats, African Americans, and homosexuals. In the letter he also described what he believed to be the cult-like atmosphere of the church. Adkisson pled guilty to two counts of murder and received a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Peter Morales is an American former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Morales was the UUA's first Latino president. In the early 2000s, he was the senior minister of the Jefferson Unitarian Church in Jefferson County, Colorado, a rapidly growing Unitarian Universalist congregation in the northwestern Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area. He also worked for the UUA from 2002 to 2004. In 2008, he announced his candidacy for president, and in 2009 he was elected. As the result of a controversy regarding the UUA's hiring practices and charges of institutional racism, Morales resigned as president in 2017, three months before the end of the term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All Souls Unitarian Church</span> Church in Oklahoma, United States

All Souls Unitarian Church is a Unitarian Universalist (UU) church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is one of the largest UU congregations in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Summit</span> Church in New Jersey, United States

Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Summit is a Unitarian Universalist ("UU") congregation in Summit, New Jersey, formally organized in 1908 as The Unitarian Church in Summit. It is active in social justice initiatives and received the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Social Justice Award in 2010. It has also been recognized as an outstanding UU congregation by various UU groups. In 2016, Robin Tanner became the Minister of Worship and Outreach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington</span> Historic church in Virginia, United States

Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington (UUCA), historically known as the Unitarian Church of Arlington, is a Unitarian Universalist church located at 4444 Arlington Boulevard in Arlington County, Virginia. Founded in 1948, UUCA was the first Unitarian church in Washington, D.C.'s suburbs. Throughout its history, UUCA has taken part in progressive causes from the Civil Rights Movement to the legalization of same-sex marriage in Virginia. During the Civil Rights Movement, UUCA was the only Virginia church to speak out in favor of racial integration. UUCA's sanctuary building, designed by local architect Charles M. Goodman in 1964, is a concrete Brutalist structure that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Virginia Landmarks Register in 2014. It is one of only three church buildings designed by Goodman and the only one in Virginia.

Susan Frederick-Gray is a Unitarian Universalist minister who served as the ninth president of the Unitarian Universalist Association from 2017 to 2023. She was the first woman to be elected to the office.

References

  1. Thomas Aikenhead Archived October 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Greer, Jane (August 30, 2010). "Morales visits Unitarian Universalists in the Philippines". UU World Magazine. Retrieved September 26, 2011. UUA President Peter Morales is visiting Unitarian Universalists in the Philippines from August 26 to September 2
  3. Muir, Frederic John (June 1, 2001). Maglipay Universalist: A History of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines.