The Unitarian Universalist movement is formed by a series of groups, traditions, and practices, whose origin dates back to the most radical wing of the Reformation, and which affirms the freedom of every person to investigate and decide upon his/her religious beliefs. Respecting all cultures and traditions, Unitarian Universalists say that no religion or philosophy has the monopoly of Truth, and that the ultimate response about God, the Universe, death, and the meaning of life is a mystery that cannot be captured in a creed or a set of dogmas that must be blindly believed or through the validation of some external religious authority.

The Unitarian Universalist approach affirms the freedom and dignity of every person, the rationality of human beings, and the celebration of diverse beliefs and opinions as basic elements to grow spiritually and live a more enriching and meaningful life. Unitarian Universalists find their guide in their own experience and reason, in the best teachings of the religions and ethical philosophies of all cultures, and in the ideas and acts of noble and wise men and women. In a Unitarian Universalist congregation you may meet very diverse types of people, holding different religious beliefs --some are liberal Christians, others are Buddhist and practice meditation, others may be Humanists and value science and reason, while still others may be looking for harmony with the Earth and the cycle of nature.

When the Protestant Reformation began, in opposition against the abuse and corruption prevalent in Rome, many intellectuals published their own opinions about the Christian doctrine without waiting for the Holy See's approval, according to the Protestant principle of free examination of the Bible. One of them was Michael Servetus, a renowned Spanish physician and theologian. In his book, De Trinitatis Erroribus ("On the Errors About the Trinity"), he questioned the Biblical and rational basis of the Trinitarian dogma. These ideas were reaffirmed and enlarged in his main book, Christianismi Restitutio ("Restoration of Christianity"), written 20 years later. His unorthodox opinions and his spiritual freedom, which Servetus always defended with his pen and his voice in front of the violent dogmatism of Catholics and Protestants, made him an outlaw in many European countries. Servetus was persecuted by the Catholic Inquisition and by the reformer Calvin and his followers, who finally imprisoned him in Geneva and condemned him to death at the stake (1553). Nowadays, the Unitarian churches consider Servetus their pioneer and first martyr.

Servetus's life, work and final sacrifice became a religious and ethical example to many others. Sebastian Castellio harshly criticized Calvin for his intolerance and fanaticism, and proclaimed the freedom of conscience in matters of faith, a principle that has been a key element in the Unitarian Universalist tradition.

The Italian reformer, Faustus Socinus, was also secretly developing a theological work which depicted Christ as a human model for a moral life, and rejected the dogma of his divine nature (a theology later Socinianism after him). Socinus was also persecuted for his beliefs, but he found a safe haven in Poland, where he met other antitrinitarian reformers who had founded a new religious denomination called the "Minor Reformed Church" (also known as the Polish Brethren). Other Italian humanists, such as Bernardo Ochino and Giorgio Biandrata, were also promoting antitrinitarian teachings under Servetus's influence.

Ferenc Dávid, who was the leader of the Reformation in the remote land of Transylvania (now a territory split between modern Romania and Hungary), was converted to Unitarianism by Biandrata (who was then the royal court's physician) and started preaching Unitarian Christianity with great success. The Prince of Transylvania, Sigismund, also sympathized with Unitarianism, but in order to avoid religious conflict in his land, he issued the first Edict of Religious Tolerance in modern times, in 1568. After Sigismund's death, however, the Catholic Counter-Reformation reached Transylvania. Ferenc Dávid was condemned to a life sentence in prison and died in 1579. Up to now, the cause of his death and his burial place remain unknown, but the Unitarian Church he created has managed to survive under tremendous difficulties.

In England, the push for a Radical Reformation remained alive among the so-called Dissenters, which meant all those who were opposed to the hegemony of the Anglican Church. Some of them learnt about the Polish Socinians and, under the influence of John Locke's empirism and the free-thinking, rationalist trends of the Enlightenment, began to constitute independent churches with a Unitarian theology in the 18th century. The first one was Essex Church, founded by Theophilus Lindsey in London (1774). A similar evolution took place among the most liberal among the Puritans who had fled to North America looking for religious freedom. Their main leader was W. E. Channing. At both sides of the Atlantic, the Unitarian congregations became independent denominations in 1825.

On July 15, 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson, a former Unitarian minister in Boston, made a speech in Harvard Divinity School that was going to be a key element in the history of Unitarianism. Emerson, under the influence of German Romanticism and of Hinduism, proposed a purely intuitive way for spiritual experience, based upon the inherent capacity of the individual. According to Emerson, miracles, Biblical revelation, and religious authorities, were unnecessary. This philosophy received the name of Transcendentalism.

Theodore Parker was a Unitarian ministers who became the great reformer of American Unitarianism, following the ideas exposed by Emerson, although most of his colleagues were reluctant to accept his avant-garde proposals. Parker's most important sermon was The Transient and Permanent in Christianity. He was also a leader of the antislavery movement and a great defender of human rights. James Martineau was the pioneer of the renewal of Unitarianism in Britain. After those great debates that occupied most of the 19th century, the Unitarians entered a phase of consolidation and expansion.

Meanwhile, a small group of religious liberals had formed a religious movement that affirmed that God's love would save everyone at the end of time; they believed in a loving, forgiving God who could never punish their sons and daughters with eternal damnation in hell. The salvation was, then, universal. That is why they were called Universalists. The Universalist Church was on the forefront of the struggle for civil rights and the empowerment of those who were marginalized and oppressed by an unjust society. Among other things, they were the first to officially ordain a woman for the ministry, Olympia Brown, in 1863.

In the 20th century, and after several attempts to establish organizational ties with the Quakers and other liberal religious groups, the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church merged in 1961, thus forming the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). In Canada, Universalists became members of the existing Unitarian churches, creating the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC).

After the merger of Unitarianism and Universalism, the product is clearly more than the mere sum of its parts. The current Unitarian Universalist movement, although owing a lot to the churches from the Protestant tradition that formed it, has taken the best of both worlds to create a new synthesis that goes well beyond traditional religion, with an advanced, progressive ethical vision and an open, pluralistic, innovative way of understanding religion.

The American magazine Newsweek, in an article devoted to new forms of spirituality, referred to Unitarian Universalism as a "postmodern religion" that was particularly attuned to the new generations, because of its emphasis in individual freedom, its scarce doctrinal demands, and its personalized approach of spirituality, and predicted its quick growth in the next years. Whether we agree or not with that assessment, the current expansion of the Unitarian Universalist Association in North America, the creation of an International Council of Unitarians and Universalists in 1995 to promote cooperation among the different churches and societies that call themselves Unitarian and Universalist around the globe, and the birth of new groups in countries where this religious tradition had not existed before, or its resurgence where it had been persecuted in the past, are clear signs of the renewed vitality of this liberal spiritual movement.

*Jaume de Marcos holds a Degree in English and a Master in History of Religions from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Since 2003, he is a member of the Michael Servetus Institute. He is one of the main ethical and intellectual beacons of the Unitarian-Univeralist movement in Spain.