The Universalist Church of America was a religious denomination in the United States (plus affiliated Churches in other parts of the world). Known from 1866 as the Universalist General Convention, the name was changed to the Universalist Church of America in 1942. In 1961, it merged with the American Unitarian Association to form the Unitarian Universalist Association. 1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), in full the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in North America, is a liberal religious denomination formed by the merger in 1961 of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church in America. ... The flaming chalice is a widely used symbol for Unitarian Universalism. ...

The defining theology of Universalism is universal salvation; Universalists believe that the God of love would not create a person knowing that that person would be destined for eternal damnation. Thus, they concluded that any existing person must be destined for salvation. In all other respects Universalists followed orthodox Christian doctrine, simply expanding the number of the saved to include all persons. Some Universalists believe that Hell exists as a temporary abode for those who have died unreconciled to God, but where God continues to work with the souls in Hell and will lead them eventually to the salvation God intends for all persons. Other Universalists, notably Hosea Ballou, denied the existence of Hell entirely. Ballou believed that sin created its own punishment while we lived and that after death all souls would immediately be reconciled with God. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Universality (philosophy). ... In Christian theology, universal reconciliation or universal salvation, is the doctrine or belief that all will eventually find salvation and reconciliation with God, going to heaven sometime after death. ...

History

Spiritual ancestry

Universalism, like most Protestant movements, claims its origins to early Christians in the first through third centuries A.D. Universalists claim that Universalist beliefs were reasonably common then, before Catholic theology was firmly laid out; they cite Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Clement of Alexandria, and others as Church Fathers who wrote of beliefs consistent with Universalism [1]. Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Early Christian image of Christ as the Good Shepherd. ... Origen (Greek: , ca. ... Gregory of Nyssa ( 335 – after 394) was a Christian bishop and saint. ... Clement of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Clemens), was the first member of the Church of Alexandria to be more than a name, and one of its most distinguished teachers. ...

In early America

American Universalism developed from the influence of various Pietist and Anabaptist movements in Europe, including Quakerism, Moravians, Methodists, Lutherans, Schwenkfelders, Brethren, and others. Pietists emphasized individual piety and zeal and a "religion of the heart." Early followers were most often German in ancestry. The majority of the early American Universalists lived in the Mid-Atlantic colonies, though Rhode Island also had a fair amount of followers. Pietism was a movement, in the Lutheran Church, lasting from the late-17th century to the mid-18th Century. ... Anabaptists (Greek ana+baptizo without-baptizers, German: Wiedertäufer) were Christians of the Radical Reformation. ... The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ... A Moravian can be: an ethnic group a Christian denomination This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Methodist movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... The Brethren are any of several Christian denominations, most of which are Anabaptist-Pietist. ... Official language(s) None Capital Providence Largest city Providence Area  Ranked 50th  - Total 1,214* sq mi (3,144* km²)  - Width 37 miles (60 km)  - Length 48 miles (77 km)  - % water 32. ...

One of the most important early Universalist evangelists was the Dr. George de Benneville. Born in a Huguenot family exiled to England, he arrived in America in 1741. A physician and lay preacher, he spread Universalism among the German immigrants of Buck's County, Pennsylvania, and later around Philadelphia and New Jersey. Benneville also commonly visited the Ephrata Cloister, a utopian community with Universalist beliefs. He arranged for the translation of a German book about universalism, The Everlasting Gospel, by Georg Klein-Nicolai of Friessdorf, Germany. Nearly forty years later, Elhanan Winchester would read the book and convert to Universalism. He was influential in the printing of the Sauer Bible, the first German Bible printed in America, with passages supporting Winchester's belief in the universal availability of salvation in boldface type. Englishman George de Benneville was born in 1703 to aristocratic Huguenot French parents in the court of Queen Anne. ... In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name of Huguenots came to apply to members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France, or historically as the French Calvinists. ... // Events April 10 - Austrian army attack troops of Frederick the Great at Mollwitz August 10 - Raja of Travancore defeats Dutch East India Company naval expedition at Battle of Colachel December 19 - Vitus Bering dies in his expedition east of Siberia December 25 - Anders Celsius develops his own thermometer scale Celsius... Philadelphia is a village located in Jefferson County, New York. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The Ephrata Cloister or Ephrata Community was a religious community established in 1732 by Johann Conrad Beissel at Ephrata, in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. ...

In the South, Rev. Giles Chapman was a former Quaker and Continental Army Chaplain who married into a Dunker family. The first Universalist church in South Carolina (and possibly in America ^{[citation needed]}) was the Freedonia Meeting Hall situated in Newberry County. This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Newberry County is a county located in the state of South Carolina. ...

Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a convert to Universalism, was a vigorous foe of slavery, advocated the abolition of the death penalty, advocated for better education for women, supported free public schools, was a pioneer in the study and treatment of mental illness, and insisted that the insane had a right to be treated with respect. He published a pamphlet on the iniquity of the slave trade. As part of his abolitionism, he helped organize the "Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage," the first antislavery society in America; he also served as its president. Dr. Benjamin Rush painted by Charles Wilson Peale, 1783 Dr. Benjamin Rush (December 24, 1745–April 19, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States. ...

The first General Society was held in 1778. Annual conventions started in 1785 with the New England Convention. In 1804, this convention changed its name to "The General Convention of Universalists in the New England States and Others." At its peak in the 1830s, the Universalist Church was around the 9^th largest denomination in the United States.

Decline

The Universalist Church had its origins in pietistic, evangelistic movements with a liberal bent. However, the development of modern science somewhat sapped the Universalist's power to claim that they were the true possessors of revealed Christian truth. ^{[citation needed]} Stuck in an uneasy compromise, the Universalist Church gradually lost influence and evangelical zeal to spread itself. Eventually, the Church came to the conclusion that the only way to deal with the "threat" of humanism and secular liberalism was to embrace it, and merged with the American Unitarian Association to form the Unitarian Universalist Association. The UUA contains a considerably looser set of beliefs than the Universalists of the 1800s as a "non-creedal" religion. Humanism is a broad category of active ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appeal to universal human qualities—particularly rationalism. ... Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), in full the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in North America, is a liberal religious denomination formed by the merger in 1961 of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church in America. ... The flaming chalice is a widely used symbol for Unitarian Universalism. ...

Some state Universalist Conventions did not accept the merger. These churches and others form minor pockets of Christian theological Universalists which remain, but most are affiliated with other denominations. [2] [3] It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Universality (philosophy). ...

Church Organization

Universalist congregations tended towards independence and were not easily prone to centralization. They generally met in State Conventions, which usually had more authority than was vested in national Conventions.

The Philadelphia Convention was an independent National Convention from 1790 to about 1810.

Social and political stances

The Universalist Church of America involved itself in several social causes, generally with a politically liberal bent.

Abolitionism

As noted above, Benjamin Rush was a major political activist for anti-slavery causes in early America. The issue resurfaced in the 1850s with the Fugitive Slave Act and other compromises; the Universalists, along with various other denominations, vigorously opposed slavery as immoral. They also favored postbellum legislation such as the Fifteenth Amendment and the Freedman's Act to enfranchise all American citizens. // Events and Trends Technology Production of steel revolutionised by invention of the Bessemer process Benjamin Silliman fractionates petroleum by distillation for the first time First transatlantic telegraph cable laid First safety elevator installed by Elisha Otis Science Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species, putting forward the theory of evolution... It has been suggested that Fugitive slave laws be merged into this article or section. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Church/State Separation

Like many American religions, Universalism has generally been amenable to church-state separation. While many Universalists firmly believed in voting their values, few Universalists have asked for direct governmental support.

One example comes from the 1780s. By Massachusetts state law, citizens were taxed to support the Congregational Church of the community where they lived. Sixty-one people in Gloucester left the church to form the Independent Church of Christ, which stood for Universalism. They then refused to pay their taxes. The church they built was seized and sold to pay; however, the Chruch sued, and in 1786, they won their case. Nothing much really happened in the 1780s only that Mary-Anne Tobin was hung in public for wearing a flase beard and voting. ... Settled: 1623 â€“ Incorporated: 1642 Zip Code(s): 01930 â€“ Area Code(s): 351 / 978 Official website: http://www. ... 1786 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Ordination of women

On June 25, 1863, Olympia Brown became the first woman in the United States to receive ordination in a national denomination. By 1920, there were 88 Universalist women ministers, the largest group of in the United States. June 25 is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 189 days remaining. ... 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar). ... Olympia Brown (1835-1926) was a famous Womens suffragist. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 3 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time. ...

Notable Universalists

• P. T. Barnum, entertainer
• George de Benneville, influential early evangelist
• Giles Chapman, early evangelist
• Thomas Potter
• John Murray, evangelist
• Caleb Rich, evangelist
• Benjamin Rush, statesman, Founding Father, and abolitionist.
• Hosea Ballou, theologian and evangelist
• Abner Kneeland, theologian and the last man in the United States jailed for blasphemy
• Judith Sargent Murray, essayist and poet, advocated woman's rights
• Olympia Brown, the first woman in the United States to be ordained by a major denomination
• Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross

Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891) Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891) by Mathew Brady 1856 newspaper advertisement for Barnums American Museum Parody of Jenny Linds first American tour for P.T. Barnum, New York City, October 1850 Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891), American showman who... Englishman George de Benneville was born in 1703 to aristocratic Huguenot French parents in the court of Queen Anne. ... Thomas Potter was an illiterate farmer who built a chapel in Ocean County, New Jersey. ... John Murray (1741–1815) though sometimes recalled as founder of the Universalist denomination in the United States, might more fairly be described as a pioneer minister and an inspirational figure, as his theological legacy to the later Universalist denomination was minimal. ... Dr. Benjamin Rush painted by Charles Wilson Peale, 1783 Dr. Benjamin Rush (December 24, 1745–April 19, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States. ... Hosea Ballou (1771—1852), American Universalist clergyman, was born in Richmond, New Hampshire, on the 30th of April 1771. ... Abner Kneeland (b. ... Look up blasphemy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... She was on the equality of the sexists. ... Olympia Brown (1835-1926) was a famous Womens suffragist. ... Famed American nurse Clara Barton, first president of the American Red Cross Clarissa Harlowe Barton (better known as Clara Barton) (December 25, 1821 –April 12, 1912) was a pioneer American teacher, nurse, and humanitarian. ...

External links

• Murray Grove Retreat & Conference Center - Thomas Potter farm
• The Sargent House Museum - Judith Sargent Murray house
• Christian Universalists -- A Directory of Universalist Churches.
• Churches Served by Universalist Clergy
• Biblical Universalism: Universal Salvation as Taught in the Greek Text of the New Testament
• Bible Study Net
• Eschatology and final restoration (Apokatastasis) in Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and Maximos the Confessor