Editing Unitarian Universalism (section)

====United States====
{{Main|History of Unitarianism}}
{{Further|Congregationalism in the United States|History of Christianity in the United States}}

In the United States, the Unitarian movement began primarily in the [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregational]] [[parish]] churches of [[New England]], which were part of the [[state church]] of Massachusetts.<ref>Paul Erasmus Lauer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2J8TAAAAYAAJ ''Church and state in New England''] (Johns Hopkins Press, 1892) p. 105. Retrieved September 20, 2009.</ref> These churches, whose buildings may still be seen in many New England town squares, trace their roots to the division of the [[Puritan]] colonies into parishes for the administration of their religious needs.<ref>[http://www.uunashua.org/sermons/sampson.shtml Bob Sampson, Seventy-three Years In the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Nashua, July 16, 2006] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306013146/http://uunashua.org/sermons/sampson.shtml |date=March 6, 2016 }}. Retrieved July 18, 2008.</ref> In the late 18th century, conflict grew within some of these churches between Unitarian and Trinitarian factions. In 1805, Unitarians gained key faculty positions at [[Harvard University#Religion and philosophy|Harvard]]. In 1819 [[William Ellery Channing]] preached the [[ordination]] sermon for [[Jared Sparks]] in [[Baltimore]], outlining the Unitarian position. The [[American Unitarian Association]] was founded as a separate denomination in 1825.<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://americanunitarian.org/fisherhistory.htm
|title= A Brief History of Unitarian Christianity
|access-date= 2011-09-24
|last1= Fisher
|first1= Chris
|date= September 1, 2004
|work= The 19th Century
|publisher= American Unitarian Conference
|quote= Many churches that were Congregationalist split off and became Unitarian. In 1825, the movement grew large enough that an organization, the American Unitarian Association, was formed
|archive-date= 27 September 2011
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110927143237/http://www.americanunitarian.org/fisherhistory.htm
}}</ref>
By coincidence and unknown to both parties, the AUA was formed on the same day—May 26, 1825—as the [[British and Foreign Unitarian Association]].<ref>Rowe, Ch. 3: "Thus was brought to birth, triumphantly, in 1825, The British And Foreign Unitarian Association. By a happy coincidence, in those days of slow posts, no transatlantic telegraph, telephone or wireless, our American cousins, in complete ignorance as to the details of what was afoot, though moving toward a similar goal, founded the American Unitarian Association on precisely the same day—May 26, 1825."</ref>

In the 19th century, under the influence of [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] (who had been a Unitarian minister)<ref>[http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/UIA%20Online/97emerson.html Ralph Waldo Emerson] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928060401/http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/UIA%20Online/97emerson.html |date=2012-09-28 }}. Harvardsquarelibrary.org. Retrieved on 2010-09-29.</ref> and other [[transcendentalists]], Unitarianism began its long journey from [[Liberal Christianity|liberal Protestantism]] to its more pluralist form.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.uua.org/documents/coa/engagingourtheodiversity.pdf |title=Engaging our theological diversity |date=May 2005 |isbn=978-1-55896-497-6 |publisher=The Commission on Appraisal of the [[Unitarian Universalist Association]]}}</ref>