The Unitarian Universalist Society of Fairhaven, Massachusetts Brief Introduction to Our History and Current Thinking We are both an old and a new religion. The unitarian and universalist ideas go as far back as the Nicea Council in 326 when one theological position was unitarian (the wholeness of God via Arius, the presbyter) and the other position was trinitarian (God as three-in-one via Athanasius, a bishop). Universal salvation was also held by many early church fathers. These ideas were heretical following the decision to adopt the Apostle's Creed and people were killed for espousing them. Following the Reformation in the sixteenth century, people who held these ideas eventually formed liberal religious organizations in Europe and later in eighteenth and nineteenth century America. In the twentieth century, the Unitarians and the Universalists found they had more similarities than differences and so they merged in 1961. As our congregations struggled with the questions of traditional Christianity, they recognized that their religious response to the world was deeply inspired by Judeo-Christian teachings and many other teachings. Following is a quote from the Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide, page x of the Preface: "To be human is to be religious. To be religious is to make connections. The world religio in Latin means to reconnect. To lead a meaningful life among the many competing forces of the twenty-first century, each of us needs support in making meaningful reconnections to the best in our global heritage, the best in others, and the best in ourselves." The breadth of our religious view is expressed in our Seven Principles and the depth in the six sources from which we draw our inspiration. Please look at them on this site. We have a very long and rich history, to read some of it, please log onto www.uua.org which is our Association's web site.