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Who We Are
First Unitarian Church of Des Moines is a religious community
of over 500 members and friends. Our community encompasses people
from newborns to those in their 90s, offering the opportunity
for many intergenerational interactions. We are a geographically
diverse group as well, stretching from Jasper County to Dallas
County, from Warren County to Story County. In addition to
two Sunday services ands one Saturday service, First Unitarian offers religious education
experiences for adults and youth throughout the year as well
as special events that bring our church community together.
Our congregation is a member of the Unitarian Universalist
Association of Congregations (UUA) which represents the interests
of more than one thousand Unitarian Universalist congregations,
with 200,000 members and children in North America. The UUA
grew out of the 1961 consolidation of two religious denominations:
the Universalists, organized in 1793, and the Unitarians,
organized in 1825. For more information on the UUA, visit
its web site http://www.uua.org
Unitarian Universalism is a non-creedal liberal religion that
is over 400 years old. Its religious roots are Christian,
but today's Unitarian Universalists (UUs) encompass a large
spectrum of religious backgrounds and spiritual beliefs. Freedom,
tolerance and reason are our guiding principles. Some well-known
UUs include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Clara Barton, John and Abigail
Adams, John Quincy Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Pete Seeger, P.T.
Barnum, Kurt Vonnegut, Louisa May Alcott, Isaac Newton, Eliot
Richardson, Whitney Young, and many more.
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What do we believe?
Our basic principles are
- a reverence for life,
- a respect for
the inherent dignity of each person, and
- a belief in human
potential.
We believe in the use of reason in the quest for
truth and in understanding and accepting one another.
We believe that truth is better sought in community, which
helps to develop tolerance and understanding in us.
It is our hope that we may work for good in our local community,
state, nation and world, awakening social conscience to the
end of dispelling intolerance and injustice.
Modern Unitarian Universalism (UU) is a liberal religion
(religious liberalism is not necessarily political liberalism)
that evolved from Judeo-Christian roots. Today, our church
is home to religious and philosophical seekers of many flavors
including those that call themselves Humanists, Theists,
Buddhists, Agnostics, Atheists, Christians and Wiccans.
We keep our minds open to the religious questions people
have struggled with in all times and places. An open mind
is not necessarily one without opinions. Some ideas
may be regarded as silly until shown to be correct. That's OK. Many of
us believe that, if there is a God, she has a sense of humor.
Many consider First Unitarian Church of Des Moines to be the birthplace
of Religious Humanism. Our minister in 1917, Curtis W. Reese,
delivered a sermon, "A Democratic View of Religion,"
that became instrumental in the formative stages of the
Humanist movement in the United States. When the American
Humanist organization was formed in 1941, he became its
first president.
We believe that personal experience, conscience and reason
should be the final authorities in religion. In the end,
religious authority lies not in a book, person or institution,
but in ourselves. We put religious insights to the test
of our hearts and minds.
We support each other's truths through the Seven Principles
of Unitarian Universalism.
See "What is Liberal Religion?" by David Witke
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What is a Welcoming Congregation?
First Unitarian Church is a Welcoming Congregation for gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) persons. The congregation
became a Welcoming Congregation in 1992 after a period of
study and reflection by congregation members. First Unitarian was one of the first churches in the country to be given this
designation by the Unitarian Universalist Association.
First Unitarian fulfills its role as a Welcoming Congregation
by offering GLBT persons a religious home free of discrimination
and supporting GLBT events in the community.
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What does the Chalice represent?
The flaming chalice has become the internationally recognized
symbol of the Unitarian movement. While originally the chalice
appeared only as a logo on letterheads and neckties, the lighting
of the chalice is increasingly becoming a feature of communal
ritual in Unitarian congregations.
During the Second World War, an American Unitarian, Reverend
Charles Joy, was stationed in Lisbon to help refugees from
Nazism escape to safe havens. As executive director of the
Unitarian Service Committee, he felt that this new organization
needed some visual image to represent Unitarianism to the
world.
He commissioned a Czech refugee and cartoonist, Hans Deutsch,
to design something that could be used on official documents,
and thus an early version of the modern chalice came into
being.
Joy described what Deutsch had drawn in the following terms:
"A chalice with a flame, the kind of chalice which
the Greeks and Romans put on their altars. The holy oil
burning in it is a symbol of helpfulness and sacrifice.
... This was in the mind of the artist. The fact, however,
that it remotely suggests a cross was not in his mind, but
to me this also has merit. We do not limit our work to Christians.
Indeed, at the present moment, our work is nine-tenths for
the Jews, yet we do stem from the Christian tradition and
its central theme of sacrificial love."
Today, the flaming chalice is the official symbol of the Unitarian
Universalist Service Committee and the Unitarian Universalist
Association. Officially or unofficially, it functions as a
logo for hundreds of congregations. A version of the symbol
was adopted by the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free
Christian Churches in Britain. It has since been used by Unitarian
churches in other parts of the world.
Perhaps most importantly, it has become a focal point for
ritual. No one meaning or interpretation is official. The
flaming chalice, like our understanding, stands open to receive
new truths that pass the tests of reason.
Sources for chalice answer: Unitarian Information Department
pamphlet, October 1994; Unitarian Universalist Association
and the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.
Are UUs pacifists?
Some UUs are, but most are not. First Unitarian Church of
Des Moines has often provided a forum for unpopular causes.
If the cause is not fundamentally at odds with the values
of our church membership and/or alternatives are limited,
we may provide our facilities for meetings and events even
though many members may not agree with the political objectives
of the particular cause. Part of respecting the differences
among people is respecting human rights of free speech within
reasonable bounds. The cause of peace is often situational
(involving issues concerning what constitutes a just war or
an immoral peace) while traditional pacifism involves fundamental
principles of personal conscience. |
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