Texas official says Unitarian church not a tax-exempt religion

Kansas City Star ^ | 5/17/04 | R. A. Dyer

[Protagoras]

If I recall correctly, Unitarians were once a Christian denomination that believed in God and Jesus but believed them to be simply different aspects of a single Godhead, instead of a Triune God.

No surprising, it's one of the most difficult concepts in Christianity.

[Hank Rearden]

It's where spacecase hippies go when they want to say they "go to church". Buncha loons.

But keeping as much money as possible away from Big Stupid Government is always a good thing.

[AmishDude]

[Freebird Forever]

Church of Monday Night Football

Would Green Bay be a holy city in your faith?

[cavan]

"I suppose getting an exemption for my Church of Monday Night Football is out of the question."


You could try, and call it a "Hail Mary Play"?

[LiteKeeper]

Agreed

[Dog Gone]

I think Green Bay is Hell.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Just get rid of the income tax and let people say what they want.

[Ben Chad]

Are moon worshipers exempted?

[FlatLandBeer]

Yes! back then they were a Chirstian centered church even if they didn't belive in Christ's divinity.

[Maceman]

Tax everything, nothing and no one exempt.

Tax no incomes, only retail sales. Repeal the 16th Amendment. No exemptions necessary.

[kidd]

How do you get Unitarians to leave your neighborhood?

Burn a question mark on their lawn

[SquirrelKing]

Does being the "High Priest of Beer" make me a church and tax-exemt?

Uh oh.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Isn't the Unitarian Creed essentially:

The Fatherhood of God.
The Brotherhood of Man.
The Neighborhood of Boston.

[Protagoras]

Yes! back then they were a Chirstian centered church even if they didn't belive in Christ's divinity.

At least they believed in something. Unlike the current incarnation.

I didn't realize that the Unitarians were not christian back then. I'll have to look it up, it's kinda interesting.

[dinasour]

Isn't the Unitarian Creed essentially...

I believe that they begin each prayer with "To whom it may concern"

[Doctor Stochastic]

I believe that they begin each prayer with "To whom it may concern"

Sort of like grafitti on a weapon of mass destruction.

[snarkpup]

One day I got curious and cruised some official-looking web sites that claim to state what Unitarianism was all about. My impression was that their big thing is being non-judgemental - to the point that they don't have any concrete cultural values that they are trying to transmit from generation to generation. It looked more like a social club. (I looked up Freemasonry at the same time and got much the same result.)

My definition of a "religion" requires that it 1) define a set of cultural values and 2) provide a vivid and effective mechanism for transmitting them from one generation to the next. By this definition, I guess Unitarianism wouldn't qualify.

[Charles Martel]

presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams were both Unitarians.

*************************************

They would roll over in their graves if they saw what it has become.

No kidding. Whatever the Unitarians once were, all they are now is spelled out pretty plainly on their website. Right below "Unitarian Universalist Association", it reads: "Representing over 1,000 liberal congregations in North America".

Be sure to also note the helpful .pdf files, including the "Same Sex Wedding Planning Guide". The UUA is not a church, it's the un-church. In more ways that one - these are the people who display the U.N. flag in the places where they congregate (I just can't use the word "worship" - it would not be accurate).

[Egregious Philbin]

If I recall correctly, Unitarians were once a Christian denomination that believed in God and Jesus but believed them to be simply different aspects of a single Godhead, instead of a Triune God. How they got hooked up with the Universalists is unknown to me.

You are correct. Unitarianism began in Transylvania and has been around for centuries. Universalism began in the U.S. about 200 years ago. The merge didn't occur until 1961. Universalists believe that all will be saved. You put the two together and it doesn't seem surprising that what would come out would be what Unitarian Universalism is today - a church that defies the traditional definitions of what church is.