Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Unitarian Universalism compared to New Thought

I've finally had some time to explore the Unitarian church. I was curious about the difference between Unitarian and New Thought churches such as Unity and Religious Science. Since about March of this year, I have been exploring these three denominations to see if I can find a church I can tolerate for more than a few visits. New Thought and Unitarian Universalist brands definitely have a chance. I believe I know enough now to characterize the differences from my perspective.

I'll try to be succinct, as there is plenty of information elsewhere that compares these two approaches. Here are some ways they are the similar:
  1. Both accept all religions as valid paths to the truth
  2. Both believe in the quest for individual spiritual truth
  3. Both support free thought
  4. Both are tolerant of all races and sexual orientations
  5. Both are metaphysically robust
  6. Both share some overlap of thinkers in the 19th century (e.g. Emerson)

Here are some ways they are different:

  1. Unitarians encourage no particular form of theistic belief - New Thought has a somewhat specific theistic concept
  2. Unitarians draw from all theological, philosophical and other sources equally - New Thought emphasizes Christianity and the New Thought tradition while accepting and drawing from other sources as well
  3. In particular, Religious Science draws from the Gospels, Eastern Religion, Ernest Holmes and Emerson somewhat equally while Unity tends to give a metaphysical interpretation of Christianity more emphasis
  4. Unitarians have a more traditional form of worship service, drawing from many traditional hymns and using lots of classical music during worship services - New Thought is more contemporary with music
  5. New Thought emphasizes meditation and affirmative prayer more than Unitarians
  6. Unitarians are more intellectual, where Unity is more emotional
  7. Unitarians appear to be somewhat equally represented by both genders - Unity/Religious Science appears to skew toward females
  8. Unitarians are more intellectually broad in their sources - New Thought writing seems to have a more specific conceptual mentality

That's just a few. I wanted to get these down while I was thinking about them. My experiences recently in some of the discussion groups at the First Unitarian Church of Dallas have been extremely intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking.

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