Unity Church
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Unity (also known as the Unity School of Christianity and not to be confused with Unitarianism) is the largest of the New Thought denominations of Christianity. It was founded by Charles Fillmore (1854-1948) and Myrtle Fillmore (1845-1931) in 1889 in Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States. It is headquartered in Unity Village, Missouri. There are over 900 churches and study groups that are affiliated with Unity. Unity has over two million followers in over 15 different countries.[citation needed]
Along with its churches and groups, Unity publishes a monthly prayer magazine (Daily Word) and operates a prayer ministry (‘Silent Unity’). The magazine and ministry are part of Unity’s service to people of all religions and faiths.
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[edit] Characteristics and principles of Unity
Unity espouses ‘practical Christianity’ in which its followers study ways to apply the teachings of Jesus to their daily lives. Through these teachings, Unity followers believe that God is a universal presence and divinity exists in all people. The teachings are based on five basic principles:
- God is the source and creator of all. There is no other enduring power (omnipotence; omniscience). God is good (omnibenevolence) and present everywhere (omnipresence). (Also see Panentheism).
- We are spiritual beings, created in God’s image. The spirit of God lives within each person; therefore, all people are inherently good.
- We create our life experiences through our way of thinking.
- There is power in affirmative prayer, which we believe increases our connection to God.
- Knowledge of these spiritual principles is not enough. We must live them.
The Christian Bible is the central text of Unity, which interprets the Bible metaphysically. Unity students believe that the teachings of the Bible are allegorical lessons from which spirituality is attained. For example, the twelve disciples each symbolize one of twelve spiritual powers that man possesses. Unity endorses the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, though many in the movement prefer the George Lamsa translation. Unity recommends against the New International Version, but does not expressly forbid it.
Unity is unique as a Christian church because of its approach to prayer. Meditation plays a significant role in Unity thought. Followers of Unity rely on both prayer and meditation as vehicles for communicating with God and becoming spiritually centered. Silent Unity maintains a 24-hour-a-day prayer vigil, with staff available at all times to accept prayer requests by phone, fax, letter, e-mail or via the Unity website.[1] As thinking is believed to affect our reality, positive thinking is another important tenet in Unity. "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:22-24) is interpreted to mean that what one believes is what one receives, and that if one holds a belief that is not what one wants, one is, in effect, praying for what one does not want.
Charles Fillmore established 100 other tenets known as the Unity Statement of Faith, that are not dogmatic, nor posted on Unity's website (although available as a pamphlet), and many are not well known, though they are not by any means secret. Among these is the idea that war will end only when humans stop killing animals for food (endorsing vegetarianism); belief in reincarnation; establishing total gender equality (Unity, indeed, has slightly more female ministers than male); chastity, and temperance. How strongly such ideas are supported by individual members varies widely; the five basic principles are the only common ground expected of members.
Unity also distinguishes itself from other Christian churches in its basic approach to sacraments. Elaborate rites and symbols are absent from Unity churches. Communion, baptism and other rituals are relatively sparse with more emphasis placed on the spiritual over the symbolic (i.e. water in baptism). Unity sometimes uses rose petals for baptism, instead of water.
Fillmore saw a fundamental flaw in the worship of the man Jesus as God. He divided Jesus into four aspects:
- "Jesus", the man who lived 2,000 years ago and was a great healer and teacher
- "Christ", the divine idea of God manifested individually in all people
- "Jesus the Christ" or "Jesus Christ", the fully-embraced oneness with God that Jesus demonstrated
- "Christ Jesus", the current state of the physical man that was Jesus after the Ascension. Fillmore believed that the atoms of His body dispersed across the world and elevated the consciousness of all to another level.
As with many scholars, Fillmore disagreed with the Christian orthodoxy that the multiple references to "I Am" in the Gospel of John referred to Jesus himself, but rather to "YHWH", which literally means "I Am" in all its conjugations, which most Bibles substitute with "LORD" after the first reference to "I Am" in Exodus 3:13. The term "Lord" has begun to fall out of favor in the Unity movement for this reason, given the word's connotations of oppression.
Jesus referred to himself as "Son of God," but in doing so, he invoked the 82nd Psalm, and never applied it exclusively to himself.
[edit] History
Unity’s beginnings date to its founding by the Fillmores. Charles Fillmore, a real estate salesman, and his schoolteacher wife Myrtle were living in Kansas City, Missouri when she faced a reoccurrence of tuberculosis.
Myrtle Fillmore studied spiritual healing in 1886. She attended lectures by Dr. E.B. Weeks, a student of Christian Science. By 1888, her health improved as she began to pray with positive affirmation for her health - “I am a child of God, and therefore I do not inherit sickness.”
Charles Fillmore was affected by Myrtle’s newfound philosophy when his leg, withered from a childhood ice skating accident, grew stronger. He joined his wife on a mission to spread a message of teaching practical Christianity. Charles, having previously studied world philosophies, began researching the connection between religion and science.
Their first endeavor was publishing Modern Thought magazine (currently published under the name Unity) in 1889. They created the Society of Silent Help in the following year. This group prayed for those who requested it. This is widely considered the birth of the ‘Unity movement.’ Charles officially adopted the name Unity in 1891, renaming their society the Society of Silent Unity.
Dr. Harriett Emilie Cady, a former homeopathist wrote Unity’s first and seminal text, Lessons in Truth in 1894. Her writing became a cornerstone of Unity’s teachings.[1]
Although the Fillmores never intended for their Unity to become a denomination, the Unity Society of Practical Christianity was organized in Kansas City in 1903. The church is now known simply as Unity.
Eleven years later, the Fillmores started two separate components to organize their functions. Unity School of Christianity handled publishing and teaching. The Unity Society of Practical Christianity took over church responsibilities. The Unity headquarters in downtown Kansas City gradually expanded into a church, publishing company and popular vegetarian restaurant.
Sensing the need for more land, Charles Fillmore purchased 58 acres (235,000 m²) of land in Jackson County, Missouri. In 1919, Fillmore developed Unity Farm for Unity’s eventual new center.
Unity School of Christianity debuted ‘Daily Word’ magazine in 1924 under the name ‘Unity Daily Word’ with Frank Whitney as its first editor. This magazine printed daily inspirational messages in each monthly issue.
While their movement grew, the Fillmores saw their teachings being used in unauthorized ways. To prevent further compromise of their message, they created the Unity Annual Conference. This organization of Unity ministers and spiritual leaders were responsible for guiding the Unity message and supervising the churches.
Myrtle Fillmore died in 1931 and Charles Fillmore retired as minister of the Unity Society of Practical Christianity in 1933. Charles continued his work in travels and lectures.
In 1947, Unity School moved to its new headquarters at its Unity Farm site between Lee's Summit, Missouri and Kansas City Missouri. Beginning as a locally renowned produce farm, the site expanded and incorporated as Unity Village, Missouri in 1953. Today, the campus is 1400 acres (5.7 km²) and is open to the public.[2]
Although Charles Fillmore died in 1948, his son Lowell assumed leadership of Unity and continued his parents’ work. Over the years, Unity School of Christianity hosted spiritual retreats, organized continuing education programs and expanded Unity’s message to other countries. In 1966, the Association of Unity Churches was formed to support Unity ministers and churches.
Celebrities affiliated with Unity include Betty White, Licensed Unity Teacher Ruth Warrick, Barbara Billingsley, Malcolm Gets, Matt Hoverman, Patricia Neal,[3] Holmes Osborne,[4] Esther Williams, and Oprah Winfrey.
Today, Unity School’s mission continues at the Unity Institute at Unity Village. The Association of Unity Churches, located in Lee's Summit, Missouri, oversees the denominational aspects of over 900 member churches. Youth of Unity's conferences and rallies gather together teenagers of the movement from all over the world.
[edit] Unity symbol: About The Unity Wings
The Unity wings symbol, the winged globe, appears in many Unity publications. It has been re-created in many variations, from older pen and ink drawings, to wood carvings, stained glass, and modernized drawings. Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, explained the symbolism of the winged globe this way:
It is an ancient Egyptian symbol, but it is found in various forms in the religions of other races. It represents the relation existing between Spirit, soul, and body. Soul gives wings to body. Spirit is the enveloping principle, like the atmosphere in which both soul and body exist, and from which they draw their original inspiration.
The winged globe is also a symbol of the earth and its soul. The earth has soul, as have its products of every description. All exist in the ether, the anima mundi, the divine mother. When people of the earth lift up their thoughts to God, and the Animus Dei or directive Spirit, then the planet takes wings into a higher radiation of universal life.
As man develops spiritual consciousness, he attains the realization of the soul as the wings of the body. Back of the Soul is Spirit, which quickens and energizes the soul; that is, gives the soul wings. Artists paint their angels with wings representing in this way their freedom from physical fetters. But the soul does not have wings like a bird. The life activity of the soul is quickened by Spirit until it rises above the thought of matter and floats free in the ether of the fourth dimension, which Jesus called the kingdom of the heavens.
~ Charles Fillmore, from the Unity publication "Good Business," April 1956.
[edit] The "Complaint-Free" Movement
One movement growing out of Unity is the "Complaint-Free" movement. The idea was first conceived in the book The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity by Edwene Gaines and put forth into action by Christ Church Unity of Kansas City, MO. The basic idea is to go 21 days without complaining. It takes 21 days to create new neuro-pathways in our brain[citation needed] and through holding back gossip, sarcasm, and criticism it is possible to shift our outlook onto only the positive.[citation needed] This movement began with a front page article that ran in the Kansas City Star and was then published in newspapers all over the nation including: Desert News, Salt Lake City (UT), Houston Chronicle (TX), Bradenton Herald (FL), Hartford Courant (CT), The Vindicator (Youngstown,OH), News Sentinel (Ft Wayne, IN), Marysville Appeal-Democrat (CA), Ventura County Star (CA), and the Belleville News-Democrat (IL). Participants in the "Complaint-Free" movement wear purple bracelets that say spirit.
[edit] Notable Unity Writers
- Georgiana Tree West, founder of Unity Center for Practical Christiany, New York City
- Eric Butterworth, long time minister of Unity Center Practical Christianty, New York City
- James Dillet Freeman, poet laureate of the Unity movement
- H. Emilie Cady, non-member whose articles for Unity Magazine were considered by Fillmore to be Unity's basic textbook
- Lowell Fillmore, eldest son of the Fillmores
- Cora Fillmore, second wife of Charles Fillmore
- Elizabeth Sand Turner
- Charles Roth, long time minister of Unity of Indianapolis
- Jim Rosemergy
- Mary-Alice Jafolla and Richard Jafolla, authors of The Quest lesson plan
- Frances W. Foulks
- Imelda Octavia Shanklin
- Neal Vahle, biographer of Myrtle Fillmore and historian of the Unity movement
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Fillmore, Charles (1931, 17th printing July 2000). Metaphysical Bible Dictionary. Unity Village, Missouri: Unity House. ISBN 0-87159-067-0
- Association of Unity Churches
- Unity
- Works of Charles Fillmore (not copyrighted)
- ^ quotation by Unity minister Ernest C. Wilson on the cover of The Complete Works of H. Emilie Cady (which also inlcudes How I Used Truth and God a Present Help) as published by Unity House.
- ^ http://www.unityonline.org/discover_unityvillage.htm Access 10/21/2006
- ^ Raven, Barbara C. Badge of Courage. Unity Church of New York, 2002.
- ^ mentioned attending on the cast commentary on the Donnie Darko DVD
[edit] External links
- Unity Online
- Unity Church of Practical Christianity Grand Rapids, MI
- Association of Unity Churches
- Unity Center in western North Carolina Fletcher, NC
- Mountain Light Unity Church Evergreen, CO
- Unity Church of Chicago: A Community of Light, Love and Laughter Chicago, IL
- Unity On The Bay Miami, FL
- Unity Church in the Rockies Colorado Springs, CO
- Unity North Atlanta Church Marietta, GA
- Unity Church of the Hills Austin, TX
- Unity Center of Austin Austin, TX
- First Unity Church of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida
- Unity Church of North Idaho Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
- Unity Church of Tampa Florida
- Spiritual Unity ChurchWestmont, Illinois
- Unity Church of Overland Park Kansas
- Renaissance Unity Michigan - Video Unity Sermons
- Unity of New YorkNew York
- Unity of Long Island New York
- Unity Center of Healing Light New York
- Unity Church Of Harrisburg Pennsylvania
- Spiritual Life Center Sacramento, California
- Unity of the Black Hills South Dakota
- Unity Church for Positive Living Nashville, Tennessee
- Unity Of Roanoke Valley Virginia
- Unity Church of Jacksonville Jacksonville, FL
- Unity Church of Dallas Dallas, Texas
- Unity of Indianapolis Indianapolis, Indiana
- Unity In Marin Novato, California
- Unity Community Church Laguna Hills, California
- Living Water Unity Arvada, CO
- Atlanta Unity Church Norcross, Georgia
- Unity Church of the Triangle Raleigh, NC
- Unity Center of Peace Church Chapel Hill, NC
- Unity in the Dunes Church Valparaiso, IN
- Unity Church of San Antonio San Antonio, TX
- Unity of Bay City Bay City, MI
- Westside Unity Church of Christianity Culver City, CA
