Beliefs

Unitarian Church Open to Everyone

Copyright 1996 Southam Inc. The Ottawa Citizen
February 3, 1996

Neither belief nor lack of belief is any bar to membership in the Unitarian Church.

The Church has no formal creed or doctrine, and includes not only Christians and Jews, but also witches like Martha Patterson as well as atheists like Rev. Brian Kopke, senior minister of the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa.

The most fundamental principle for Unitarians is individual freedom of religious belief.

The denomination acknowledges humanism, Christianity, Judaism and other world religions as sources of its spirituality.

Last year, delegates to the denomination's annual North American meeting also added earth-centred traditions as one of its spiritual sources, but only by the narrowest of votes and with little advance publicity.

Rev. Charles Eddis, one of the founders of the Canadian Unitarian Council and its first president, says the denomination adopted earth-based spirituality with too little debate.

He says there are legitimate earth-based traditions, like the North American aboriginal tradition, and Afro-American traditions, but says neopaganism, such as Patterson's belief in Wicca, has no real tradition behind it. Most authorities agree neopaganism was invented in the 1950s by George Gardner, the first public witch of the 20th century.

Eddis says the earth-centred traditions appeal to feminists who want to affirm the female element in religions through goddess worship, as well as some young people who want to bypass the Bible and other books and go directly to ritual and other experience-centred religion.

"Something that is less well-known seems more arcane and has more appeal. They doubt Christianity, but they don't doubt neopaganism," said Eddis.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of Canadians who identified themselves as Unitarians grew from 14,500 in 1981 to 16,535 in 1991. Kopke says Sunday attendance at the Ottawa church has grown even faster, from about 160 members 10 years ago to about 250 today. The congregation is now trying to establish the region's second church in Orleans.

The denomination shows similar growth in the U.S., where membership figures have shot up from 171,609 in 1982 to 205,399 today.