Unity Church

Unity also known as "Unity School of Christianity" and informally as "Unity Church", is a school of thought founded upon holistic Christian principles within the New Thought movement. It is informed by a wide range of spiritual, metaphysical and philosophical ideas, and has as its principal essence that God is the only power, and is all that is both seen and unseen.

It was founded in 1889 by Charles Fillmore (1854-1948) and Myrtle Fillmore (1845-1931), in Kansas City, Missouri. It currently has its headquarters in Unity Village, Missouri.

Basic teachings

The five basic ideas that make up the Unity belief system are: cite web | url = http://www.unityonline.org/aboutunity/whoWeAre/faq.html#teachings | title = What Does Unity Believe? | work = Unity Church | accessdate = 2007-10-23 ] quotation
#God is the source and creator of all. There is no other enduring power. God is good and present everywhere.
#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.

Overview of Unity

Charles Fillmore expressed Unity's approach to affirmative prayer as:quotation|Paul said, "Pray without ceasing." Do not supplicate and beg God to give you what you need, but realize, affirm, and absolutely know that your supreme mind is functioning right now in God-Mind itself and that your thought substance and the spiritual substance of the Most High are amalgamated and blended into one perfect whole that is now being made manifest in the very thing you are asking for.|Charles Fillmore|Teach Us to Pray cite book
last = Fillmore
first = Charles
authorlink = Charles Fillmore
coauthors =
title = Teach Us to Pray
publisher =
date =
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pages = p159
url = http://websyte.com/unity/TUPS36.HTM
doi =
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History

Unity was founded on the practice of affirmative prayer in the late 1800s. Over time, these prayer groups evolved to form churches, now all across the world. Here's some of the history:

The co-founders of Unity, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, met in Texas and married in 1881. In 1884 they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Charles sold real estate.

In 1886-1888, Myrtle became very ill. Since she was a child, she was often sick and was told she had inherited the tendency. After attending a class taught by Dr. Eugene B. Weeks, Myrtle gained a stronger faith in God and a new way to pray. She began a dedicated practice of this affirmative prayer: "I am a child of God, and therefore I do not inherit sickness." Within two years, Myrtle was healed of her life-long illness. Her family and friends were excited, and they began praying too. Charles began to study world religions and philosophies, and the link between religion and science. Charles and Myrtle started writing about their beliefs, and shortly thereafter Unity was born.

In 1889, the Fillmores published the first issue of "Modern Thought", a national monthly magazine devoted to spiritual questions. The magazine’s name was changed to "Unity Magazine" in 1894. In 1890, The Fillmores used the magazine to tell people about the Society of Silent Help (renamed Society of "Silent Unity" in 1891), and that the work of the Society of Silent Help is “open to everyone.”

In 1891 Charles chose Unity as the name for the movement they were founding and adopted the Unity Wings as a symbol.

In 1893 Myrtle started a monthly magazine for children called "Wee Wisdom". When it was discontinued in 1991, "Wee Wisdom" was the oldest continuously published children’s magazine in the country.

In 1894 "Lessons in Truth" by H. Emilie Cady, a former homeopathist, was published as the first Unity book. Over the years it has been translated into 11 languages, published in braille, and sold more than 1.6 million copies. Her writing became a cornerstone of Unity’s teachings. [Vahle(2002), p71]

The Unity Society of Practical Christianity was incorporated as the first Unity church in 1903.

In 1914 the Fillmores started Unity School of Christianity to handle their publishing and educational work. They purchased the first 58 acres of the present Unity Village site in 1919, about 20 miles southeast of Kansas City, Missouri.

In 1922 Unity became a pioneer in radio broadcasting. Charles gave his first Unity lesson over radio on station WOQ, which was documented to be the first radio presentation by a clergyman in Kansas City, Missouri.

In July 1924 the first issue of "Unity Daily Word" (renamed "Daily Word" in 1939) was published. Frank Whitney was the first editor of this popular magazine of daily devotionals, which is now printed in 8 languages (including Chinese).

One of the well-known symbols of Unity, the 165-foot-tall Tower and the Silent Unity building (later known as the Education building) was constructed at Unity Village in 1929. The Tower contains a 100,000-gallon water tank that provides fresh water. The Tower also houses a carillon that chimes music at different times of the day. In 1989 these buildings were put on the National Register of Historic Places.

1942 saw the opening of The Heritage Room library (renamed Unity Library and Archives in 1997). The Library remains open to the public today and houses one of the world’s largest metaphysical collections.

In 1947 Unity School moved from downtown Kansas City to its new headquarters at its Unity Farm site between Lee's Summit and Kansas City, Missouri. Beginning as a locally renowned produce farm and orchard, the site expanded and incorporated as a municipality named "Unity Village" in 1953. Today the campus occupies 1,400 acres and is open to the public. Free tours of Unity Village have been offered by the Visitor's Center staff since 1978.

The first spiritual retreat is held at Unity Village in 1951. Today there are about a dozen retreats a year for adults, including Spanish-language retreats.

Unity’s Rose Garden was planted in 1951. Today the garden has 800 bushes, with nearly 50 different kinds of roses.

The Association of Unity Churches was officially organized in 1966 to support other Unity ministers and ministries in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada.

In 1989 Unity celebrated its centennial, and the Unity School of Christianity Historical District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Unity’s first "World Day of Prayer" was organized in 1994. On Unity’s World Day of Prayer, more people contact Silent Unity for prayer than at any other time. Unity’s World Day of Prayer is on the second Thursday in September each year.

In 1997 Silent Unity, one of the oldest 24-hour prayer ministries in the United States, answered a record-breaking number of prayer requests: two million.

In 1998 Unity Village dedicated a new labyrinth patterned after the famous medieval labyrinth that was carved into the stone floor of Chartres Cathedral in France around 1200 A.D. The labyrinth at Unity is open to the public during daylight hours and is designed to accommodate wheelchairs.

[ [http://www.unityonline.org/history/index.html Unity Village - History] ]

Relationship to Christianity

Unity was founded in 1889 by Charles Fillmore (1854-1948) and Myrtle Fillmore (1845-1931), in Kansas City, Missouri. The Fillmores considered themselves Christians, though they did not subscribe to the Nicaean Creed. Unity minister Eric Butterworth stated that the Council of Nicaea was "a bitterly contested struggle, during which Arius got up to speak and Nicholas of Myra punched him in the nose." He describes this as a meeting concerning a "religion about Jesus" rather than the "religion of Jesus" as presented through Jesus's teachings. [Butterworth, Eric. "Discover the Power Within You: A Guide to Unexplored Depths Within". (1968) Twentieth Anniversary Edition. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1989. Paperback edition 1992. p. 30 ISBN 978-0-06-250115-8]

Prominent members

Celebrities affiliated with Unity include Betty White, Eleanor Powell, Wally Amos, Licensed Unity Teacher Ruth Warrick, Barbara Billingsley, Matt Hoverman, Patricia Neal, [Raven, Barbara C. "Badge of Courage". Unity Church of New York, 2002.] Holmes Osborne [Holmes Osborne mentioned attending on the cast commentary on the "Donnie Darko" DVD] and Esther Williams.

In March 2008 Maya Angelou stated that she plans to spend part of the year studying at the Unity Church. In 2005 she attended a Unity Church service in Miami and decided that day to "go into a kind of religious school and study" on her 80th birthday. [ [http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/83-03292008-1510872.html Maya Angelou at 80: Life is still an adventure] , Hillel Italie, Phillyburbs.com, March 29, 2008]

Unity symbol: Wings

The Unity wings symbol, the winged globe, appears in many Unity publications. Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, explained the symbolism of the winged globe this way:

quotation|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|Good Business|April 1956

ee also

* New Thought
* Divine Science
* Religious Science
* Emma Curtis Hopkins
* Historic list of New Thought organizations
* List of New Thought writers
* Panentheism
* Law of Attraction

Notes

References

*cite book
last = Vahle
first = Neal
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Unity Movement: Its Evolution and Spiritual Teachings
publisher = Templeton Foundation Press
month = September | year = 2002
location =
pages = 504 pages
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 1890151963
* Mosley,Glenn R. "The History and Future NEW THOUGHT, ANCIENT WISDOM of the New Thought Movement," Templelton Foundation Press, (2006). ISBN 0-59947-089-6

External links

* [http://www.unityonline.org Unity (main website) ]
* [http://www.unity.org Association of Unity Churches International ]
* [http://www.unitysocial.com Unity Social, a social networking site for people in Unity]
*cite encyclopedia
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encyclopedia = The Columbia Encyclopedia
title = Unity
url = http://www.bartleby.com/65/un/Unity.html
accessdate = 2008-03-27
accessyear =
accessmonth =
edition = 6th Edition
date =
year = 2007
month =
publisher = Columbia University Press
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doi =
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quote =