International Council of Unitarians and Universalists

International Council of Unitarians and Universalists
Abbreviation	ICUU
Formation	March 23–26, 1995
Type	religious organization
Location	Global
President	Rev. Brian Kiely
Website	http://icuu.net/

The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU) is an umbrella organization founded in 1995 bringing together many Unitarians, Universalists and Unitarian Universalists. The size of the member organizations varies widely. Some member groups have only a few hundred members; while the largest, the Unitarian Universalist Association, has over 200,000 members and is larger than all the other member groups put together.

History

The original initiative for its establishment was contained in a resolution of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches of the United Kingdom in 1987. This led to the establishment of the Advocates for the Establishment of an International Organization of Unitarians (AEIOU), which worked towards creating the council. However, the General Assembly resolution provided no funding.

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) became particularly interested in the establishment of a council when it had to deal with an increasing number of applications for membership from congregations outside North America. It had already granted membership to congregations in Adelaide, Auckland, the Philippines and Pakistan, and congregations in Sydney, Russia and Spain had applied for membership. Rather than admit congregations from all over the world, the UUA hoped that they would join a world council instead. The UUA thus became willing to provide funding for the council's establishment.

As a result, the council was finally established at a meeting in Essex, Massachusetts, United States on 23-26 March 1995. The Rev. David Usher, a British Unitarian minister of Australian origin who had proposed the original motion eight years previously, became the ICUU's first President.

Principles and purposes

The Preamble to the Constitution of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists reads:

We, the member groups of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists, affirming our belief in religious community based on:

• liberty of conscience and individual thought in matters of faith,
• the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
• justice and compassion in human relations,
• responsible stewardship in human relations,
• and our commitment to democratic principles,

declare our purposes to be:

• to serve the Infinite Spirit of Life and the human community by strengthening the worldwide Unitarian and Universalist faith,
• to affirm the variety and richness of our living traditions,
• to facilitate mutual support among member organizations,
• to promote our ideals and principles around the world,
• to provide models of liberal religious response to the human condition which upholds our common values.

Members

Full members

• Australian and New Zealand Unitarian Universalist Association (ANZUUA), 500 members.
• Canadian Unitarian Council, 5,000 members.
• Deutsche Unitarier Religionsgemeinschaft, Germany
• European Unitarian Universalists, 120 members across Europe.
• First Unitarian Church of Nigeria and Ijo Isokan Gbogbo Eda (Unitarian Brotherhood Church), Nigeria
• General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, United Kingdom & Ireland, 6,000 members.
• The Council of Unitarian Churches in India, which includes the Khasi Unitarian Union, 9,000 members, and the Unitarian Christian Church of Madras, 225 members.
• Náboženská společnost českých unitářů (Religious Society of Czech Unitarians)
• Unitarian Church of Hungary, 25,000 members.
• Unitarian Church of Transylvania (Romania) 80,000 members
• Unitarian Church of South Africa, 100 members.
• Unitarian Universalist Association, USA, 157,920 members.
• Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines founded 1954, 2000 members.
• Unitarian Universalist Society of Finland, 22 members.
• Unitarisk Kirkesamfund, Denmark, 55 families.
• Indonesia Global Church of God, around 200 members.

Reorganizing

• Kosciol Unitarianski (Unitarian Church in Poland), 80 attendees and friends.
• Unitarian Universalist Society of Spain, 55 members.
• Unitarians and Universalists, Pakistan, 100 members.
• Unitarian Universalist Association of Sri Lanka, 100 members.

Spain and the Polish Unitarians have reported a need for a period of reorganization, and that at this time they are unable to maintain the level of activity needed to be full Council members, be it moved that membership of these groups be suspended. This action is taken with regret and the ICUU looks forward to welcoming Spain and Poland back into membership at the earliest possible date.

The Unitarian Universalists of Russia were a founding member of the ICUU. Its membership in the Council was officially dropped in 2007 because of persistent lack of activity.

Provisional members

Churches and religious associations which have expressed their will to become members of the Council may be admitted as "Provisional Members" for a period of time (generally two or four years), until the Council decides that they have shown their organizational stability, affinity with the ICUU principles and commitment to deserve becoming Full Members of the Council. Provisional Members are invited to Council meetings through a delegate but cannot vote.

The following organizations have been accepted by the ICUU Executive Committee but they have not yet been ratified by the Council Meeting:

• Brazilian Unitarian Congregation
• The Unitarian Umbrella Organization of Norway

Emerging groups

According to the Bylaws of the ICUU, Emerging Groups are "applicants that are deemed to be reasonable prospects for membership, but do not fulfil the conditions of either Provisional membership or Full Membership". These groups may be designated as Emerging Groups by the Executive Committee upon its sole discretion. Emerging Groups may be invited as observers to General Meetings.

The current list of Emerging Groups after the last meeting of the Executive Committee (London, 22–25 November 2008) is as follows:

• Burundi Unitarians
• Congo Unitarians
• Cuba (2 groups: the Unitarian Universalist Church and the Unitarian Universalist Religious Society)
• French Unitarians (Assemblée Fraternelle des Chrétiens Unitariens)
• Italian Unitarians
• Kenyan Unitarians
• Mexico (two groups: the Free Unitarian Congregation of Mexico, (LCUM) and the Unitarian Universalists of Mexico AC)

Associates

Organizations with beliefs and purposes closely akin to those of ICUU but which by nature of their constitution are not eligible for full membership or which do not wish to become full members now or in the foreseeable future, may become Associates of the ICUU. The application must be approved by the ICUU Council Meeting.

The current list of Associates is as follows:

• Ulster Christian Unitarian Fellowship
• Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office (UU-UNO)

The following organizations have been accepted by the ICUU Executive Committee but they have not yet been ratified by the Council Meeting:

• Unitarian Universalist Esperanto Network

Unitarian or Universalist groups which are in contact but with no formal link to the ICUU

• Peace and Harmony Center -- Ushuaia, Argentina
• Christian Unitarian Church of Argentina -- Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Bolivian Unitarians
• Costa Rican Unitarians (apparently inactive)
• Croatian Unitarian Universalists (UU Section of the Humanitas association)
• Eglise Unitarienne de France
• Berlin Unitarian Church (Germany)
• Free Unitarian Fellowship, Frankfurt-am-Main (Germany)
• Unitarian Universalists Hong Kong -- Hong Kong (China)
• Icelandic Unitarians within the National Church of Iceland
• Doojin Christian Church (Japan)
• UU Fellowship of Puerto Rico
• Togo Unitarians

See also

• Unitarianism
• Christian Universalism
• Unitarian Universalism
• United and uniting churches

External links

• International Council of Unitarians and Universalists