Journal: Trinity Journal
Volume: TRINJ 17:2 (Fall 1996)
Article: Unitarian Universalists and the Second Law of Theological Thermodynamics: The Rise of Militant Pluralism
Author: Alan W. Gomes

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TrinJ 17:2 (Fall 1996) p. 147

Unitarian Universalists
and the Second Law of
Theological Thermodynamics:
The Rise of Militant Pluralism

Alan W. Gomes *

Come return to your place in the pews, and hear our heretical views:
You were not born in sin so lift up your chin, you have only your dogmas to lose.

—Leonard Mason, Unitarian Universalist minister.1

In the past thirty years, Christian apologists have virtually ignored the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), leaving it to spend its force in what they perceived to be random doctrinal chaos. Perhaps apologists felt this was a safe course, since the UUA was in steady decline and was therefore seen as less threatening than more virulent groups—such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons—who were aggressively proselytizing and reaping a harvest of souls.2 Though larger than some notorious and well-publicized cults, such as the Worldwide Church of God and the Way International, the perceived threat was less because the UUA was not evangelistic, keeping largely to itself.

Much has changed, however, and I believe that Christian apologists can no longer ignore the UUA. Two factors support this conviction: (1) the UUA has moved further away from even its unorthodox “Christian” roots and into arguably more serious forms of theological error;3 and (2) the UUA has shed its passivity and is

* Alan W. Gomes is Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California.

TrinJ 17:2 (Fall 1996) p. 148

now spreading its “saving message” with a vengeance—quite literally—in its attempt to blunt the so-called “religious right.”4

Apologists need to put this latest strain of Unitarianism under the microscope and formulate ways to inoculate against it. To do so, apologists must: (1) gauge accurately the importance and influence of the UUA, from a demographic and statistical standpoint; (2) have a basic understanding of the group’s doctrinal roots; (3) assess its present doctrinal trajectories, both in continuity and discontinuity with its historic manifestations; and (4) pay due attention to current UUA efforts at spreading its influence. Only then can evangelical apologists formulate a reasoned course of action.

I. Importance of the Unitarian Universalist Association:
Vital Statistics and Demographics

For a religious group so largely ignored, the UUA is surprisingly influential, far beyond what its official member...

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