Unitarianism

Historic Unitarianism believed in the oneness of God as opposed to traditional Christian belief in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Historic Unitarians believed in the moral authority, but not the deity, of Jesus. Unitarians are often identified through the ages as free thinkers and dissenters, evolving their beliefs in the direction of freedom, tolerance, rationalism, and humanism.

Impact and opposition

The adoption of unitarian belief almost always entails severance of identification with Christianity as it is understood by the Nicene-Chalcedonian churches (Orthodox, Catholic, and most Protestants). Unitarianism is outside of the fellowship of these traditions, subscribing to a very different idea of what Christianity really is. It has a tradition of its own, parallel to trinitarianism. In recent times, conservative Protestants of various stripes insist on trinitarian belief as an essential of Christianity, and basic to a group's continuity of identity with the historical Christian faith.

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At many times, especially in Protestant history, traditionally trinitarian groups occasionally grow friendly to or incorporate unitarianism. Friendliness toward unitarianism has sometimes gone hand-in-hand with anti-Catholicism. In some cases non-trinitarian or unitarian belief has been adopted by some, and tolerated in Christian churches as a "non-essential". This was the case in the English Presbyterian Church, and in the Congregational Church in New England late in the 18th century. The Restoration Movement also attempted to forge a compatible relation between trinitarians and unitarians, as did the Seventh Day Baptists and various Adventists. The unitarian tendency in these last-mentioned groups is probably due to the in-built skepticism about Catholic history as a reliable guide to the Christian tradition of interpretation.

Related Topics:
Anti-Catholicism - Restoration Movement - Seventh Day Baptist - Adventist

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In other cases, this openness to unitarianism within traditionally trinitarian churches has been inspired by a very broad ecumenical motive. Modern liberal Protestant denominations are often accused by trinitarians within their ranks, and critics outside, of being indifferent to the doctrine, and therefore self-isolated from their respective trinitarian pasts and heritage. In some cases, it is charged that these trinitarian denominations are no longer Christian, because of their toleration of unitarian belief among their teachers, and in their seminaries.

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