We are a faith tradition or religion that helps individuals to develop their own personal faith. We draw from many different religious and philosophical sources in the belief that none of these have an exclusive lock on the truth, yet most have something to tell us from which we can learn and gain wisdom. From Christianity, we value the teachings of Jesus, from Buddhism we learn practices which connect us to our own reality; from Pagan traditions we experience our relationship to the earth and our natural cycles; from the great philosophers and humanists we embrace the need for rational thinking and that religion should not ask us to check our brains at the church door. We find to be critical the social justice concerns that have been raised by religious leaders from ancient times until now including those found in the Judaic, Christian, and Islamic scriptures. We are aware of the ancient wisdom of the eastern and the Greek sages. We also carefully listen to and evaluate the prophets of today. 

We trace our roots back to those in the history of religions in the world who thought that the role of true religion was to inspire humankind to live better lives in the here and now. They thought that this inspiration could not be found in the literal words of human explanations of religious experiences. They believed that their personal wellbeing relied on their own experience of inspiration and that they could choose their own understanding of the meaning of their lives. In time, many of these people were called heretics. The word heretic itself originally had the meaning of choice. Today we say we are a liberal religion meaning that we do not subscribe to dogmas or creeds; instead, we subscribe to seeking what is noble and highly uplifting in our lives and living that out. Our history in the United States is found in two strands. The Unitarian Church evolved out of liberal Congregational churches and the Universalist Church came from liberal, mostly Baptist churches both in the early nineteenth century. The two merged in 1961. As a liberal church, we continue some characteristics of our predecessors. We are a free church, which means that all authority over church administration is in our own congregation only, and we do this democratically. As members of the Unitarian-Universalist Association, we support the seven principles, which is prominently displayed on the starting page of our website.  Being liberal, these principles have changed in the past and will continue to change in the future as the need arises.