The Unitarian Universalist Association is a denomination formed in 1961 by the merger of two separate, but similar, branches - Unitarianism and Universalism - of the Protestant tradition, but its roots lie 400 years deep in the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

Unitarianism grew from the conviction that God is one unified whole, rather than three parts, thus the name Unitarian. This faith first emerged in Poland and Romania, later traveling to England and then to the United States where noted figures such as Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Louisa May Alcott were active and influential in its development.

Universalism began in England as a faith affirming universal salvation, a faith that God is a God of love who would not consign any soul to eternal punishment. This religion traveled to Pennsylvania. New Jersey, and New England in the late 1700's and flourished in this country.

Our two denominations always had in common an open-ended stance in matters of belief; refusing to be limited by fixed creeds or doctrines. This holds true today as we affirm the ongoing potential for human reason and experience to formulate new religious insights; and as we affirm that the ultimate mysteries of life and of death, the mysteries of creation, may never be fully known or able to be captured in a final statement of truth.

Each Unitarian Universalist society has a unique personality and is autonomous in its decision making. The denomination, as an association of churches, provides resources, including religious education materials, ministerial training and accreditation, and a national and international presence, but each church is owned and governed entirely by its own members.