The Boston-based national church, meanwhile, has sued in federal court, claiming the UUA still owns the name American Unitarian Association, even though the name largely went out of use when the UUA was formed 40 years ago. In many ways, the new group is no different than other renewal groups in Lutheran, Roman Catholic or even Jewish circles. But for the UUA, whose creed is that there is no creed, the dispute is testing its cherished belief in religious tolerance and room for all. When the UUA was formed in 1961, it blended Unitarians, who do not embrace the Trinitarian view of God, and Universalists, who believe a loving God would not condemn human souls to eternal punishment. Liberal but dogmatic Such a broad worldview led many of the church's 216,000 members to delve into alternative religions, or no religion at all.
Critics say they are left with a church with little to no real theology.
So Burton and 20 others plan to create education materials. They would like churches who agree to become aligned with both bodies, and launch new churches. Leaders within the movement maintain they are just as liberal as other Unitarians. They agree with positions on homosexuality and abortion rights, but they are increasingly uncomfortable with the prominent role liberal politics has occupied in the church's life. That may be true theologically, but it's certainly not true politically.