Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) formed on May 14, 1961 to be the national organization for Canadians who belong to the Unitarian Universalist Association. Until 2002, almost all member congregations of the CUC were also members of the UUA, and most services to CUC member congregations were provided by the UUA. However, after an agreement between the CUC and the UUA, most services since 2002 have been provided by the CUC to its own member congregations, with the UUA continuing to provide ministerial settlement services. Some Canadian congregations have continued to be members of both the CUC and UUA, while others are members of only the CUC.
The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU) is an umbrella organization founded in 1995 comprising many Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist organizations. Some groups represent only a few hundred people; while the largest, the Unitarian Universalist Association, had more than 160,000 members as of May 2011—including over 150,000 in the United States.
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. Both of these predecessor organizations began as Christian denominations of the Unitarian and Universalist varieties 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.
Unitarian Universalism (UU) is a liberal religion 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, guided by a dynamic, "living tradition". Currently, these traditions are summarized by the Six Sources and Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism, documents recognized by all congregations who choose to be a part of the Unitarian Universalist Association. These documents are 'living', meaning always open for revisiting and reworking. Unitarian Universalist (U.U.) congregations include many atheists, agnostics, and theists within their membership—and there are U.U. churches, fellowships, congregations, and societies around the world. The roots of Unitarian Universalism lie in liberal Christianity, specifically unitarianism and universalism. Unitarian Universalists state that from these traditions comes a deep regard for intellectual freedom and inclusive love. Congregations and members seek inspiration and derive insight from all major world religions.
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Reformed, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4,852 churches and 802,356 members. The United Church of Christ is a historical continuation of the General Council of Congregational Christian churches founded under the influence of New England Pilgrims and Puritans. Moreover, it also subsumed the third largest Reformed group in the country, the German Reformed. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC. These two denominations, which were themselves the result of earlier unions, had their roots in Congregational, Lutheran, Evangelical, and Reformed denominations. At the end of 2014, the UCC's 5,116 congregations claimed 979,239 members, primarily in the U.S. In 2015, Pew Research estimated that 0.4 percent, or 1 million adult adherents, of the U.S. population self-identify with the United Church of Christ.
A variety of religious emblems programs are used by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to encourage youth to learn about their faith and to recognize adults who provide significant service to youth in a religious environment. These religious programs are created, administered and awarded by the various religious groups, not the BSA, but each program must be recognized by the BSA.
The Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) provides a ministry to isolated Unitarian Universalists (UUs). Its mission also includes growing Unitarian Universalism by supporting small congregations and new UUs around the world. The CLF also offers resources to Unitarian Universalists active in local congregations.
About Your Sexuality, or AYS, was a comprehensive sex education course published by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1970, with further revisions in 1973, 1978 and 1983. The course materials were originally developed by Deryck Calderwood. Although made available to other organizations, the materials were primarily used in courses taught to youth ages 12–14 in Unitarian Universalist congregations.
General Assembly (GA) is an annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is held in June, in a different city in the United States every year. The last GA held outside the United States was in Quebec in 2002, after which congregations belonging to the Canadian Unitarian Council separated from the UUA. Member congregations send delegates and conventioneers to participate in the plenary sessions, workshops, regional gatherings, public witness events, and worship services. In recent years, attendance at each General Assembly has reached over 5,500.
Coming of Age is a Unitarian Universalist program in which a congregation fosters the transition of its children into youth. Although COA programs vary by congregation, they typically mark the individual's transition from younger religious education programs into a youth group, District-level/Regional Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU), as well as National and Continental-level YRUU. Not all youth will enter into all of the levels of programming above, though entering into at least congregational-level YRUU is very common. At least one of the UUA districts holds a series of COA retreats to supplement congregational COA programs.
Youth ministry, also commonly referred to as youth group, is an age-specific religious ministry of faith groups or other religious organizations, usually from ages 12 to 30, whose mission is to involve and engage with young people who attend their places of worship, or who live in their community. Christian youth ministry usually encompasses one or more of the following:
Unitarian Universalism and the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) have a long-standing tradition of welcoming LGBT people.
Religion in Scouting and Guiding is an aspect of the Scout method that has been practiced differently and given different interpretations over the years.
The Religious Institute, Inc. is a progressive American multi-faith organization dedicated to advocating for sexual health, education, and justice in faith communities and society. It was co-founded in 2001 by Debra Haffner, a Unitarian Universalist minister and sexologist, and Larry Greenfield, an American Baptist minister and theologian.
Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU) is a term used within the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) in the United States and formerly the Canadian Unitarian Council. YRUU was an organization at the continental level primarily run by youth, ranging in age from 14 to 20, with mentoring adult partners. The continental organization of YRUU ended in 2008, but the term is still used by certain active youth groups and conferences at the congregational and district levels.
Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness (UUPA) is an independent organization of Unitarian Universalists seeking to promote greater understanding and acceptance of polyamory within the Unitarian Universalist Association and its member congregations.
Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church is a Unitarian Universalist church located in Bethesda, Maryland. The church describes itself as a liberal religious community and is active in community service and social justice projects. The church is officially a "Welcoming Congregation" following the guidelines of the Unitarian Universalist Association, of which it is a member. Cedar Lane was instrumental in developing a widely used curriculum on sexuality for middle aged school children. Four times a year, the church hosts a "spirit experience" that emphasizes interfaith and multicultural worship. Cedar Lane has weekly Sunday services and offers religious education classes for young people during the school year.
Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation (Northwest) was organized in 1969. The organization of Northwest was the result of action taken by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta (UUCA) to establish a new congregation in the northwest suburbs of Atlanta.
Reverend Cedric A. Harmon is the Executive Director of Many Voices: A Black Church Movement for LGBT Justice and a speaker, writer, and activist. He is recognized as having taken a "leading role in trying to convince the faithful to support LGBT rights," his work acknowledged in the National Park Service 2016 Centennial report LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History. He has also written for outlets such as the Huffington Post and the Advocate.
