Unitarian Universalist Santa Fe

Ours is a free church. Becoming a member here requires assent to no creed nor agreement with any doctrine. We are democratic in governance, liberal in matters religious and tolerant in matters cultural. And we have been an active voice in northern New Mexico since 1952.

Unitarian Universalism in America goes back to the Pilgrims — indeed First Parish Plymouth, established by those on the Mayflower, is a Unitarian Universalist Church today. The descendants of the early Puritans, by the time they had been in America for several generations and influenced by the democratic ideals of the Revolution and the evolving insights of science, developed a more open-minded theology. Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Joseph Priestley, Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Presidents John and John Quincy Adams and Thomas Jefferson all espoused Unitarian views; views which focused on the oneness of all life — human beings included — and which understood Jesus more as a model of human possibility than as a god.

American Universalism evolved from two strains: one among the German pietists of the Delaware Valley, and a New England strain. Both rejected Calvinism, in particular its notions of predestination and of Hell as a realm of eternal torment for those not "saved." The Source of life was too loving, they believed, to damn anyone to such a condition. Ultimately, they held, all souls would be reconciled within the mind and heart of God. Prominent Universalists have included Clara Barton, Horace Greeley, P.T. Barnum, and the first woman ordained to the ministry in America, Olympia Brown. Our congregation was originally Unitarian. When the two denominations merged in 1961, we followed suit and became the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Fe.

Over the decades Unitarian Universalism has been active in efforts to abolish slavery, expand voting and civil rights, encourage greater ecological awareness and in the areas of prison and mental health reform. We are welcoming to all, regardless of one’s race, economic status, past religious background or sexual orientation. Within our congregation we have people who identify themselves as Unitarian Universalist Christians, UU Humanists, UU pagans, and in a host of other ways. Most of us, however, resist labels of any kind, knowing only that we are comfortable in the company of fellow travelers on a shared journey toward more meaningful lives. We offer a wide variety of programs and activities to which you are warmly invited.

Open-minded and free-spirited as our faith is, we realize that it doesn’t appeal to everyone. If, however, you believe that people can build a better world, that reason is not incompatible with revelation, that all people have a spark of the divine within them, and that justice and peace are worth working for, then our church may be the church for you. Welcome, look around, and feel free to come to one of our services.

Shalom.