Press Release regarding lawsuit filed by the UUA against the AUA, et al.

American Unitarian Association^™

Promoting the Unitarian Tradition

News Contact: David R. Burton

(703) 548-5868

dburton@americanunitarian.org

ALEXANDRIA, VA, April 5, 2001 – The new American Unitarian Association^TM (AUA) today vowed to fight a lawsuit filed against it by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The UUA lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, charges the new organization has no right to the name American Unitarian Association.

"We had hoped that our two associations, which both espouse religious tolerance, would be able to live side-by-side in a friendly and constructive manner," said David R. Burton, president of the new AUA, which was launched in December 2000. "Unfortunately, it appears that the UUA’s commitment to religious tolerance does not extend so far as to include another Unitarian voice. How ironic that the UUA goes to court when it feels its own religious orthodoxy is at risk."

Burton said that the UUA, a Boston-based denomination formed in 1961 to replace the old American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America, has been a poor steward of the Unitarian tradition. "The UUA has, in fact, repudiated much of what made the Unitarian tradition of value. The UUA has collapsed into a simplistic relativism that is virtually devoid of religious substance and offers almost no spiritual direction."

"We believe that the Unitarian tradition involves a belief in God, the divine or a higher power," Burton said. "The UUA version of Unitarian-Universalism has in many of its congregations devolved into God- and Christian-bashing, making traditional Unitarian and Universalist Christians feel unwelcome in their own denomination. Yet at the same time, Unitarian-Universalism has fully embraced polytheistic religions that totally contradict the name Unitarian."

According to Dean Fisher, a co-founder of the AUA: "Authentic Unitarianism is a rich, substantial tradition that has much to offer people seeking a religious home. It offers direction and meaning but also embraces reason, science and religious tolerance. The visionary men and women who founded American Unitarianism two centuries ago practiced a tolerant religious faith that saw reason and a belief in God as complementary rather than contradictory.

"We chose the name ‘American Unitarian Association^TM’ carefully and deliberately, to set ourselves apart from the UUA, which long ago turned its back on our Unitarian roots. We hope to rebuild a theistic Unitarianism rather than a movement that has largely abandoned religion in favor of pursuing political objectives," Fisher said.

Burton, an attorney, dismissed the UUA’s claim that the new AUA has no right to the name. "At the time we selected the name, we established that the AUA name was legally available. The old American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America ceased to exist in 1961 when the UUA was formed along with a new religion called Unitarian-Universalism. The UUA has not used the AUA name in commerce for 40 years. The UUA has trademarked the term 'Unitarian Universalist,' 'Unitarian Universalist Service Committee,' 'UU&Me,' 'UUWorld,' and 'World the Journal of the Unitarian Universalist Association.' It never trademarked 'American Unitarian Association,'" said Burton. "Why? Because that would have involved a rejection of the UU idea and the UU trade name," said Burton.

"More than a name changed in 1961," Burton said. "Because of the merger, the religion changed as well. Unitarians and Universalists became Unitarian Universalists. Two denominations, both deeply rooted in American history, disappeared, and a new denomination was born. Over the years, the new denomination has moved farther and farther away from the Unitarian tradition. The new American Unitarian Association^TM seeks to re-establish the connection and continuity with classical American Unitarianism."

The AUA will hold its first annual meeting April 20-22 in Alexandria, Virginia. The meeting, which is expected to attract Unitarian ministers and lay people from across the country, is open to the media. For more information, contact David R. Burton at (703) 548-5868 or dburton@americanunitarian.org, or visit the AUA’s Web site: www.americanunitarian.org.

Complete information about the new American Unitarian Association^TM, including a statement of its religious and governance principles, a brief history of Unitarianism, a collection of classical and contemporary Unitarian writings, a list of fellowship and congregational resources, and information on membership is available by visiting the AUA Web site.

The AUA’s religious principles are:

AUA 01-01