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List of Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists

See also History of Unitarianism

A number of notable people have considered themselves Unitarians, Universalists, and following the merger of these denominations in the United States and Canada in 1961, Unitarian Universalists. Additionally, there are persons who, because of their writings or reputation, are considered to have held Unitarian or Universalist beliefs. Individuals who held unitarian (nontrinitarian) beliefs but were not affiliated with Unitarian organizations are often referred to as "small 'u unitarians. The same principle can be applied to those who believed in universal salvation but were not members of Universalist organizations. This article, therefore, makes the distinction between capitalized "Unitarians" and "Universalists" and lowercase "unitarians" and "universalists".

The Unitarians and Universalists are groups that existed long before the creation of Unitarian Universalism.

Early Unitarians did not hold Universalist beliefs, and early Universalists did not hold Unitarian beliefs. But beginning in the nineteenth century the theologies of the two groups started becoming more similar.

Additionally, their eventual merger as the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) did not eliminate divergent Unitarian and Universalist congregations, especially outside the US. Even within the US, some congregations still keep only one of the two names, "Unitarian" or "Universalist". However, with only a few exceptions, all belong to the UUA—even those that maintain dual affiliation (e.g., Unitarian and Quaker). Transcendentalism was a movement that diverged from contemporary American Unitarianism but has been embraced by later Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists.

In Northern Ireland, Unitarian churches are officially called "Non-Subscribing Presbyterian", but are informally known as "Unitarian" and are affiliated with the Unitarian churches of the rest of the world.

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C

  • John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) – U.S. Vice President and Senator Co-founder, All Souls Church, Unitarian (Washington, D.C.)
  • Walter Bradford Cannon (1871–1945) – experimental physiologist
  • Louise Whitfield Carnegie (1857–1946) – wife of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. After Carnegie died Louise made donations to charities.
  • Lant Carpenter (1780–1840) – English Unitarian minister, author and educator
  • Russell Lant Carpenter (1816–1892) – Unitarian minister. Son and biographer of Dr. Lant Carpenter
  • William Herbert Carruth (1859–1924) – educator, poet, President of Pacific Coast Conference of the Unitarian Church
  • Samuel Carter (1805–1878) – British MP and early railway solicitor
  • Lee Carter (born 1987) — delegate for Virginia's 50th House of Delegates district (according to his campaign website, he and his family attend their local Unitarian Universalist Church)
  • Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914) – Manufacturer, Unitarian, founder of local government in Britain.
  • Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940) – Unitarian, then an agnostic and, British Prime Minister.
  • George Leonard Chaney (1836-1922) - A Boston Unitarian minister who served the city’s Hollis Street Church for 15 years. Later moved to Atlanta to organize the first Unitarian church in that city.
  • Augusta Jane Chapin (1836–1905) – American Universalist minister, educator and activist for women's rights
  • William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) – Unitarian minister, whose 1819 sermon "Unitarian Christianity" laid the foundations for American Unitarianism.
  • Charles Chauncy (1592–1672) – Unitarian Congregationalist minister.
  • Jesse Chickering (1797–1855) – Unitarian minister and economist
  • Brock Chisholm (1896–1971) – director, World Health Organization
  • Parley P. Christensen (1869–1954) – Utah and California politician, Esperantist
  • Judy Chu (born 1953) – Congressperson representing California's 27th Congressional District. First Chinese-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress
  • Annie Clark (born 1982) – musician and singer-songwriter, better known by her stage name, St. Vincent (musician).
  • Andrew Inglis Clark (1848–1907) – Tasmanian politician. Responsible for the adoption of the Hare-Clark system of proportional representation by the Parliament of Tasmania
  • Grenville Clark (1882–1931) – author
  • Joseph S. Clark (1901–1990) – U.S. Senator and mayor of Philadelphia
  • Laurel Clark (1961–2003) – U.S. Navy officer and NASA Astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
  • James Freeman Clarke (1810–1888) – Unitarian minister, theologian and author
  • Daniel Bragg Clayton (1817-1906) - Known as D.B. Clayton was an American Southern Universalist minister who was instrumental in spreading and defending Universalism in the South.
  • Stanley Cobb (1887–1968) – neurologist and psychiatrist
  • William Cohen (born 1940) – U.S. Secretary of Defense (1997–2001), U.S. Senator from Maine (1979–1997)
  • Emily Parmely Collins (1814–1909) — American suffragist, activist, writer
  • Robert Collyer (1823-1912) -- Unitarian clergyman of Chicago and New York, notable for his earnest, direct sermons and vocal support of abolition and women's suffrage.
  • Henry Steele Commager (1902–1998) – American historian and biographer of Theodore Parker
  • Kent Conrad (born 1948) – U.S. Senator from North Dakota (1992–2013)
  • Maria Cook (1779–1835) – first woman to be recognized as a Universalist preacher.
  • Mary Leggett Cooke (1852–1938) – Unitarian minister; member of the Iowa Sisterhood
  • William David Coolidge (1873–1975) – inventor, physician, research director
  • Peter Cooper (1791–1883) – industrialist, inventor, philanthropist, and politician; founder of The Cooper Union.
  • Norman Cousins (1915–1990) – editor and writer, Unitarian friend
  • E. E. Cummings (1894–1962) – poet and painter
  • William Cushing (1732–1810) – one of the original US Supreme Court Justices, appointed by Geo. Washington and longest serving of the original justices (1789–1810).

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  • Sophia Lyon Fahs (1876–1978) – liberal religious educator
  • Millard Fillmore (1800–1874) – thirteenth President of the United States
  • Joseph L. Fisher (1914–1992) – U.S. congressman
  • Hermann van Flekwyk (d. 1569) – Dutch anabaptist
  • Benjamin Flower (1755–1829) – English radical writer
  • James Freeman (1759–1835) – first American preacher to call himself a Unitarian
  • Caleb Fleming (1698–1779) – English anti-Trinitarian dissenting minister
  • Robert Fulghum (born 1937) – UU minister and writer
  • Allen Fuller (1798-1864) - Northern minister who assisted in the spread of Universalism in the American South.
  • Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) – inventor, engineer
  • Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) – journalist
  • János Füzi (1776–1833) – Unitarian minister, teacher

G

  • Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865) – British novelist and social reformer
  • Frank Gannett (1876–1957) – newspaper publisher
  • Greta Gerwig (born 1983) – actor, screenwriter and director
  • Thomas Field Gibson (1803–1889) – English manufacturer who aided the welfare of the Spitalfields silk weavers
  • Henry Giles (1809–1882) – British-American Unitarian minister and writer
  • Hilary Goodridge – the lead plaintiff in the landmark case Goodridge v. Department of Public Health
  • Eleanor Gordon (1852–1942) – minister and member of the Iowa Sisterhood.
  • Mike Gravel (1930–2021) – U.S. Senator; 2008 Democratic presidential candidate
  • Mary H. Graves (1839–1908) – minister, literary editor, writer
  • Dana Greeley (1908–1986) – the first president of the Unitarian Universalist Association
  • Horace Greeley (1811–1872) – newspaper editor, presidential candidate, Universalist
  • Robert Joseph Greene (born 1973) – Canadian author and LGBT Activist
  • Chester Greenwood (1858–1937) – inventor
  • Gary Gygax (1938–2008) – game designer and creator of Dungeons & Dragons, called himself a Christian, "albeit one that is of the Arian (Unitarian) persuasion."

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J

  • Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) – third president of the U.S., unitarian but not affiliated with any sect
  • Joseph Johnson (1738–1809) – English publisher
  • Jenkin Lloyd Jones (1843–1918) – Unitarian missionary and minister in the United States
  • Richard Lloyd Jones (1873–1963) – son of Jenkin Lloyd Jones, editor and publisher of the Tulsa Tribune, also co-founder of All Souls Unitarian Church in 1921.
  • Annie Bizzell Jordan Willis (1893–1977) – daughter of Rev. Joseph Fletcher Jordan, a religious educator and integrationist

I

K

  • György Kepes (1906–2001) – visual artist
  • Naomi King (born 1970) – Unitarian minister, daughter of author Stephen King
  • Thomas Starr King (1824–1864) – minister who during his career served both in Universalist and in Unitarian churches. Namesake of Starr King School.
  • James R. Killian (1904–1988) – president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • W.M. Kiplinger (1891–1967) – publisher of the Kiplinger Letters
  • Webster Kitchell (1931–2009) – theologian
  • Abner Kneeland (1774–1844) – Universalist minister and denominational leader who, after leaving the denomination to become a leader in the freethought movement, was convicted and jailed for blasphemy.
  • Richard Knight (1768–1844) – friend, colleague and follower of Joseph Priestley, developed the first method to make platinum malleable. Stored Priestley's library during his escape to America.
  • Penney Kome (born 1948) – Canadian author and journalist

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M

N

  • Isaac Newton (1642–1726) – English physicist and mathematician
  • Maurine Neuberger (1907–2000) – U.S. Senator
  • Paul Newman (1925–2008) – actor, film director
  • Andrews Norton (1786–1853) – Once known as the “Unitarian Pope”
  • Joseph Nye (1937-2025) Rhodes Scholar and former dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

O

  • Keith Olbermann (born 1959) – news anchor, political commentator, and sports journalist
  • Mary White Ovington (1865–1951) – NAACP founder

P

  • Bob Packwood (born 1932) – U.S. Senator from Oregon (1969–1995)
  • John Palmer (1742–1786) – English Unitarian minister
  • David Park (1911–1960) – West coast painter.
  • Isaac Parker (1768–1830) – Massachusetts Congressman and jurist, including Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1814 to his death.
  • Theodore Parker (1810–1860) – Unitarian minister and transcendentalist
  • Linus Pauling (1901–1994) – Nobel Laureate for Peace and for Chemistry
  • Randy Pausch (1960–2008) – computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Author of The Last Lecture
  • Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900–1979) – astronomer and astrophysicist.
  • Richard Peacock (1820–1889) – British locomotive engineer and philanthropist
  • Laura Pedersen (born 1965) – American author, journalist, playwright and humorist. Books and plays with humanist themes. Lifelong UU, Interfaith minister.
  • Sarah Maria Clinton Perkins (1824–1905) – American Universalist minister, social reformer, lecturer, editor, author
  • Melissa Harris-Perry (born 1973) – professor, author, and political commentator on MSNBC hosting the Melissa Harris-Perry TV program.
  • William James Perry, (born 1927) – former United States Secretary of Defense
  • William T. Pheiffer (1898–1986) – American lawyer/politician
  • Utah Phillips (1935–2008) – American singer, songwriter and homeless advocate
  • William Pickering (1910–2004) – space explorer
  • James Pierpont (1822–1893) – songwriter ("Jingle Bells")
  • Daniel Pinkham (1923–2006) – composer
  • Norman Pinney (1804–1862) – teacher, minister and author
  • John Platts (1775–1837) – English Unitarian minister and author
  • Van Rensselaer Potter (1911–2001) – global bioethicist
  • Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) – discoverer of oxygen and Unitarian minister
  • George Pullman (1831–1897) – Universalist
  • Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) – American writer, poet
  • Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) – British children's writer of the famous "Peter Rabbit" stories

R

  • Bonnie Raitt (born 1949) – singer and guitarist
  • Mary Jane Rathbun (1860–1943) – marine zoologist
  • James Reeb (1927–1965) – civil-rights martyr
  • Curtis W. Reese (1887–1961) – religious humanist
  • Christopher Reeve (1952–2004) – actor and Unitarian Universalist
  • James Relly (c. 1722–1778) – Universalist
  • Paul Revere (1735–1818) – American silversmith, industrialist and patriot
  • David Ricardo (1772–1823) – British classical economist noted for creating the concept of comparative advantage
  • Malvina Reynolds (1900–1978) – songwriter / singer / activist
  • Mark Ritchie (born 1951) – Minnesota Secretary of State (2007–)
  • Amber E. Robinson (1867–1961), educator, postmaster, poet, reporter, and social reformer
  • Alfred Ronalds (1802–1860) – British author of The Fly-fisher's Entomology and Australian pioneer
  • Emily Ronalds (1795–1889) – British social reformer and educationalist
  • Hugh Ronalds (1760–1833) – British horticulturalist and nurseryman
  • Francis Ronalds (1788–1873) – English inventor of the electric telegraph
  • Benjamin Rush (1745–1813) – very active in the Universalist movement, although never technically joined a Universalist congregation

S

T

V

  • William Vidler (1758–1816) – English Universalist and Unitarian minister
  • Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) – writer

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See also

Footnotes, citations and references

External links