Unitarianism

/yooh'ni tair"ee euh niz'euhm/, n.

1. the beliefs, principles, and practices of Unitarians. Cf. Unitarian Universalism.

2. (l.c.) any system advocating unity or centralization, as in government.

[UNITARIAN + -ISM]

* * *

Religious movement that stresses free use of reason in religion, holds that God exists in only one person, and denies the divinity of Jesus and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Its modern roots are traced to several liberal, radical, and rationalist thinkers of the Protestant Reformation, who were in turn inspired by Arius. The mainstream of British and American Unitarianism grew out of Calvinist Puritanism. The scientist Joseph Priestley was a founder of the English Unitarians, who became a force in Parliament and were noted advocates of social reform. In the U.S., Unitarianism developed out of New England Congregationalism that rejected the 18th-century revival movement. Transcendentalism injected Unitarianism with a new interest that attracted many more followers. See also Calvinism, Universalism.

* * *