U

From Philosopedia

U [[1]]

Ubaldini, Ottavio: See entry for Epicurus.

Uberti, Farinita Degli: See entry for Epicurus.

Ubiquitous Perpetuity God In 1996, a San Rafael, California, sixty-eight-year old man who had come to the United States from Cuba was convicted of indecent exposure and was sentenced to nine months in jail. He had changed his name to Ubiquitous Perpetuity God and exposed himself to women, he swore, so they “could see him and have some type of awareness of God.” Wolf Roder, commenting upon the man, who had been convicted eighteen times for similar acts since 1978, said, “Well, it’s better than murdering all the Canaanites.” (See entry for God, Ubiquitous.)

[[Uchtman, Vern (20th Century) Uchtman is Secretary of the Cincinnati, Ohio, Free Inquiry Group. In Free Inquiry (Winter 1996-1997), he wrote “Camp Quest ‘96,” describing the creation and inauguration of the first summer camp for children of secular humanist families.

UCOS NIEUWSBRIEF (Belgium) UCOS Nieuwsbrief, a Dutch quarterly, Universitair Centrum voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking-Humanist Development Cooperation, is at Pleinlaan 2Y, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. E-mail: <lawauter@vub.ac.BE).

Ueberweg, Friedrich (1826–1871) A German philosopher, Ueberweg studied at Göttingen and Berlin and became professor of philosophy at Königsberg. His chief work is A History of Philosophy. Lange cites Czolbe as saying of Ueberweg, “He was in every way distinctly an Atheist and Materialist.” McCabe finds that judgment “too strong, as he recognized a sort of impersonal purpose in the universe.” {BDF; JM; RAT; RE}

Ufomadu, Charles (20th Century) Ufomadu is Chairman of the Humanist Friendship Centre of Imo State in Nigeria. (See entry for Nigerian Humanists.) {FD}

UGANDA, HUMANISTS IN M. J. Collins, of the K. Executive Club of Humanists, is at POB 3092, Kampala, Uganda. (See entry for Silver Tweyongyere.) Ssekitooleko Deogratias heads the Uganda Humanist Association (UHASSO) at PO Box 4427, Kampala, Uganda.

UGLINESS • Ugliness, n. A gift of the gods to certain women, entailing virtue without humility. —Ambrose Bierce The Devil’s Dictionary

• I was so ugly when I was born that the doctor slapped my mother. —Henny Youngman,

American comic

• Give me an ugly man, someone no one else will want when we walk in a room of people. —Anonymous

• It is the plain women who know about love; the beautiful women are too busy being fascinating. —Katharine Hepburn

Uhland, Johann Ludwig (1787–1862)

Uhland, a German poet, was leader of the Swabian group. His lyrics and ballads, written when he was a youth, made him one of the most popular German poets of the romantic period. “The Minstrel’s Curse,” “The Good Comrade,” and “Taillefer” are noted for their polished style. He also wrote songs of the fatherland (Vaterländische Gedichte) and an unsuccessful drama, Ludwig der Bayer (1819), which contains some of his best verse. When he became professor of literature at Tubingen, he was forced to resign on account of his freethinking and radical views. {CE; JM; RAT; RE}

[[Uhlich, Johann Jacob Marcus Lebericht (1799–1872) A German religious reformer, Uhlich studied at Halle and became a preacher. But because of his rationalist views he was suspended in 1847, whereupon he founded the Free Congregation at Magdeburg. Uhlich wrote numerous brochures defending his opinions, and he wrote Religion of Common Sense. {BDF; RAT}

Ukpaby, Ernest N. (20th Century) When he signed Humanist Manifesto II, Ukpaby was a dean of the University of Nigeria. He is author of American Education, A Critical Analysis of Its Possible Implications for Nigerian Education (1956). {HM2}

UKRAINIAN HUMANISTS AND UNITARIANS Jean and Dick Rodes head a Unitarian group, Friends of Russia and the Ukraine (5250 Patriot Lane, Columbia, MD 21045).

Ule, Otto (1820–1876) Ule was a German scientific writer who studied at Halle and Berlin. In 1852 he started a journal, Die Natur, and wrote many works popularizing science. {BDF}

Ulpianus, Domitius (Wrote c. 211–222) A jurist, one of the great Stoic lawyers of the classic period of Roman law, Ulpianus worked under Alexander Serverus and was his chief advisor. The originals of his work have been lost, but citations from him form about one-third of Justinian’s Digest and are in accordance with the “Law of Nature.” Ulpianus was murdered by the soldiers for his having curtailed their vicious privileges. {RE}

Ulrici, Hermann (1806–1884) A German philosopher, Ulrici was professor at Halle from 1834 until his death. A free thinker, he held that the soul was an “etheric fluid” but immortal. He called himself a pantheist. According to McCabe, Ulrici’s view of the unity or identity of God and the world hardly differed from that of other pantheists. He was nominally (ethically) Christian, but Ulrici said that he accepted the title only on condition that he believed what he could prove and understand. {JM; RAT}

ULSTER HUMANIST ASSOCIATION For information about the Ulster Humanist Association, write Brian McClinton, 25 Riverside Drive, Lisburn BT27 4HE, United Kingdom. E-mail: <alan.watson1@virgin.net>.

ULTRAISM Ultraismo was a Spanish movement, its pioneer being Guillermo de Torre, a poet and critic. It was, according to Martin Seymour-Smith, “a somewhat violent version of expression: the image and the metaphor were elevated above the ‘story’ and above rhetoric or ornament; man was no more than a small part of the universe, not its centre (as implied in nineteenth-century novels).” Jorge Luis Borges was an ultaist, then rejected ultraism although retaining its anti-realism. {WWTCL}

Ulvskog, Marita (20th Century) For several years Ulvskog edited Arbetet, the Social Democrat newspaper. She became the last “church minister” of the Swedish government before the separation of church and state in 2000. In articles in various newspapers, she has written that she does not believe in God. {E-mail, Fredrik Bendz, 29 Nov 99}

UNANIMISM: See entry for Jules Romains.

Unamuno y Jugo, Miguel (1864–1936) An existentialist, Unamuno based his philosophy upon a faith in faith itself. His The Tragic Sense of Life in Men and Nations (1913) was added to the Vatican’s list of prohibited reading in 1957, along with his La Agonia del Cristianismo (1925). Most theistic systems posit God first and immortality second. Unamuno’s equation demands that God should exist because we desperately want immortality. His aim included waking Spaniards up to understand that if they searched carefully they would find that the problem of God was not neatly wrapped up. Anxiety, he stressed, has a vital role in driving humans to fulfill the most they can in life. {CE; ER; EU, John Devlin; ILP, additus, 15 December 1961}

UNBAPTISM Many who have been baptized are asking that they be “unbaptized.” In France, for example, as a protest at the Pope’s visit in 1996, hundreds of French Roman Catholics asked that their names be removed from church baptism registers. A Montpellier-based group, Vivre au Présent (Living in the Present) produced pre-printed cards that stated, “I would be grateful if you would amend the baptism register as follows:

Renounced his/her baptism in writing on (date). My philosophical beliefs no longer correspond with those of the people who, in good faith, considered that I should be baptised.

In other countries, similar requests have been reported. (See entry for Debaptism.) {The Freethinker, October 1996}

UNBELIEF According to J. C. A. Gaskin, in Varieties of Unbelief from Epicurus to Sartre (1989), unbelief is at least

(a) lack of belief in any supernatural agents and, by implication, (b) lack of belief in miracles, and often, but not connected with (a) and (b) only contingently, (c) lack of belief in personal survival after death.

{See entries for Atheistic Humanism
and Nullifidian.}

UNBELIEVING JEW: See entry for Harold Bloom.

Underdown, James D. (20th Century) A stand-up comic, scuba diver, tandem parachuter, and actor, Underdown is a Freedom From Religion Foundation member who has written “Mixing Religion and Humor” in Freethought Today (May 1998).

Underwood, Benjamin Franklin (1839–1914) An American author, materialist, and freethinker, Underwood likened his atheism to that of Charles Bradlaugh. In 1887, he served for a short time as editor and manager of Open Court, a freethought journal in Chicago. Open Court has continued as a publisher ever since. In 1888 he edited the Illustrated Graphic News. An excellent debater who drew on Thomas Henry Huxley’s writings, Underwood once took on Asa Gray, a protégé of Darwin who professed theism and adherence to the Nicene Creed. With F. E. Abbot, he edited Index, a freethought publication from Toledo, Ohio, and Bolston, Massachusetts, that was published from 1870 to 1886. Infidels, he wrote, “have been among the most indefatigable workers in every reform.” {BDF; EU, William F. Ryan; FUS; RAT; WWS}

Underwood, Sara A. (19th Century) Underwood, sister of Benjamin Underwood, wrote Heroines of Freethought (1876), including in the preface,

The word Freethinker in times past has implied a censure of the person so designated, and especially if the one so called chanced to be a woman. But, in spite of this fact, here and there in the history of Freethought has appeared a woman strong enough of heart and brain to understand and accept Liberal truths, and brave enough to avow publicly her faith in the ‘belief of the unbelievers.’ Among these courageous souls we find the names of some of the most brilliant lights of feminine literature. The Orthodox world could not well afford to reject their valuable contributions to the pleasure and well-being of society, but in accepting them did so with an ungracious protest against the religious conclusions of these daring Thinkers.

The book offers a biography of eleven freethinking women: Madame Roland, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Mary W. Godwin Shelley, George Sand, Harriet Martineau, Frances Wright D’Arusmont, Emma Martin, Margaret Reynolds Chapplesmith, Ernestine L. Rose, Frances Power Cobbe, and George Eliot, some of whom were deists. {WWS}

Underwood, Reginald (20th Century) Underwood, a British author, is a freethinker, according to David Tribe. He wrote Bachelor’s Hall (1975), a work about homosexuality. {TRI}

UNFALSIFIABLE That which is falsifiable can be shown to be false; e.g., The only state capitol building in Iowa is in Des Moines. That which is unfalsifiable cannot be shown to be false; e.g., God is one meter tall; Satan is a fallen angel; humans have a soul.

Ungar, Frederick (Born 1898) Ungar, an Austrian-born publishing executive who came to the United States in 1929, was a member of the Ethical Society of North Westchester. He wrote Goethe’s World View (1963) and with Lina Maniero edited The Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, Vol. 4 (1975).

UNIE VRIJZINNIGE VERENIGINGEN The Flemish-speaking equivalent of Belgium’s Centre d’Action Laïque (CAL) is Unie Vrijzinnige Verenigingen, which coordinates the activities of about thirty Flemish-speaking humanist groups. In 1998, the UVV applied for membership in the International Humanist and Ethical Union. (See entry for Belgian Humanists.)

UNIFICATION CHURCH: See entry for Sun Myung Moon.

UNIFORMITARIANISM Biblical explanations shackled geology until two Scottish geologists, James Hutton in his Theory of the Earth (1785, 1795) and John Playfair in his Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory (1802), challenged what were known as the “catastrophists.” Catastrophism was expounded by the German geologist, Abraham Gottlob Werner and the French naturalist, G. L. Cuvier, who held that changes in the earth’s crust were brought about in the past in ways which cannot be observed today. The uniformitarians, on the contrary, held that geologic phenomena can be explained as the result of existing forces which have operated uniformly from the origin of the earth to the present time. For the catastrophists, Noah’s flood was a supernatural event. Sir Charles Lyell, however, blamed terrestrial forces which had acted over millions of years, forces like earthquakes and sea level changes. The implication was that there was no such thing as Noah’s flood. The conflict did for geologists what Darwinism did for biologists. It led to the hypothesis that South America was once joined to Africa, that the land was separated by plate tectonics which moved the continents over eons. Uniformitarianism, as explained by journalist Nicholas Wade (The New York Times 28 May 1995), “teaches that the earth accreted some 4.6 billion years ago and, after a brief bombardment from remaining bits of solar-system debris, has been independent from outside influences ever since. “ “A majority of geologists throughout the English-speaking world,” wrote Ursula B. Marvin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in 1990, “still regard themselves as uniformitarians, the intellectual heirs of Hutton and Lyell.” However, Wade adds, Luis Alvarez and others claim that the mass extinction of species 65 million years ago was caused by a large impact, probably the huge buried crater on the Yucatán Peninsula. Now that the Apollo astronauts have determined that the moon’s craters were caused by impacts, not volcanoes, and almost two hundred crater impact sites have been found on Earth, astronomers have also found that Earth is embedded in a swirl of asteroids and comets, many of which objects will eventually hit Earth. An asteroid or comet about one mile in diameter would suffice to derange the world’s climate and agriculture, and the dust that would be caused could block the sunlight for over two months. The conflict between catastrophists and uniformitarians continues.

UNION OF ETHICAL SOCIETIES The Union of Ethical Societies became the Ethical Union in 1920 and the British Humanist Association in 1967. It had been formed in 1896. {Nicolas Walter, New Humanist, February 1996}

UNION OF FREETHINKERS OF FINLAND The Union of Freethinkers of Finland is at Siltasaarenkatu 15 C 65, 00530 Helsinki, Finland.

UNION OF ITALIAN RATIONALISTS The Union of Italian Rationalists, Atheists, and Agnostics is c/o Lega Per l’Ambiente, Via Cornaro 1A, 35128 Padova, Italy.

UNION RADICAL-HUMANISTE LUXEMBOURGE-OISE Union Radical-Humaniste Luxembourgeoise is at 39 Rue de Hollerich, 1741 Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

UNION RATIONALISTE Union Rationaliste is at 14 Rue de l’Ecole Polytechnique, 75005, Paris, France.

UNITARIAN CHRISTIANS “The Unitarian establishment, mostly in the East, called itself Unitarian Christian,” Edwin H. Wilson, himself a Unitarian minister, has written. “Dissenters were represented by the Western Unitarian Conference. In the late nineteenth-century, a controversy ensued (known as the ‘Issue of the West’) over whether there would be a Unitarian creed to exclude non-theists and other post-Christian dissenters,” which Charles Lyttle described in Freedom Moves West (1952). “The Western Unitarian Conference stood steadfastly opposed to creeds. For example, William Channing Gannett, a minister at St. Paul, reportedly stated that he wanted the basis of fellowship in his church to be so broad that even the well-meaning atheist would be welcome.” Although “Christ” by definition would appear to be a non-Unitarian concept, many Unitarian Universalists have considered themselves Christians during different time periods, including the present. Inasmuch as the various Unitarian Universalist groups are independent, their General Assembly is an association and has no statutory power over the individual congregations. As such, the groups’ theology ranges from noticeably christocentric through all sorts of humanism to neo-paganism. {EW}

UNITARIAN CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP (CLF) The Unitarian Church of the Larger Fellowship is a Boston-based group that communicates with its far-flung members—who do not live near any organized Unitarian group or who are unable to attend any services—largely by mail and telephone. In 1998 CLF had an estimated 2,600 members. {World, May-June 1998}

UNITARIAN HUMANISTS Individual Unitarian Universalists are requested to define their own religious-philosophic outlook rather than accept a doctrinal viewpoint developed by Unitarian leaders. As a result, great varieties of viewpoints are found in all Unitarian congregations. “Are you a UU theist or a UU humanist?” members have been known to ask each other, and the statistical estimates usually suggest that theists were in the majority during the first part of the century but that the humanists are in the latter part. As for “God,” contemporary Unitarian humanists will likely not use the 18th century “Supreme Architect” or the 19th century “Oversoul” terms. Many, in fact, are averse to using the word whatsoever. Or, if the term is used, it will be used much as is the term Jove, a historic allusion (or, as some say, illusion). Kurt Vonnegut Jr., who has headed the American Humanist Association, is a Unitarian. The number of Unitarians who say they are atheists or agnostics or freethinkers or secular humanists are found in far greater numbers than individual Unitarians may suspect. Often these Unitarians are also members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the American Rationalist Association, the American Humanist Association, or of the Council for Secular Humanism. Large numbers of Unitarian humanists, in short, are non-theistic and more apt to be atheists than agnostics. A 1989 UUA Commission on Appraisal showed that about three-fourths of Unitarians are humanists. An informal poll at the 1997 General Assembly, according to Edd Doerr, confirmed such a figure. Jone Johnson, a Unitarian and a third generation humanist, has written her views:

While the term “humanism” may not have been used until the late 1910s or the 1920s, the sentiments were around a lot earlier. Some Unitarian ministers were preaching positively about agnosticism as early as the 1870s. . . . The combination that we tend to call humanism with Unitarian Universalism—skepticism, disbelief, or de-emphasis on concepts of deity, plus emphasis on the worthiness of human beings (as opposed to the basic sinfulness of them), plus emphasis on human individual ethical responsibility (as opposed to divine intervention or a set of divinely-given ethical rules), plus emphasis on this life on earth as “all and enough”—were around well before the twentieth century. Certainly science and its discoveries were part of what produced the new emphasis and views. Another key change was the related and earlier movement to analyze the bible with the same views one analyzed literature, making easy faith in the miracles impossible for many. The Transcendentalist fascination with nature, the discovery and beginnings of in-depth study of other world religions (especially Asian), the German philosophical skepticisms of Hume, Spinoza, and especially Kant, the freethought and social reform traditions of the nineteenth century: these are all our precursors and in a solid sense “causes.” The Christian humanism of the Renaissance, which focused on this world and humanity, on classical Greek and Roman philosophy and literature as having important insights to supplement and illuminate the Christian worldview: all these trends are, of course, interrelated: dare I say interdependent. Darwin and the general acceptance of naturalistic evolution is, though, perhaps the greatest “root” of modern naturalistic humanism, within the Unitarian Universalist Association and outside of it. After Darwin, it was far more difficult to reconcile the way the world as we know it works and the way the Christian and other religious scriptures teach that the world began. In this sense, humanism is the enemy of fundamentalist Christianity—our ideas threaten the very foundations of their world view, which has God as responsible for solving ultimate problems, the Bible as needing to the literally true, and humans so pitiful that we cannot understand that anything on this earth in nature that seems to contradict the Scriptures, must be our failure to understand and not a failure of God’s truth. {Jone Johnson on the Web 16 Apr 1999; World, March-April 1998}

UNITARIAN SERVICE COMMITTEE: See entry for Lotta Hitschmanova, its director for thirty-five years. (See entry for Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.)

UNITARIAN THEISTS Early Unitarians were theists who believed in God but not in the theologians’ supernatural inventions: the Holy Ghost, the Christ. Over the centuries, some Unitarians and particularly many Universalists have chosen to call themselves theists. A typical example is the Reverend Harvey Swanson, an outspoken opponent of humanism. He set forth his criticism of “humanism without God” in early issues of The New Humanist. Edwin H. Wilson tells the story that when laymen in Swanson’s Lancaster, Pennsylvania, church once invited him to speak on humanism, he did “while a mighty-voiced and indignant Swanson, speaking before another group on the other side of a folding door, all but drowned me out with his stentorian thunder.” (See entry for Unitarian Christians.) {EW}

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOCIATION

The Unitarian Universalist Association, 25 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02108, is a cooperating organization of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. The Unitarian Church organized in the 1790s and today has an estimated 215,000 members. On the World Wide Web: <http://uua.org/>. (See entry for Unitarianism.)

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST MERGER In 1961 at the time of the merger between the Unitarians and Universalists, there were 42,858 Universalists in 289 churches and 9 fellowships; and there were 106,759 Unitarians in 361 churches and 245 fellowships. (See Charles Howe’s The Larger Faith.)

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SERVICE COMMITTEE Much like the Quaker Service Committee, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (130 Prospect Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139) promotes international social justice through public policy advocacy and support of local development initiatives.

UNITARIANISM • Unitarian, n. One who denies the divinity of a Trinitarian. —Ambrose Bierce The Devil’s Dictionary

Unitarianism is “the doctrinal system characterized chiefly by belief in the unipersonality of God and the normal humanity of Jesus, as contrasted with the Trinity and the eternal deity of Christ,” explained Earl Wilbur, when he was the President of Pacific Unitarian School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California. Arius (c. 250–336) and his followers, the Arians, thought of God as a unity and Jesus as a human prophet, which is a premise also of Unitarianism. The earliest anti-Trinitarian book was Martin Cellarius’s On the Works of God (1527), followed by On the Errors of the Trinity (1531) by Michael Servetus. Servetus was burned at the stake in 1553 for his anti-trinitarian views. Unitarianism took form in 1568, almost simultaneously with Faustus Socinus’s Socinianism in Poland, though independently of it, when a group split off from the Reformed Church in Transylvania, where in the 1560s Francis David had laid foundations for the Unitarian Church there and where the Prince and many of the nobility gave it legal standing as one of the four “received religions.” King John Sigismund of Transylvania is the only Unitarian king in history, and in 1568 he proclaimed the earliest edict of complete religious toleration. Although oppressed by later Calvinists and Catholics, the Transylvanian Unitarians have continued and consist mostly of Szekler and Magyar free farmers. The English and Transylvanian Unitarians did not discover each other until 1821, although in 1550 the Church of the Strangers (which was Socinian in influence) had been established in London. In England, where many in the 16th century were imprisoned or put to death for their “Arianism,” John Biddle in the 17th century founded English Unitarianism and his followers increased in numbers during the time of the “Trinitarian Controversy.” In 1774, Theophilus Lindsey gave up his living and in London opened the first Unitarian chapel. Joseph Priestley, Thomas Belsham, and others advanced the cause, which emphasizes the humanity, not the divinity, of Jesus. In the mid-19th century, James Martineau led Unitarianism as a religion of reason. In the United States, Joseph Priestley and later William Ellery Channing advanced the unitarian view that the deity exists only in one person. This help promote a positive Christianity which treated Jesus as a human. Many Congregational churches became Unitarian, hastened by Henry Ware’s being chosen in 1805 as Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard University. In 1825, both the British Unitarian Association and the American Unitarian Association were formed. According to Wilbur, “The Unitarian polity is pure Congregationalism; and church extension is managed by the American Unitarian Association in regional departments.” In Canada, the first recorded meeting was in Montreal in 1832. In the 1840s, churches were established in Halifax and Toronto. In 1891, an Icelandic-speaking Unitarian Church was organized in Winnipeg. In 1962, a French language fellowship, Cercle Unitaire de Langue Française, was founded in Montreal. A number of Unitarian ministers, starting with John H. Dietrich and including Curtis Reese, developed a “religious humanism,” and in the 1990s a large percentage of Unitarians admit to being either religious, agnostic, atheistic, or secular humanists. In 1961, the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America merged, becoming the Unitarian Universalist Association. The “church,” often called a “society,” is congregational, and neither ministers nor members are required to profess any particular doctrine. They have adopted no creed. According to James Luther Adams, the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead had the best definition of Unitarianism: “belief in up to one God.” In the 20th Century, some Unitarian congregations became involved in new theistic-style movements such as New Age and Wiccan Paganism, holding that the intentional exploration of theological diversity is desirable and a sign of growth. Three branches of Unitarian Universalist thinking became evident: Christian, Pagan, and Humanist. Some congregations also investigated feminism, naturalistic theism, and Kwanzaa, but none showed any interest in returning to revealed religion. The alternative to welcoming diversity, many claimed in letters and articles in World (November-December 1996), is to be “univocal,” thinking their particular brand of Unitarian Universalism is preferable to the other kinds. Meanwhile, a minister in any congregation finds some members who object to the lighting of candles while still other members object that God is not named. If the strength of Unitarian Universalism is its diversity, it also follows that theoretical diversity is quite different from practical diversity, that it is a problem for any Unitarian Universalist leaders to advance new ideas as well as keep a broad perspective and balance the various views in a congregation. ( See entries for American Unitarian Association, Carl Bihldorf, Unitarios Universalistas de Habla Hispana; Pelagius; and Transylvanian Unitarians.) {CE; ER}

UNITARIANISM DEFINED

 	Unitarians do not just believe anything they want. A typical response to that accusation is one by the Rev. Rod Debs of the Unitarian-Universalist Society of Blackhawk County, Iowa. He describes his society’s mission:

• . . . to be an accepting and supportive community that nurtures spiritual, emotional, and intellectual explorations, articulates ethical values, and encourages actions based on personal beliefs. This community is a voice for religious diversity, human tolerance, improvement of the human condition, and preservation of our environment.

• We do not require belief in a creed or theology, yet we are not free of responsibility. We are a “covenant” community, promising to one another to be an accepting, supportive, and nurturing community. In expression of our covenant responsibilities to one another, one can observe certain beliefs commonly held among us:

• UUs believe in being honest: Are we Christian? Such labels are not what’s really important to religious faith. Honesty is most important, and respect for each person’s honest faith journey whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, humanist, Buddhist, pagan, uncommitted or whether shaped by all these. . . .

• UUs believe reality is an awesome gift: Many names are used to grasp the wonder of reality, like “god,” but none is sufficient. Reality can be seen (as a strong arm of “our Father” lifting us up and providing for our needs; as a universal master, “The Lord” demanding compliance and dealing out sure discipline; as a vulnerable infant in our care, the Baby Jesus; as a loyal brother, Jesus willingly sacrificing his life; as the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ in plant and animal cycles, the seasons of harvest dying to feed us and spring renewal; as a lover, intimate and sensually embracing us as earth, air, fire, and water; as “Mother-God,” life-giving, nurturing, healing, and receiving us to its bosom in death. But all are insufficient names for reality’s giftedness.

• UUs believe truth and meaning are revealed in many sources still unfolding: sources besides sacred texts—poetry, children’s books, newspapers, the scientific method, intuition, and nature. No single source has a monopoly on truth or meaning.

• UUs believe that relationships of kindness and mutual participation save us from social evil. Do we believe in an afterlife of individual heaven or hell? UUs believe there is a place at life’s welcome table for every living being, now and here. Life’s giftedness is bestowed on all without distinction. At the end of life, death also comes as a gift in the process of cyclical renewal, blessed relief, and peace.

• UUs believe that every person and all of life is worthy of respect: Nothing in nature nor any being is all good or bad. . . .

• UUs are not trapped into saying that we do not believe this or that. Our beliefs commonly involve an honest faith journey; awe at the gift of reality; attentiveness to many sources of truth and meaning; commitment to relationships of community, kindness, and justice; and respect for all in the web of interdependent existence.

UNITARIANS AND HUMANISTS WHO HOMESCHOOL Unitarians and humanists who educate their children outside an institutional setting publish a bimonthly newsletter obtainable from Mary Marsh, 2892 Cedar Ave., Lummi Island, Washington 98262; and have a homepage: <HUUH-L-request@uua.org>.

UNITARIANS AND ROBERT G. INGERSOLL In 1892 at a Unitarian club dinner, Robert G. Ingersoll said the following:

The Unitarian Church has done more than any other church—and maybe more than all other churches—to substitute character for creed, and to say that a man should be judged by his spirit; by the climax of his heart; by the autumn of his generosity; by the spring of his hope, that he should be judged by what he does; by the influence that he exerts, rather than by the mythology he may believe. . . . I want to thank the Unitarian Church for what it has done; and I want to thank the Universalist Church, too. They at least believe in a God who is a gentleman; and that is much more than was ever done by an orthodox church.

UNITARIANS IN INDIA “Return to Meghalaya,” by John Hewerdine (World, March-April 1999), describes an estimated eight thousand Unitarians in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills of northeast India. Hewerdine is a British Unitarian and professor of photography. Although geography makes them Indians, the tribal people of the region, which is about 350 miles northeast of Calcutta, prefer to manage their own affairs, following one of their slogans, “Tribal by Blood, Indians by Accident.” Hajom Kissor Singh was the tribal Khasi who, objecting to the Christian missionaries and their orthodox messages, founded the Unitarian Church, one which taught the teachings of Jesus but also those of the Buddha, the Sikh prophets, and the Hindu and Islamic scriptures. His church also borrowed elements of the indigenous tribal faith: Seng Khasi. Today a total of thirty-five churches and fellowships are associated, and their emphasis is theistic.

UNITARIANS, AMERICAN • Historically the nation’s most liberal religious body, the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1999 announced that for the first time women outnumber men among its active clergy members, making up 51% of the total, up from fewer than 3% in 1968. • The total of Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations in the United States and Canada in 1995: 1,026 • The average congregation membership: 145 • The number of UU congregations with more than 1000 members: 3 • The percentage of all church members who have changed denominations: 40% • Total expenditures of all UU congregations in 1994–1995: $110,700,000. • Total number of UU ministers in fellowship, including retirees and associate fellowships: 1,273 • Percentage of active UU ministers over the age of 40: 86% • Number of registered UU ministerial students and candidates: 524 • Number enrolled at UU seminaries: 106 • Increase since 1991 in persons of color among UU ministerial candidates: 1300% • Median compensation (salary and housing) for UU parish ministers: $33,100

• Average compensation for ministers in the Reformed Church in America: $43,000

• Average compensation for ministers in the Episcopal Church: $44,721 • Percentage of women in the UU ministry: 51% • Where to find more about Unitarians on the Internet: <http://www.uua.org/>

A 1998 survey of more than 8,000 Unitarian Universalists found that when asked what best described their “theological perspective,” results were as follows:

48.1% Humanist 19.0 Earth-Nature Centered 13.0 Theist 9.5 Christian 6.7 Mystic (World, Sep-Oct 1995; World, May-June 1998}

UNITARIANS, EUROPEAN European Unitarian Universalists can be contacted by writing EUU, c/o Hertz, Fryden-lundsvej 49, DK-2950 Vedbeer, Denmark. E-mail: <ghertz@nordita.dk>. Their fax and telephone is (45) 42-89-4184. (Also, see listings in the various countries.)

UNITARIANS, FAMOUS WOMEN : On the Web: <http://www.geocities.com/~bread_n_roses/>.

UNITARIANS, LATIN-AMERICAN Ruth Alatorre, the Rev. Alma Nieves, Julio Noboa, the Rev. Patricia Jimenez, and the Rev. José Ballester are leaders of LUUNA (Latino/Latina Unitarian Universalist Networking Association). {World, July-August 1998}

UNITARIANS, NOTED A website on the World Wide Web has been formed which identifies noted Unitarians and Universalists if

• they were raised Unitarian, Universalist, or Unitarian Universalist, and/or

• at some time regularly attended or joined a Unitarian, Universalist, or Unitarian Universalist church or society, and/or

• at some time identified themselves as Unitarian, Universalist, or Unitarian Universalist in theology or membership.

The page is maintained by Jone Johnson, and its links and lists are by Sue Bennett, Dan Hotchkiss, Lorella Thomas, Steve Champion, and Jim Mason. It is at <http://www.pbat.com/famousuus/>.

UNITARIANS, SPANISH-SPEAKING, ONLINE Spanish-speaking Unitarians who are online and who publish Luuna Luz are headed by Lawrence Peers. E-mail: <lpeers@uua.com>. In Spain Unitarians have a homepage: <members.tripod.com/~jdemarcos/uuesp.htm>. Also, Spanish-speaking Unitarians who are ethical humanists or secular humanists are on the Web: <http://idt.net/~wasm/asibehu>.

UNITARIANS, TRAINING OF MINISTERS “My judgment is that the most erudite pastors come from the Harvard and Union seminaries, the least from Meadville/Lombard and Starr King,” wrote J. Gaston, a classical musician and a Unitarian. (See entry for J. Gaston.) {WAS, 16 July 1997}

UNITARIANS, UNITED KINGDOM Contact for United Kingdom Unitarians is Matthew Smith, Essex Hall, 1-6 Essex Street, Strand, London WC2R, 3HY, England. Unitarians in Britain are on the World Wide Web: <http://www.unitarian.org.uk>.

UNITARIOS UNIVERSALISTAS DE HABLA HISPANA: See “A Spanish-Language Ministry” by David Reich in World, July-August 1995. A San José, California, Unitarian Universalist church with Spanish-speaking members led by Ervin Barrios is described. Barrios can be reached at (408) 254-7799. He is one of the steering committee members of Luuna Luz.

UNITARISCHE BLATTER FUR GANZHEITLICHE RELIGION UND KULTUR: See entry for German Unitarians.

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST A Reformed church, the United Church of Christ, organized in 1957, is at 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115.

[[UNITED KINGDOM, FREETHOUGHT AND HUMANIST GROUPS]] Following are groups and publications in the United Kingdom—up-to-date lists are published in bi-monthly issues of The Freethinker:

• Birmingham Humanist Group: phone Tova Jones 0121 4544692 • Blackpool & Fylde Humanist Group: phone D. Baxter at 01253 726112 • Brighton & Hove Humanist Group, Joan Wimble, Flat 5, 67 St. Aubryns, Hove BN3 2TL; tel 01273 733215 • Bristol Humanists: Margaret Dearnley on 0117 9049490 • Bromley Humanists: D. Elvin on 0181 777 1680 • Chiltern Humanists: phone 01296 623730 • Cornwall Humanists: B. Mercer, “Amber”, Short Cross Road, Mount Hawke, Truro TR 4 8EA; tel 01209 890690 • Cotswold Humanists: Philip Howell, 2 Cleevelands Close, Cheltenham GL50 4PZ; tel 01242 528743 • Coventry and Warwickshire Humanists: phone 01926 858450 • Devon Humanists: Christine Lavery, 5 Prospect Garden, off Blackboy Road, Exeter; tel 01392 56600 • Ealing Humanists: Derek Hill 0181 422 4956 or Charles Rudd 0181 904 6599 • Edinburgh Group: 2 Saville Terrace, Edinburgh EH 9 3AD; tel 0131 667 8389 • Ethical Record, a monthly, at Bradlaugh House, 47 Theobald’s Road, London, WC1X 8SP, United Kingdom • Ealing Humanists: Derek Hill 0181 422 4956 or Charles Rudd 0181 904 6599 • Freethinker, Bradlaugh House, 47 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8SP. The magazine’s e-mail:<iduke@compuserve.com>. On the Web: <http://www.freethinker.co.uk> • Gay and Lesbian Humanist, a quarterly, 34 Spring Lane, Kenilworth, CV8 2HG; tel 01926 858450 • Glasgow Group: Alan Henness, 138 Lumley St., Grangemouth FK3 8 BL; tel 01324 485152 • Hampstead Humanist Society: N. I. Barnes, 10 Stevenson House, Boundary Road, London NW 8 OHP • Harrow Humanist Society: tel 0181 863 2977 • Havering & District Humanist Society: J. Condon at 01708 473597 or J. Baker at 01708 458925 • Humanism Scotland, a quarterly, 11A Strathkiness High Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9UA • Humanist News, bi-monthly, Bradlaugh House, 47 Theobald’s Road, London, WC1X 8SP • Humanist Society of Scotland: Secretary George Rodger, 17 Howburn Place, Aberdeen AB 1 2XT; tel 01224 573034; convener Robin Wood, 37 Inchmurrin Drive, Kilmarnock, Ayshire at tel 01563 526710 • Humanity’s e-mail address: <robert@humanism.org.uk>. • Kent Humanists: M. Rogers, 2 Lyndhurst Road, Broadstairs CT10 1DD; tel 01843 864506 • Lancashire Humanist Alliance: Steve Johnson, PO Box 111, Blackburn BB1 8GD • Leeds & District Humanist Group: Robert Tee on 0113 2577009 • Leicester Secular Society: Secular Hall, 75 Humberstone Gate, Leicester LE 1 1W; tel 0116 2622250 or 0116 241 4060 • Lewisham Humanist Group: Denis Cobell on 0181 690 4645; Unitarian Meeting House, 41 Bromley Road, Catford, London SE6 • Manchester Humanist Group: Arthur Chappell is the contact and can be telephoned: 0161 681 7607; E-mail and Web addresses: <arthurchappell@clara.net>; <www.arthurchappell.clara.net/contents.htm>. • Musical Heathens: Karl Heath on 01203 673306 • New Humanist, a quarterly, Bradlaugh House, 47 Theobald’s Road, London, WC1X 8SP <jim.rpa@humanism.org.uk>. • North-East Humanist Newsletter, a quarterly, 36 Partridge Close, Washington, Tyne and Wear, NE 38 OES <owen.dumpleton@mfl.org> • North East Humanists (Teesside Group): J. Cole 01642 559418 or R Wood 01740 650861 • North London Humanist Group: Anne Toy on 0181 360 1828 • Norwich Humanist Group: Vincent G. Chainey, Le Chene, 4 Mill St., Bradenham, Thetford IP25 7PN; tel 01362 820982 • The Skeptic, monthly, 29 Barnstone Street, Hexthorpe, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN4 OET • Sheffield Humanist Society: Gordon Sinclair on 01226 743070 or Bill McIlroy on 0114 2509127 • Somerset and South Somerset Humanists: Wendy Sturgess on 01458 274456 • Stockport Secular Group: Carl Pinel, 85 Hall St., Offerton, Stockport SK1 4DE; on 0161 480 0732 • Sutton Humanist Group: on 0181 642 4577 • The Ulster Humanist, monthly, Brian Clinton, 25 Riverside Drive, Lisburn, BT27 4HE; on 01846 677264 • West Glamorgan Humanist Group; Julie Norris, 3 Maple Grove, Uplands, Swansea SA2 OJY; on 01792 206108 or 01792 296375 • West Kent Secular Humanist Group: Ian Peters on 01892 890485 or Chris Ponsford on 01892 862855

For a discussion of freethought in the United Kingdom, see Gordon Stein’s Freethought in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (1981).

UNITED KINGDOM UNITARIANS Unitarians in the United Kingdom are on the Web: <http://www.unitarian.org.uk>.

UNITED METHDOST CHURCH The United Methodist Church, organized in 1968, is at PO Box 320, Nashville, Tennessee 37202. Its membership of over 8,400,000 make it the largest of the Methodist organizations.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: See the entries for Thomas Paine and for Usonia.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, A CHRISTIAN To A. N. Wilson’s op-ed article in The New York Times (8 June 1999), fearing an evangelical theocracy in the United States and an overall political flocking to the religious right, David Blankenhorn—president of the Institute for American Values—replied, “His attempt to read God out of the American founding is especially paradoxical, since our Declaration of Independence, with its revolutionary assertion that human rights derive from the ‘Creator’ rather than from the government, and the document’s ‘firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence,’ specifically concerned the pretensions of the authorities in England.” Disagreeing, Joseph Chuman retorted, “The embrace by a growing number of American politicians of the values of ultraconservative religion would cause the Founding Fathers to turn in their graves and should be viewed by the rest of us with alarm.” {The New York Times, 12 June 1999}

UNITED SECULARISTS OF AMERICA: See entries for H. Sprague and Sherman Wakefield.

UNITED WORLD ATHEISTS: See entry for Madalyn Murray O’Hair.

UNITIES Aristotle decreed in his Poetics that a drama should have but one plot and it should take place in a single day and be confined to a single locale. Those three requirements are called unities. French neoclassicists and others imitated the three. However, from the time the three unities were put forward, playwrights regularly disregarded them. {DCL}

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (UDHR) A major humanistic document, one that states in writing that everyone’s misery matters to everyone else, is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was adopted 10 December 1948 by the United Nations. It has been signed by every UN government, and most have since incorporated in their various human-rights treaties the requirement to treat their own citizens with decency. King Hammurabi in 1740 B. C. E. had codified laws against unfair trials, torture, and slavery, but on 10 December 1948 the member states of the United Nations adopted the far-reaching and revolutionary document, one that rates the adjective “sacred” to non-believers and freethinkers everywhere. Eleanor Roosevelt, the chair of the Commission on Human Rights, presented the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the General Assembly, which enacted it 10 December 1948. She then observed,

We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind. This declaration may well become the international Magna Carta for all men everywhere. We hope its proclamation by the General Assembly will be an event comparable to the proclamation in 1789 [of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man], the adoption of the Bill of Rights by the people of the United States, and the adoption of comparable declarations at different times in other countries.

Although for years a French human-rights activist, René Cassin, was publicly regarded as the author and even received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1968, researchers later unearthed papers at McGill University showing that John Peter Humphrey, a Canadian, had written the original draft of the ideas contained in the Declaration.

UNIVERSALISM • Universalist, n. One who foregoes the advantage of a Hell for persons of another faith.

—Ambrose Bierce

The Devil’s Dictionary

Universalism, according to Clarence Prouty Shedd of the Yale University Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut, “centers about the belief that all men will finally be saved. This doctrine is of ancient origin and has existed among many of the schools of Christianity. There are Biblical passages in both the Old and New Testaments which are interpreted as furnishing Scriptural authority for the belief. Such men as Alexandrinus, Origen (who in 225 CE advocated universal salvation—in 553, Emperor Justinian got the Council of Constantinople to declare Origen’s universalism a heresy), Diodorus, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and others laid the foundation for the system. They taught that punishment was remedial, that the nature of God was love, and that the Divine mercy could not be satisfied with partial salvation or everlasting punishment.” In the 6th century, the universalist doctrine was considered heretical and was neglected during the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, an English reform movement, the Lollards, maintained a belief in universal salvation. Samuel Gorton, a pioneer of Christian Universalism, was driven out of Massachusetts in 1637 for his political and religious radicalism. In 1684, Joseph Gatchell had his tongue pierced with a hot iron for stating that “All men should be saved.” In the 18th century, John Relly of London preached universalism, and John Murray brought it to America in 1770. Christopher Sower, a Universalist Quaker, with George de Benneville printed the first Bible in America translated into German—it produced in heavier type those passages which supported the universal character of religion. The earliest systematic account of Universalism was Hosea Ballou’s Treatise of the Atonement (1805). Whereas Murray had espoused a Universalism of the Calvinistic type, Ballou was a powerful force in moving the denomination in a different direction. Ballou’s doctrine of “Christ’s subordination to the Father” gave the group a position similar to that of Unitarianism. Universalists in 1935 in a Washington Avowal of Faith affirmed “the universal fatherhood of God; the spiritual authority and leadership of Jesus Christ, His son; the trustworthiness of the Bible as containing a revelation from God; the certainty of just retribution for sin; and the final harmony of all souls with God.” In 1961, however, the Universalist Church of America at 16 Beacon Street in Boston merged with the American Unitarian Association at 25 Beacon Street in Boston, and the new church is known as the Unitarian Universalist. Individual Universalists started the California Institute of Technology and Bradley University. But the Universalist denomination founded five institutions of higher institution: Tufts in Medford, Massachusetts, and St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, were founded in the 1850s and still retain their original names. Also founded in the 1850s was Lombard University (now the Meadville/Lombard Theological School). The two others, both founded in 1872, no longer exist: Smithson College of Muncie, Indiana, was in operation only two years; and Buchtel College of Akron, Ohio, is now the liberal arts branch of the state-supported University of Akron. Universalists, celebrating their 200 years in America in 1993, pointed to the following:

• The largest church of Universalist heritage is the 900-member Universalist Church in Minneapolis. In West Hartford, Connecticut, a 500-member church exists. • The first book published in America which proposed a unitarian theology was Hosea Ballou’s A Treatise on Atonement (1805). • The first African American Universalist was Gloster Dalton, a charter member of the Independent Christian Church of Gloucester, Massachusetts, the first Universalist congregation in North America. • The first national women’s organization of an American denomination was The Universalist Women’s Centenary Association, founded in 1869. • The site of Sojourner Truth’s famous “Ain’t I A Woman?” speech, delivered in 1851, was the First Universalist Church of Akron, Ohio. • The first woman to preach from a Universalist pulpit was Maria Cook, in 1811. • The first woman fully licensed as a minister was Universalist Lydia A. Jenkins. • The first woman in Canada to be officially recognized as a preacher was Mary Ann Church, who, though not ordained, was listed in The Universalist Register (1838). • The first Native North American ordained as a Universalist minister was Native Canadian George Moses, in 1871. • The first prison reform newspaper was The Prisoner’s Friend, edited by Universalist minister Charles Spear. • The oldest surviving Universalist church in Canada is at Halifax, Nova Scotia. • The only Universalist cathedral ever built, the Fourth Universalist Society in New York City, was designed by William Stuart Potter. In the mid-19th century, the Rev. Edwin Chapin preached to as many as 2,000 people here on Sundays. (In 1997, the membership was down to around 100.) The stained glass is Tiffany, Henry Steinway personally designed the piano, and Mrs. Andrew Carnegie, a member of the congregation, donated the organ. Circus magnate Phineas Taylor Barnum was a member.

“Universalism is misconstrued as some sort of sponge that welcomes everything,” the Rev. Scott Alexander has said. But actually it is a faith of “high expectations,” he added, drawing upon ethical values and spiritual expressions shared among other faiths: “Universalism embraces these different perspectives and instinctively looks for the common good.” A large number of present Unitarian Universalists consider themselves religious, agnostic, atheist, or secular humanists. Many, however, call themselves theists, and some of the services incorporate Buddhist as well as neo-pagan Celtic or Wiccan elements (See entries for Anna Flemming, typical of an early female Universalist minister in the Midwest, and Jim Morrison. For Robert G. Ingersoll’s view of Universalists, see entry for Unitarians and Robert G. Ingersoll.) {CE; ER}

UNIVERSALIST HERALD In 1997, the Universalist Herald (c/o Lewis Graphics, Route 4, Box 16, Elkton, Virginia 22827) celebrated its 150th anniversary. Its editor is the Rev. John C. Morgan, 142 Hanover Street, Northumberland, Pennsylvania 17857. E-mail: <jmorgan900@aol.com>.

UNIVERSALIST THEISTS In England, the Rev. John Clifford in 1997 described himself as follows:

Theologically, I am a Universalist Theist with both unitarian and christian sympathies. In Britain the Universalists largely joined forces with the Unitarians in the late 18th century and adopted the Unitarian label being pushed by Joseph Priestley as a rallying flag for disparate religious liberals. Consequently, the Universalist label as originally used pretty well died out. Current institutional usage in Britain is focused on a Bristol-based group of Universalist Quakers.

UNIVERSE • The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest. —Kilgore Trout (Kurt Vonnegut Jr.)

• Two forces rule the universe: light and gravity. —Simone Weil

• We are an impossibility in an impossible universe. —Ray Bradbury

• My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed. —Christopher Morley

• I’m astounded by people who want to “know” the universe when it’s hard enough to find your way around Chinatown. —Woody Allen

As to how old our universe is, no definitive answer is available. Astronomers seek to come up with a consensus on the universe’s age, but they remain separated by billions of years. One group holds that the universe is from nine to twelve billion years old, whereas another estimates it is from eleven to fifteen billion years of age. By measuring the rate of expansion and the distance between objects, astronomers believe they can then determine how long it has been since the initial Big Bang, but it is clear that no absolute number will be ascertainable or even desirable. Meanwhile, scientists in 1997 made a startling observation: that the universe has an “up” and a “down.” Previously, it had been held that space is uniform, that it is the same in all directions, with no north and south or up and down. That tenet was challenged in 1997 by physicists at the University of Rochester and the University of Kansas, who concluded after analyzing radio waves from 160 distant galaxies that the radiations rotate as they move through space, in a subtle corkscrew pattern unlike anything observed before. This could mean that there is an “up” and a “down” in the universe, but which is which remains purely arbitrary. The new view meant that scientists would now need to reconsider the concept that the Big Bang, the theorized moment of cosmic origin, was completely symmetric. If the universe in which people live was asymmetric at creation, it raises the possibility of the simultaneous creation of another universe with an opposite twist. Astrophysicists will obviously need to test this new information thoroughly before any conclusions can be accepted. In May 1999, after eight years of measurements by the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers estimated that the universe has been expanding for at least twelve billion years since its theorized explosive creation in the Big Bang. Depending on the density of cosmic matter and the possible existence of a mysterious form of vacuum energy, John Noble Wilford reported, the age of the universe could be closer to 13.5 billion or even 15 billion years. According to Dr. Neta A. Bahcall of Princeton University, there is the possibility “that some cosmic dark energy exists that opposes the self-attraction of matter and causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate.” If so, the universe could keep on expanding, almost to the point of vanishing. In such a case, the University of Chicago’s Michael S. Turner extrapolates that “the universe will become a bleaker and bleaker place” and as the galaxies speed away from one another and the stars grow dimmer, “in 400 to 500 billion years, we’re only going to be able to see a few neighboring galaxies.” (See entry for Neutrino, the elusive particle which in 1998 was found to have mass.) {John Noble Wilford, The New York Times, 18 April 1997, and 26 May 1999}

UNIVERSITEIT VOOR HUMANISTEIK Universiteit Voor Humanisteik (IHEU) is at POB 797, 3500 AT Utrecht, Netherlands. It is a university for humanist studies. On the Web: <http://home.pi.net/~pderkx/hmlwv.html>.

UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES Colleges and universities arose in the 12th and 13th centuries to train individuals in the professions of law, theology, and medicine. Salerno (9th Century) and Montpellier (13th Century) specialized in medicine. Bologna (1088) specialized in law, Paris (12th Century) in theology. The oldest universities in the New World, both founded in 1551, are Mexico University and San Marcos of Lima. Although many required religious tests, by 1900 many universities were secularized in administration and curriculum. Religious tests in England were largely eliminated by an act of Parliament in 1871. (For a wry comment about how some teachers live in “ivy towers,” see the entry for Professorial Acadamese. For information about freethinking clubs at universities and colleges, see entry for Campus Freethought Alliance.)

UNIVERSITY ACADAMESE: See entry for Professional Acadamese, a style of writing.

[[UNIVERSITY CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION (IHEU)]] A specialist member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union is the University Centre for Development Cooperation, Pleinlaan 2, Gebouwy, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.

UNIVERSITY CHAPTERS OF HUMANISTS The following university chapters of humanists and freethinkers —which grew rapidly during 1999—are on the Web. For an updated list: <www.secularhumanism.org/cfa/orgs.html>.

• Auckland University • Brock University • Christopher Newport University • Cornell University • Duke University • Florida International University • Florida State University • Harvard University • Johns Hopkins University • Marshall University • McGill University • Michigan Technological University • Millersville University • New York University • Ohio State University • Oklahoma State University • Oregon State University • Pennsylvania State University • Princeton University • Queens University • Radford University • San Diego State University • Southern Illinois University, Carbondale • State University of New York at Albany • State University of New York at Buffalo • Temple University • University of Alabama at Birmingham • University of British Columbia • University of California, Irvine • University of California, Santa Cruz • University of Chicago • University of Colorado at Boulder • University of Colorado at Colorado Springs • University of Florida • University of Guelph • University of Houston • University of Louisville • University of Maryland at College Park • University of Michigan, Flint • University of Minnesota at Twin Cities • University of Missouri, Kansas City • University of Oregon • University of Puget Sound • University of Regina • University of South Africa • University of South Alabama • University of Tennessee at Martin • University of Texas at Austin • University of Virginia • University of Waterloo • University of Wisconsin, Madison • University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State U • Washington University in St. Louis • Western Michigan University • Western Washington University • Winthrop University • Yale University

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA University of South Africa humanists on the Web: <http://www.secularhumanism.org/cfa/orgs.html>.

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA When Thomas Jefferson helped create the University of Virginia in 1819, he demanded that the public school be free from sectarian control, going so far as to insist that the institution have no chaplain, no chapel and no courses in theology. At that time, universities were owned and operated by religious groups. Students were required to attend church services as well as take courses in religion, and ministers frequently served on university boards or as school presidents. In deference to the principle of church-state separations, however, Jefferson’s University of Virginia would have none of those features. (See entry for Thomas Jefferson.) {Rob Boston, Church & State, February 1995}

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO The University of Waterloo Freethinkers are at <http://www.secularhumanism.org/cfa/orgs.html>.

Unna, Paul (1850–1929) A German anatomist, Unna worked with Haeckel’s Monist Association, frequently writing for its journal. Unna was a surgeon whose specialty was skin diseases. In the memorial volume to commemorate Haeckel’s eightieth birthday, Unna thanked Haeckel for his “spiritual emancipation” and talked contemptuously about “the men of darkness round the throne and the altar.” {JM; RAT}

UPANISHADS The Upanishads are a group of writings sacred in Hinduism concerning the relations of humans, God, and the universe. {DCL}

Updike, John (1932– ) Updike, in his novels, short stories, and poetry, depicts “American, Protestant, small-town, middle-class” life. Sometimes referred to as “the sexy WASP,” for he does not avoid the erotic, Updike is a major figure at The New Yorker and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Rabbit, Run (1960) is one of his best-known works. In his criticism, he often downplays fellow authors’ non-belief and he makes no secret of his Christian beliefs. (See entry for Theism.) {“The Future of Faith, Confessions of a Churchgoer,” The New Yorker, 29 November 1999}

Upham, Frederick P. (c. 1850–1920?) Upham, originally an American born in Rhode Island, emigrated to Australia and became an anarchist. Along with David and William Andrade, he formed the Melbourne Anarchist Club in 1886, and in 1887 he took a stand against his former secularism “Secularism has outlived its usefulness. Our hope does not lie in Secularism, which is crystallised and conservative, but in Anarchy which is based on rebellion against authority. Anarchy is a revolt. It means ultimately . . . breaking the power of the majority politically and morally. It cries an end to reform and strikes for revolution. It calls upon men and women to free themselves, instead of remaining the slaves of Secularism or any other orthodox system.” The following year, Joseph Symes called a showdown meeting, and two rival factions emerged. The anti-Symes Australasian Secular Society took the original Association’s books, documents, and funds, while the pro-Symes Australasian Secular Association retained the rented Hall of Science and the Liberator. {SWW}

Upreti, Gopi (20th Century) Upreti is executive director of Nepal’s National Academy for Environment, Population, and Development and President of the Humanist Association of Nepal. He was a participant in the 1996 Humanist World Congress held in Mexico City, at which he lamented that what has taken nature a billion years to make is now being destroyed in but a year. Maintaining the eco-system’s health needs to be a humanistic priority, he holds, and the scarcity of natural resources needs to be met on a reappointed basis in which the gap between rich and poor are narrowed radically. He signed Humanist Manifesto 2000. Upreti’s e-mail addresses: <naecan@casnov.attmail.com> and <naecan@vishnu.ccsl.com.np>.

URANIANS: Homosexuals have been described by using various terms: androphiles, chestnut-gatherers, ganymedes, gays, ghaseligs, inverts, lesbians, little jesuses, margeries, mollies, normosexuals, parisexuals, and unisexuals. Karl Heinrich Ulrichs “came out” in public before more than 500 members of the Congress of German Jurists in 1867, and his use of uranian was popular in the 1860s.

URANTIA BOOK The Urantia Book, published in 1955 under the direction of cult leader Dr. William Sadler, is the largest work ever said to have been channeled by superbeings through human contactees. It contains facts not found in the gospels, including a detailed biography of Jesus Christ. In Urantia, the Great Cult Mystery (1995), Martin Gardner outlines how Urantian cultists believe that they also receive messages from the celestials who are preparing Urantia (the cult’s name for Earth) and how they have developed a mind-set that becomes impossible to alter regardless of how strong the evidence is against those beliefs.

Urban, Jerzy (1934?–	) 

Urban, the editor of Nie (No), a weekly Polish newspaper, has been described by journalist Jane Perlez as one who “represents all that Poland’s anti-Communists love to hate. He was, after all, the manipulative Government spokesman during martial law. In his reinvention as a publisher, he decorates his devastating words with pornographic drawings of Lech Walesa, the Pope, and parish priests.” Urban has been given suspended prison sentences for violating a 1983 law protecting state secrets, and in 1990 he wrote a memoir based on dirty tales about political opponents in the Solidarity movement. His newspaper offers prizes to readers who provide “true” stories about infidelities of local priests and outlandish spending by the Roman Catholic Church. “He mercilessly attacked former President Lech Walesa,” Perlez has described, “and derided what he saw as Mr. Walesa’s prudish family life. By Polish standards, Nie is outrageous.” So much so that it has a reported circulation of 780,000. Meanwhile, Urban is said to be enjoying his job of being “editor in mischief,” and visitors to his office sit in a chair that directly faces a painting of a banana peeled to reveal a penis. (See entry for Polish Humanism.) {Jane Perlez, “Warsaw Journal,” The New York Times, 27 February 1996}

Urken, Maddy (20th Century) In 1999 Urken was elected President of Humanists of North Jersey, which is affiliated with the American Humanist Association.

Usher, Andrew (20th Century) Usher, a member of the House of Usher whose family five or seven generations ago built a ship and sailed to Australia, is a Unitarian and a student at London University for a Ph. D. in mathematics. He does not believe the family is related to Bishop Ussher of 4000 B.C.E. fame nor to Poe’s Roderick Usher. Nor does he have any idea what it was that inspired Poe. His uncle, David Usher, a Unitarian minister in Peterborough, New Hampshire, is President of the Executive Committee of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists. His father, Geoff Usher, is Unitarian minister at Upper Chapel, Sheffield, the United Kingdom, one involved with the Unitarian Peace Fellowship and the secretary of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists. Andrew has written to the present author about his views:

I describe myself simply as “Unitarian,” although “agnostic Unitarian atheist” might be more accurate. I have not ruled out the existence of some sort of deity, but neither have I seen anything to convince me of it. However, if I tried to be more specific I would end up contradicting myself and putting myself in boxes which I don’t belong in and which I don’t think should exist anyway.

{WAS, 22 October 1996}

USONIA Usonia (as in the US Of North America) was Samuel Butler’s acronymic name for the United States which had its capitol in Washington, District of Columbia. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright from the 1930s through the 1950s called his affordable homes “Usonian houses.” The non-ambiguous word may eventually become widely accepted, particularly because of complaints by individuals in the United States of Mexico and by Canadians, Costa Ricans, Uruguayans, and other Americans.

Ussher (or Usher), James (1581–1686) An Anglo-Irish prelate, Ussher was chancellor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1605. In 1620 or 1621 he became bishop of Meath and, in 1625, the archbishop of Annagh. A believer in the Divine Right of Kings, Bishop Ussher wrote Annales Veteris et Novi Testamenti, which was published in the 1650s. In that two-volume work, he figured out the genesis, deducing from Biblical sources that the creation was at 4004 B.C.E. For some time, his dating was used in the King James Version of the Bible. Specifically, he alleged that God created the world at 9 a.m. (some say noon) on October 23rd. It is believed he referred to Greenwich mean time, and the date was widely accepted in the Christian world up until the 19th Century. In keeping with Ussher’s research, the 6000th birthday party of Earth, on 23 October 1996, was celebrated by secular humanists at the Buffalo, New York, Center for Inquiry. Anthropologist H. James Birx dressed up as himself, Tim Madigan dressed up as Noah, and biology professor Clyde Herreid dressed up as Darwin for a jocular press meeting. Nicolas Walter has taken issue with Stephen Jay Gould’s Questioning the Millennium, which states that “Ussher set the moment of creation that would live in both infamy and memory—4004 BC (at noon on October 23.” But Walter, quoting from a copy in the British Library, found that Ussher had stated,

In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth . . . which beginning of time (according to our Chronology) occurred at the beginning of that night which preceded the 23rd day of October in 4004 BC.

That is, at dusk on October 22, writes Walter. What was created at midday on October 23 was light, thereby correcting Gould. {CE; ER}

USSHER, GEOLOGY AND HISTORY ACCORDING TO On the assumption that Bishop Ussher was, indeed, correct in his calculations, according to freethinkers, the following corrections to all standard reference books needs to be made:

4004 B.C.E. Earth is molten. Adam and Eve invent asbestos waders. 3554 B.C.E. Persistent lava incinerates Noah’s Ark. 3264 B.C.E. Methuselah notices passage of geological time. 2444 B.C.E. Breathable atmosphere develops. First sermon preached. 1704 B.C.E. Charshumash the Hittite bitten by first vertebrate. Lawyers emerge from the slime. 1024 B.C.E. Goliath stepped on by irate Barosaurus. David takes credit. 794 B.C.E. Jonah swallowed by Carcharus megalodon. 454 B.C.E. Marble deposits form in Greece. Parthenon erected. 0 Nothing much happened, there being no such year. 31 C.E. Miracle of the loaves and Ichthyosaurs. 70 Paul undergoes identity crisis on the road to Damascus and writes Epistle to the Cephalopods. 49 Snakes evolve and are driven out of Ireland. 1215 Magna Carta is eaten by Velociraptor. 1324 Gunpowder introduced. Dinosaurs hunted to extinction. 1384 Dante Alighieri describes Earth’s coremantle boundary. 1484 Leonardo da Vinci designs Archaeopteryx. 1588 Spanish Armada frustrated by the continuing absence of the English Channel. 1636 Earliest primates appear. Harvard founded. 1664 Archbishop Ussher deduces the last four digits of the age of the earth. 1754 Gibbons evolve and write “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” 1835 Charles Darwin, after being attacked by a giant Ratite in the Galapagos Islands, switches from Darwinism to Neptunism. 1846 Ape evolution confirmed by birth of a son to Lady and Bishop Wilber- force (whom Huxley defeated in evolution debates). 1914 Holy Roman Empire wins World War I. 1961 Rachel Carson links DDT to Glyptodonts’s decline. 1993 “Jurassic Park” grosses $357M. Secular humanists agree with its message, that it is mad to use technology to control nature. 1997 “The Lost World” lays dinosaur egg. UCs (unidentified compsognathi) cited throughout the Bible Belt. 3001 Arthur C. Clarke will be resurrected. {WAS, with apologies to Russell Seitz, Earth, February 1996}

Ustinov, Peter [Sir] (1921 ) In a 1995 interview, Warren Allen Smith wrote the following: “Upon first meeting Sir Peter Ustinov, the Goodwill Ambassador-at-Large for UNICEF and president of the World Federalist Movement, one hears the voice of ‘Peter and the Wolf.’ One feels the presence of Beethoven (from his stage performance in Beethoven’s ‘Tenth’); of Carabosse (from the play, The Love of Four Colonels); of the General (from the film and play, ‘Romanoff and Juliet’); and of Nero (from his film role in ‘Quo Vadis’).” “Surprisingly, Ustinov, who amusingly responds ‘Your Excellency’ when addressed as ‘Sir Peter,’ comes across as friendly, witty, ready to imitate the facial expressions of François Mitterand, eloquent when discussing the world’s children, and sincere when lamenting intolerance, bigotry, flag-waving, self-importance, idleness, and superstition. He is not intimidating, yet this is the man who has worked with Jack Paar, Steve Allen, Pavarotti, Herbert von Karajan, André Kostelanetz, David Niven, Yvonne de Carlo, Maggie Smith, Helen Hayes, Bette Davis, Nick Nolte, and John Gielgud. And the man who, in 1990, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.” The English actor, director, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and raconteur has acted in more than fifty films in addition to acting in, producing, or directing many of his plays. He received Emmy Awards for his performance in “Barefoot in Athens” and “Omnibus,” and in 1979 he received the award for Best Actor from the Variety Club of Great Britain. Asked if his father, a liberal Lutheran and a journalist, was closer to Greek or Judeo-Christian thinking, Ustinov replied, “Oh, the Greeks! He was absolutely unpracticing in his belief. In point of fact, it was his father who was so religious. His mother, and I remember her vividly because she was half Ethiopian, held religion very close, and for her the Crucifixion happened yesterday. I sat on her knee in my pajamas and had to listen to the history of the Crucifixion as though it had been brought in from Pittsburgh, and she used to cry copiously and my pajama tops were wet from her tears.” Smith then asked, “In the 1930s, we humanists were alarmed about the growth in the world’s population. Then there were 2 billion humans. In 1970 there were 3.7 billion. Now there are almost 6 billion. Sir Peter,” Smith asked with a straight face, “why did you allow this to happen?” Ustinov stammered, humorously, then with theatrical embarrassment responded, “Well, yes, I didn’t take the precautions, I know, I know.” He then lambasted the Pope for his stand on population control and the use of condoms but praised the Chinese for their admittedly Draconian methods to limit their births. “I’m depressed that once children are born they’re so often neglected. And what is life then, something that is lived in third gear or only in first gear? Our responsibility should be with children, not merely with embryos.” Ustinov, who holds that humanists are united by our doubts, has been on the Advisory Panel of the British Humanist Association. In 1993 the Council for Secular Humanism elected him as a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism. Ustinov’s autobiography is entitled Dear Me (1977). His collection of newspaper articles from The European is Ustinov Still At Large (1995). In one article, he wrote, “If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can’t be done.” {CE; TYD; WAS, Free Inquiry, Summer 1995}

Ustinov, Peter [Sir] (16 Apr 1921 - ) In a 1995 interview, Warren Allen Smith wrote the following: “Upon first meeting Sir Peter Ustinov, the Goodwill Ambassador-at-Large for UNICEF and president of the World Federalist Movement, one hears the voice of Peter and the Wolf. One feels the presence of Beethoven (from his stage performance in Beethoven’s Tenth); of Carabosse (from the play, The Love of Four Colonels); of the General (from the film and play, Romanoff and Juliet); and of Nero (from his film role in Quo Vadis). “Surprisingly, Ustinov, who amusingly responds ‘Your Excellency’ when addressed as ‘Sir Peter,’ comes across as friendly, witty, ready to imitate the facial expressions of François Mitterand, eloquent when discussing the world’s children, and sincere when lamenting intolerance, bigotry, flag-waving, self-importance, idleness, and superstition. He is not intimidating, yet this is the man who has worked with Jack Paar, Steve Allen, Pavarotti, Herbert von Karajan, André Kostelanetz, David Niven, Yvonne de Carlo, Maggie Smith, Helen Hayes, Bette Davis, Nick Nolte, and John Gielgud. And the man who, in 1990, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.” The English actor, director, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and raconteur has acted in more than fifty films in addition to acting in, producing, or directing many of his plays. He received Emmy Awards for his performance in Barefoot in Athens and Omnibus, and in 1979 he received the award for Best Actor from the Variety Club of Great Britain. Asked if his father, a liberal Lutheran and a journalist, was closer to Greek or Judeo-Christian thinking, Ustinov replied, “Oh, the Greeks! He was absolutely unpracticing in his belief. In point of fact, it was his father who was so religious. His mother, and I remember her vividly because she was half Ethiopian, held religion very close, and for her the Crucifixion happened yesterday. I sat on her knee in my pajamas and had to listen to the history of the Crucifixion as though it had been brought in from Pittsburgh, and she used to cry copiously and my pajama tops were wet from her tears.” Smith then asked, “In the 1930s, we humanists were alarmed about the growth in the world’s population. Then there were 2 billion humans. In 1970 there were 3.7 billion. Now there are almost 6 billion. Sir Peter,” and this he demanded with a straight face, “why did you allow this to happen?” Ustinov stammered, humorously, then with theatrical embarrassment responded, “Well, yes, I didn’t take the precautions, I know, I know.” He then lambasted the Pope for his stand on population control and the use of condoms but praised the Chinese for their admittedly Draconian methods to limit their births. “I’m depressed that once children are born they’re so often neglected. And what is life then, something that is lived in third gear or only in first gear? Our responsibility should be with children, not merely with embryos.” Ustinov, who holds that humanists are united by their doubts, has been on the Advisory Panel of the British Humanist Association. In 1993 the Council for Secular Humanism elected him as a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism. Ustinov’s autobiography is entitled Dear Me (1977). He has been in over fifty movies, and in the 1990s he was in the following: The Bachelor (1999); Alice in Wonderland (1999); Stiff Upper Lips (1999); Animal Farm (1999); Stiff Upper Lips (1997); The Phoenix and the Magic Carpet (1995); An Evening with Sir Peter Ustinov (1995); The Old Curiosity Shop (1994); and Lorenzo’s Oil (1992).

	His collection of newspaper articles from The European is Ustinov Still At Large (1995). In one article, he wrote, “If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can’t be done.” {CE; TYD; WAS, Free Inquiry, Summer 1995} 

UTAH ATHEISTS, HUMANISTS Utah has the following groups:

• American Atheists, Utah Chapter, POB 11622, Salt Lake City, Utah. Chris Allen is its director. (801) 531-7987. E-mail: <callen@atheists.org> • Secular Humanists of the Great Basin, 10271 S. 1300 E. PMB 190, Sandy, UT 84094 • The Utah Humanist, PO Box 900212, Sandy, Utah 84090, is a publication of Humanists of Utah. Wayne Wilson is the editor. • Humanists of Utah (AHA), PO Box 900212, Sandy, Utah 84090; phone (801) 273-7144. Florien J. Wineriter is President, and Wayne Wilson is a general contact. Webmaster is David Egan Evans. E-mail: <wilson@utw.com> On the Web: <http://www.humanistsofutah.org/>.

UTILITARIANISM In ethics, utilitarianism is a theory that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by the goodness or badness of its consequences. Specifically, it is a theory that the aim of action is best when it encourages the largest possible balance of pleasure over pain or encourages the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Jeremy Bentham measured happiness by the intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and extent of pleasures. John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer developed the theory, but G. E. Moore in his Principia Ethica (1903) rejected the traditional equating of good with pleasure. Meanwhile, James MacKaye in Americanized Socialism (1918) gave the theory a socialized slant, claiming that collectivism is the best approach in promoting universal happiness. J. J. C. Smart has written about the subject in Utilitarianism: For and Against (1973). (See J. J. C. Smart’s discussion of utilitarianism in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol. 8.) {CE; ER}

UTOPIA Sir Thomas More wrote, in Utopia (1516), about an imaginary, ideal society free of poverty and suffering. By extension, a utopia, which in Greek means “no place,” is an ideal state. Erasmus supervised the printing. The form may have been suggested by the narrative of the voyages of Vespucci, printed in 1507. In More’s utopia, communism is the general law, a national system of education is extended to men and women alike, and the freest toleration of religion is recognized. Other utopias: Plato’s Republic; Bacon’s New Atlantis; Harrington’s The Commonwealth of Oceana; Morris’s News from Nowhere; Bellamy’s Looking Backward. Satirical utopias include the following: Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Samuel Butler’s Erewhon, which reveals its purpose when the word is spelled backwards. The opposite of a utopia is dystopia (a bad place), and examples include Huxley’s Brave New World, Zamyatin’s We, and Orwell’s Nineteen Eight-four. Many works of science fiction use the utopian and dystopian forms. {OEL}

UUA UUA is an abbreviation for the Unitarian Universalist Association. (See entries for Unitarianism and for Universalism.)

Uyttebrouck, André (20th Century) At the Eleventh International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) World Congress held in Brussels (1990), Prof. Uyttebrouck of Belgium addressed the group. In 1975, he wrote Le Gouvernement du duche de Brabant au bas Moyen Age (13551430).

Uzunoglu, Kazim (20th Century) An authority on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Uzunoglu is a secular humanist in Turkey. {Free Inquiry, Fall, 1991