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James Reeb

James Reeb

James Reeb was a Unitarian minister from Boston, Massachusetts who died while marching in Selma, Alabama, on March 12 1965. He marched for civil rights for African-Americans and was beaten to death by white segregationists. Reeb, James

Unitarian

Historic Unitarianism believed in the oneness of God as opposed to traditional Christian belief in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Historic Unitarians believed in the moral authority, but not the deity, of Jesus. Unitarians are characterized by some as being identified through history as free thinkers and dissenters, evolving their beliefs in the direction of rationalism and humanism. Throughout the world, many Unitarian congregations and associations belong to the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists. In the United States many Unitarians are Unitarian Universalist or UU, reflecting an institutional consolidation between Unitarianism and Universalism. Today, most Unitarian Universalists do not consider themselves Christians, even if they share some beliefs quite similar to those of mainstream Christians. [http://www.uua.org/news/011205.html].

Forms of Unitarianism

There are four distinct schools of Unitarian thought:
- 'Biblical Unitarianism'—God is one being Who consists of one person—the Father. Jesus is Messiah and Son of God, but not God Himself; the Son may be a pre-existent being (Arianism), the result of the union between the divine Logos and the human being Jesus (Servetism), or Jesus after being filled with the Holy Spirit (Socinianism). Biblical Unitarianism remains as the only or main theology among Unitarians in Transylvania, Hungary, France, and several countries in Africa. Famous BUs include Michael Servetus, Faustus Socinus, and Isaac Newton.
- 'Rationalist Unitarianism'—God is one being Who consists of one person—the Father. Jesus is not the Son of God, but merely a "good and wise man" who taught others how to lead a better life. Rationalist Unitarianism emerged from the German Rationalism and the liberal theology of the 19th century. Its proponents took a highly intellectual approach to religion, rejecting most of the miraculous events in the Bible (including the virgin birth.) They embraced evolutionary concepts, asserted the "inherent goodness of man" and abandoned many principles of Christianity. James Martineau (1805–1900) was one of their most prominent members. Rationalist Unitarianism is distinguished from Deism (with which it nevertheless shares many features) by the fact that RUs believe in a personal deity Who interacts with His creation, while Deists see God as an impersonal force which remains aloof from creation. Other notable RUs include William Ellery Channing and Andrews Norton in theology and ministry, Joseph Priestley and Linus Pauling in science, Susan B. Anthony and Florence Nightingale in humanitarianism and social justice, and Frank Lloyd Wright in arts. Many Hungarian Unitarians embrace the principles of RU - in fact, the only Unitarian high school in the world (John Sigismund Unitarian Academy in Kolosvar, Romania) prides itself on its teachings of Rationalist Unitarianism.
- 'Unitarian Universalism'—There is no formal creed or set of beliefs required to join a Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregation, reflecting an institutional consolidation between Unitarianism and Universalism in 1961 in the United States. Today, many Unitarian Universalists no longer consider themselves to be Christians [http://www.uua.org/news/011205.html]. Of those who do, there is no requirement of unitarian or trinitarian belief other than what the individual concludes on their own, although the Trinity itself, being a dogma, is generally rejected as such by this anti-dogmatic denomination. Unitarian Universalists promote a set of Principles and Purposes rather than a doctrine as their bond of union. Notable Unitarian Universalists are Tim Berners-Lee, Pete Seeger, Kurt Vonnegut and the late Christopher Reeve.
- 'Evangelical Unitarians'—Since the 19th century, several Evangelical or Revivalist movements adopted a unitarian theology. Theologies among Evangelical Unitarians range from varieties of Socinianism (i.e. Jesus is a mortal man who did not exist before his conception and subsequent birth, conceived by the Holy Spirit, who later received immortality and divine nature), to Sabellianism (Jesus is God in the flesh, the manifestation of God, but not a Person of a Trinity). Evangelical Unitarians share their strict adherence to Sola Scriptura and their belief that Scripture is both inspired and inerrant. Christadelphians, the Churches of God, and Oneness Pentecostals are Evangelical Unitarians. Other modern non-trinitarian churches, such as the Philipino-based Iglesia ni Cristo, may also be included, although they reject the "unitarian" name to avoid confusion. Jehovah's Witnesses also have a unitarian theology with specific traits. The development of the various forms of Unitarianism is intermingled. Unitarian Universalism is the most recent form, while Biblical Unitarianism is the oldest. Modern Unitarians in Europe are primarily Biblical or Rational Unitarians, while Unitarian Universalism is the predominant form of Unitarianism in the United States and Canada. Most Evangelical Unitarians are found in the USA and Great Britain. The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (founded in 1995) includes among its members groups from all theological persuasions except Evangelical Unitarians.

History

Early origins

Unitarianism as a system of Christian thought and religious observance has its basis, as opposed to that of orthodox Trinitarianism, in the unipersonality of the Christian Godhead, i.e. in the idea that the Godhead exists in the person of the Father alone. Unitarians trace their history back to the Apostolic age, claim for their doctrine a prevalence during the ante-Nicene period, and by help of Arian communities and individual thinkers trace a continuity of their views to the present time. Whatever the accuracy of this lineage, the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century saw in many European countries an outbreak, more or less serious, of anti-Trinitarian opinion. Suppressed as a rule in individual cases, this type of doctrine ultimately became the badge of separate religious communities, in Poland (extinct), Hungary and, at a much later date, in England. Compare to Sabellianism. Along with the fundamental doctrine, certain characteristics have always marked those who profess unitarianism: a large degree of tolerance, a minimizing of essentials, a repugnance to formulated creed and an historical study of scripture. Martin Cellarius (1499-1564), a friend of Luther, usually appears as the first literary pioneer (1527) of the movement; the anti-Trinitarian position of Ludwig Haetzer did not become public until after his execution (1529) for anabaptism. Michael Servetus (1511?-1553) stimulated thought in this direction and heavily influenced other reformers both by his writings and by his death at the stake. In 1531 he had published his theological treatise De Trinitatis Erroribus (On the Errors About the Trinity), in which he rejected the Nicene dogma of the Trinity and proposed that the Son was the union of the divine Logos with the man Jesus, miraculously born from the Virgin Mary through the intervention of God's spirit. This was generally interpreted as a denial of the Trinitarian dogma (actually Servetus had defined the Trinity as a "three-headed Cerberus" and "three ghosts" which only led believers to confusion and error). Servetus expanded his ideas on the nature of God and Christ 20 years later in his major work, Christianismi Restitutio (The Restoration of Christianity), which caused his burning at the stake in Calvin's Geneva (and also in effigy by the Catholic Inquisition in France) in 1553. Nowadays most Unitarians see Servetus as their pioneer and first martyr. The Dialogues (1563) of Bernardino Ochino, while defending the Trinity, stated objections and difficulties with a force which captivated many. In his 27th Dialogue Ochino points to Hungary as a possible home of religious liberty. And in Poland and Hungary definitely anti-Trinitarian religious communities first formed and were tolerated.

Poland

Scattered expressions of anti-Trinitarian opinion appear here early. At the age of 80, Catherine, wife of Melchior Vogel or Weygel, was burned at Cracow (1539) for apostasy; whether her views embraced more than deism is not clear. The first synod of the Reformed Church took place in 1555; at the second (1556), Gregory Pauli (Grzegorz Paweł z Brzezin) and Peter Gonesius (Piotr z Goniądza) avowed anti-Trinitarian and Anabaptist views. The arrival of Blandrata in 1558 furnished the party with a leader. In 1565 the diet of Piotrkow excluded anti-Trinitarians from the existing synod; henceforward they held their own synods as the Minor Church. Known by various other names (of which Polish brethren and Arian were the most common), at no time in its history did this body adopt for itself any designation save "Christian". Originally Arian (though excluding any worship of Christ) and Anabaptist, the Minor Church was (by 1588) brought round to the views of Fausto Sozzini, who had settled in Poland in 1579 (see Socinianism). In 1602 James Sienynski (Jakub Sieniński) established at Raków a college and a printing-press, from which the Racovian Catechism was issued in 1605. In 1610 a Catholic reaction began, led by Jesuits. The establishment at Raków was suppressed in 1638, after two boys pelted a crucifix outside the town. When twenty years' public opinion widely considered them as Swedish collaborators during The Deluge, the Polish Diet gave anti-Trinitarians the option of conformity or exile. The Minor Church included many Polish magnates, but their adoption of the views of Sozzini, which precluded Christians from magisterial office, rendered them politically powerless. The execution of the decree, hastened by a year, took place in 1660. Some conformed; a large number made their way to the Netherlands (where the Remonstrants admitted them to membership on the basis of the Apostles' Creed), while others went to the German frontier. A contingent settled in Transylvania, not joining the Unitarian Church, but maintaining a distinct organization at Cluj until 1793. The refugees who reached Amsterdam published the Bibliotheca fratrum polonorum (1665–1669), embracing the works of Hans Krell (Crellius, Jan Crell), their leading theologian, Jonas Schlichting (Szlichtyng), their chief commentator, Sozzini and Johann Ludwig Wolzogen. The title-page of this collection, bearing the words quos Unitarios vocant, introduced this term to Western Europe.

Transylvania and Hungary

No distinct trace of anti-Trinitarian opinion precedes the appearance of Biandrata at the Transylvanian court in 1563. His influence was exerted on Ferenc Dávid (1510–1579), who was successively Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and anti-Trinitarian. In 1564 Dávid was elected by the Calvinists as "bishop of the Hungarian churches in Transylvania," and appointed court preacher to John Sigismund, prince of Transylvania. His discussion of the Trinity began (1565) with doubts of the personality of the Holy Ghost. His antagonist in public disputations was the Calvinist leader, Peter Juhász (Melius); his supporter was Blandrata. John Sigismund, adopting his court-preacher's views, issued (1568) an edict of religious liberty at the Torda Diet, which allowed David (retaining his existing title) to transfer his episcopate from the Calvinists to the anti-Trinitarians, Kolozsvár being evacuated by all but his followers. In 1571 John Sigismund was succeeded by Stephen Báthory, a Catholic, and trouble began. Under the influence of John Sommer, rector of the Kolozsvár gymnasium, David (about 1572) abandoned the worship of Christ. The attempted accommodation by Sozzini only precipitated matters; tried as an innovator, Dávid died in prison at Déva (1579). The cultus of Christ became an established usage of the Church; it is recognized in the 1837 edition of the official hymnal, but removed in later editions. On the other hand, in 1621 a new sect arose, the Sabbatarii, with strong Judaic tendencies; though excluded from toleration they maintained an existence till 1848. The term unitarius (said to have been introduced by Melius in discussions of 1569–1571) makes its first documentary appearance in a decree of the Lécsfalva Diet (1600); it was not officially adopted by the Church until 1638. Of the line of twenty-three bishops the most distinguished were György Enyedi (commonly known in English as George Enyedi) (1592–1597), whose Explicationes obtained European vogue, and Mihály Lombard de Szentabrahám (1737–1758), who rallied the forces of his Church, broken by persecution and deprivation of property, and gave them their existing constitution. His Summa universae theologiae secundum Unitarios (1787), Socinian with Arminian modifications, was accepted by Joseph II as the official manifesto of doctrine, and so remains, though no subscription to it has ever been required. The official title is the Hungarian Unitarian Church, with a membership as of 1911 of 60,000, most of them in Transylvania, especially among the Székely population, a few in Hungary; their bishop had a seat in the Hungarian parliament. The church's principal college was at Cluj (Kolozsvár), the seat of the consistory; others were at Turda (Torda) and at Székelykeresztúr. Until 1818 the continued existence of this body was unknown to English Unitarians; relations subsequently became intimate. After 1860 a succession of students finished their theological education at Manchester College, Oxford; others at the Unitarian Home Missionary College.

England

Between 1548 (John Assheton) and 1612 we find a thin line of anti-Trinitarians, either executed or saved by recantation. Those burned included George van Parris. (1551), Flemish surgeon; Patrick Pakingham (1555), fellmonger; Matthew Hamont (1579), ploughwright; John Lewes (1583); Peter Cole (1587), tanner; Francis Kett (1589), physician and author; Bartholomew Legate (1612), cloth-dealer, last of the Smithfield victims; and the twice-burned fanatic Edward Wightman (1612). In all these cases the anti-Trinitarian sentiments seem to have come from Holland; the last two executions followed the rash dedication to James I of the Latin version of the Racovian Catechism (1609). The vogue of Socinian views, which for a time affected men like Falkland and Chillingworth, led to the abortive fourth canon of 1640 against Socinian books. The ordinance of 1648 made denial of the Trinity a capital offence, but it remained a dead letter, Cromwell intervening in the cases of Paul Best (1590-1657) and John Biddle (1616-1662). In 1650 John Knowles was an Arian lay preacher at Chester. In 1652-1654 and 1658-1662 Biddle held a Socinian conventicle in London; in addition to his own writings he reprinted (1651) and translated (1652) the Racovian Catechism, and the Life of Socinus (1653). His disciple Thomas Firmin (1632-1697), mercer and philanthropist, and friend of Tillotson, was weaned to Sabellian views by Stephen Nye (1648-1719), a clergyman. Firmin promoted a remarkable series of controversial tracts (1690-1699). The term "Unitarian" first emerges in 1682, and appears in the title of the Brief History (1687). It was construed in a broad sense to cover all who, with whatever differences, held to the unipersonality of the Divine Being. Firmin had later a project of Unitarian societies "within the Church". The first preacher to describe himself as Unitarian was Thomas Emlyn (1663-1741) who gathered a London congregation in 1705. This was contrary to the Toleration Act of 1689, which excluded all who should preach or write against the Trinity. It is noteworthy that in England the Socinian controversy, initiated by Biddle, preceded the Arian controversy initiated by Samuel Clarke's Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity (1712). Arian or semi-Arian views had much vogue during the 18th century, both in the Church and in dissent. The free atmosphere of dissenting academies (colleges) favoured new ideas. The effect of the Salters' Hall conference (1719), called for by the alleged heresy of James Peirce (1673-1726) of Exeter, was to leave dissenting congregations to determine their own orthodoxy; the General Baptists had already (1700) condoned defections from the common doctrine. In 1689 Presbyterians and Independents had coalesced, agreeing to drop both names and to support a common fund. The union in the London fund was ruptured in 1693; in course of time differences in the administration of the two funds led to the attaching of the Presbyterian name to theological liberals, though many of the older Unitarian chapels were Independent foundations, and at least half of the Presbyterian chapels (of 1690-1710) came into the hands of Congregationalists. Leaders in the advocacy of a purely humanitarian christology came largely from the Independents, such as Nathaniel Lardner (1684-1768), Caleb Fleming (1698-1779), Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) and Thomas Bebham (1750-1829). The formation of a distinct Unitarian denomination dates from the secession (1773) of Theophilus Lindsey (1723- 1808) from the Anglican Church, on the failure of the Feathers petition to parliament (1772) for relief from subscription. Lindsey's secession had been preceded in Ireland by that of William Robertson, D. D. (1705 - 1783), who has been called "the father of Unitarian nonconformity". It was followed by other clerical secessions, mostly of men who left the ministry, and Lindsey's hope of a Unitarian movement from the Anglican Church was disappointed. By degrees his type of theology superseded Arianism in a considerable number of dissenting congregations. The Toleration Act was amended (1779) by substituting belief in Scripture for belief in the Anglican (doctrinal) articles. In 1813 the penal acts against deniers of the Trinity were repealed. In 1825 the British and Foreign Unitarian Association was formed as an amalgamation of three older societies, for literature (1791), mission work (1806) and civil rights (1818). Attacks were made on properties held by Unitarians, but created prior to 1813. The Wolverhampton Chapel case began in 1817, the more important Hewley Fund case in 1830; both were decided against the Unitarians in 1842. Appeal to parliament resulted in the Dissenters' Chapels Act (1844), which secured that, so far as trusts did not specify doctrines, twenty-five years tenure legitimated existing usage. The drier Priestley-Belsham type of Unitarianism, bound up with a determinist philosophy, was gradually modified by the influence of Channing (see below), whose works were reprinted in numerous editions and owed a wide circulation to the efforts of Robert Spears (1825 - 1899). Another American influence, potent in reducing the rigid though limited supernaturalism of Belsham and his successors, was that of Theodore Parker (1810 - 1860). At home the teaching of James Martineau (1805-1900), resisted at first, was at length powerfully felt, seconded as it was by the influence of John James Tayler (1797 - 1869) and of John Hamilton Thom (1808 - 1894). English Unitarianism produced some remarkable scholars, e.g. John Kenrick (1788 - 1877), James Yates (1789 - 1871), Samuel Sharpe (1799 - 1881), but few very popular preachers, though George Harris (1794 -1859) forms an exception. For the education of its ministry it supported Manchester College at Oxford (which deduced its ancestry from the academy of Richard Frankland, begun 1670), the Unitarian Home Missionary College (founded in Manchester in 1854 by John Relly Beard, D.D., and William Gaskell), and the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen. It also produced the notable Chamberlain family of politicians: Joseph Chamberlain, Austen Chamberlain, and Neville Chamberlain, and the Courtauld industrialist dynasty. English Unitarian periodical literature begins with Priestley's Theological Repository (1769 - 1788), and includes the Monthly Repository (1806 - 1838), The Christian Reformer (1834 - 1863), the Prospective Review (1845 - 1854), the National Review (1855 - 1864), the Theological Review (1864 - 1879), and The Hibbert Journal, one of the enterprises of the Hibbert Trust, founded by Robert Hibbert (1770 - 1849) and originally designated the Anti-Trinitarian Fund. This came into operation in 1853, awarded scholarships and fellowships, supported an annual lectureship (1878 - 1894), and maintained (from 1894) a chair of ecclesiastical history at Manchester College.

Scotland

Much has been made of the execution (1697) at Edinburgh of the student Thomas Aikenhead, convicted of blaspheming the Trinity. The works of John Taylor, D.D. (1694 - 1761) on original sin and atonement had much influence in the east of Scotland, as we learn from Robert Burns; and such men as William Dalrymple, D.D. (1723 - 1814) and William M'Gill, D.D. (1732 - 1807), along with other "moderates", were under suspicion of similar heresies. Overt Unitarianism has never had much vogue in Scotland. The only congregation of old foundation is at Edinburgh, founded in 1776 by a secession from one of the "fellowship societies" formed by James Fraser, of Brea (1639 - 1699). The mission enterprises of Richard Wright (1764 - 1836) and George Harris (1794 - 1859) produced results of no great permanence. The Scottish Unitarian Association was founded in 1813, mainly by Thomas Southwood Smith, M.D., the sanitary reformer. The McQuaker Trust was founded (1889) for propagandist purposes.

Ireland

Controversy respecting the Trinity was excited in Ireland by the prosecution at Dublin (1703) of Thomas Emlyn (see above), resulting in fine and imprisonment, for rejecting the deity of Christ. In 1705 the Belfast Society was founded for theological discussion by Presbyterian ministers in the north, with the result of creating a body of opinion adverse to subscription to the Westminster standards. Toleration of dissent, withheld in Ireland till 1719, was then granted without the requirement of any doctrinal subscription. Next year a movement against subscription was begun in the General Synod of Ulster, culminating (1725) in the placing of the advocates of non-subscription, headed by John Abernethy, D.D., of Antrim into a presbytery by themselves. This Antrim presbytery was excluded (1726) from jurisdiction, though not from communion. During the next hundred years its members exercised great influence on their brethren of the synod; but the counterinfluence of the mission of the Scottish Seceders (from 1742) produced a reaction. The Antrim Presbytery gradually became Arian; the same type of theology affected more or less the Southern Association, known since 1806 as the Synod of Munster. From 1783 ten of the fourteen presbyteries in the General Synod had made subscription optional; the synod's code of 1824 left "soundness in the faith" to be ascertained by subscription or by examination. Against this compromise Henry Cooke, D.D. (1788–1868), directed all his powers, and was ultimately (1829) successful in defeating his Arian opponent, Henry Montgomery, LL.D. (1788–1865). Montgomery led a secession which formed (1830) the Remonstrant Synod, comprising three presbyteries. In 1910 the Antrim Presbytery, Remonstrant Synod and Synod of Munster united as the General Synod of the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland, with 38 congregations and some mission stations. Till 1889 they maintained two theological chairs in Belfast, where John Scott Porter (1801–1880) pioneered biblical criticism; they afterwards sent their students to England for their theological education, though in certain respects their views and practices remained more conservative than those of their English brethren. Irish Unitarian periodical literature began in 1832 with the Bible Christian, followed by the Irish Unitarian Magazine, the Christian Unitarian, the Disciple and the Non-subscribing Presbyterian. See generally R. Wallace's Antitrinitarian Biog. (1850); G. BonetMaury's Early Sources of Eng. Unit. Christianity, trans. E. P. Hall (1884); A. Gordon's Heads of Eng. Unit. Hist. (1895).

United States

Unitarianism in the United States followed essentially the same development as in England, and passed through the stages of Arminianism, Arianism, anti-tritheism, to rationalism and a modernism based on a large-minded acceptance of the results of the comparative study of all religions. In the early 18th century Arminianism presented itself in New England, and sporadically elsewhere. This tendency was largely accelerated by the reaction from the excesses of the "Great Awakening" under Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. Before the War of Independence Arianism showed itself in individual instances, and French influences were widespread in the direction of deism, though they were not organized into any definite utterance by religious bodies. As early as the middle of the 18th century Harvard College represented the most advanced thought of the time, and a score or more of clergymen in New England preached what was essentially Unitarianism. The most prominent of these men was Jonathan Mayhew (1720–1766), pastor of the West Church in Boston, Massachusetts from 1747 to 1766. He preached the strict unity of God, the subordinate nature of Christ, and salvation by character. Charles Chauncy (1705–1787), pastor of the First Church from 1727 until his death, the chief opponent of Edwards in the great revival, was both a Unitarian and a Universalist. Other Unitarians included Ebenezer Gay (1698–1787) of Hingham, Samuel West (1730–1807) of New Bedford, Thomas Barnard (1748–1814) of Newbury, John Prince (1751–1836) and William Bentley (1758–1819) of Salem, Aaron Bancroft (1755–1836) of Worcester, and several others. The first official acceptance of the Unitarian faith on the part of a congregation was by King's Chapel in Boston, which settled James Freeman (1759-1853) in 1782, and revised the Prayer Book into a mild Unitarian liturgy in 1785. The Rev. William Hazlitt (father of the essayist and critic), visiting the United States in 1783–1785, published the fact that there were Unitarians in Philadelphia, Boston, Charleston, Pittsburgh, Hallowell, on Cape Cod, and elsewhere. Unitarian congregations were organized at Portland and Saco in 1792 by Thomas Oxnard; in 1800 the First Church in Plymouth accepted the more liberal faith. Joseph Priestley immigrated to the United States in 1794, and organized a Unitarian Church at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, the same year and one at Philadelphia in 1796. His writings had a considerable influence. Thus from 1725 to 1825 a more tolerant and rational belief was developing in New England, and to some extent elsewhere. The first distinctive manifestation of the change was the inauguration of Henry Ware (1764–1845) as professor of divinity at Harvard College, in 1805. In the same year appeared Unitarian books by John Sherman (1772–1828) and Hosea Ballou (1771–1852), and another in 1810 by Noah Worcester (1758–1837). At the opening of the 19th century, with one exception, all the churches of Boston were occupied by Unitarian preachers, and various periodicals and organizations expressed their opinions. Churches were established in New York, Baltimore, Washington, Charleston, and elsewhere during this period. In 1800 Joseph Stevens Buckminster became minister of the Brattle Street Church in Boston, where his brilliant sermons, literary activities, and academic attention to the German "New Criticism" helped shape the subsequent growth of Unitarianism in New England. Buckminster's close associate William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) was settled over the Federal Street Congregational Church, Boston, 1803; and in a few years he became the leader of the Unitarian movement. At first mystical rather than rationalistic in his theology, he took part with the "Catholic Christians", as they called themselves, who aimed at bringing Christianity into harmony with the progressive spirit of the time. His essays on The System of Exclusion and Denunciation in Religion (1815), and Objections to Unitarian Christianity Considered (1819), made him a defender of Unitarianism. His sermon on "Unitarian Christianity", preached at Baltimore in 1819, at the ordination of Jared Sparks, and that at New York in 1821, on "Unitarian Christianity most favourable to Piety" made him its interpreter. The result was a growing division in the Congregational churches, which was emphasized in 1825 by the formation of the American Unitarian Association at Boston. It was organized "to diffuse the knowledge and promote the interests of pure Christianity" and it published tracts and books, supported poor churches, sent out missionaries into every part of the country, and established new churches in nearly all the states. Essentially non-sectarian, with little missionary zeal, the Unitarian movement has grown slowly; and its influence has chiefly operated through general culture and the literature of the country. Many of its clergymen have been trained in other denominations; but the Harvard Divinity School was distinctly Unitarian from its formation, in 1816, to 1870, when it became an unsectarian department of the university. The Meadville (Pa.) Theological School was founded in 1844; and the Unitarian Theological School at Berkeley, California, in 1904. Unitarian thought in the United States has passed through three periods. The first, from 1800 to 1835, was formative, mainly influenced by English philosophy, semi-supernatural, imperfectly rationalistic, devoted to philanthropy and practical Christianity. Dr. Channing was its distinguished exponent. The second (see Transcendentalism), from 1835 to 1885, profoundly influenced by German idealism, was increasingly rationalistic, though its theology was largely flavoured by mysticism. In 1865 the National Unitarian Conference was organized, and adopted a distinctly Christian platform, affirming that its members were "disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ". The more rationalistic minority thereupon formed the Free Religious Association, "to encourage the scientific study of theology and to increase fellowship in the spirit." The Western Unitarian Association accepted the same position, and based its "fellowship on no dogmatic tests, but affirmed a desire "to establish truth, righteousness and love in the world." This period of controversy and of vigorous theological development practically came to an end soon after 1885; and its cessation was assured by the action of the national conference at Saratoga in 1894, when it was affirmed by a nearly unanimous vote that: "These churches accept the religion of Jesus, holding, in accordance with his teaching, that practical religion is summed up in love to God and love to man. The conference recognizes the fact that its constituency is Congregational in tradition and polity. Therefore it declares that nothing in this constitution is to be construed as an authoritative test; and we cordially invite to our working fellowship any who, while differing from us in belief, are in general sympathy with our spirit and our practical aims." The leaders of this period were Ralph Waldo Emerson, with his idealism, and Theodore Parker, with his acceptance of Christianity as absolute religion. The third period, beginning about 1885, has been one of rationalism, recognition of universal religion, large acceptance of the scientific method and ideas and an ethical attempt to realize what was perceived as to be the higher affirmations of Christianity. It has been marked by a general harmony and unity, by steady growth in the number of churches and by a widening fellowship with all other similarly minded movements. This phase was shown in the organization of The International Council of Unitarian and other Liberal Religious Thinkers and Workers at Boston on 25 May 1900, "to open communication with those in all lands who are striving to unite pure religion and perfect liberty, and to increase fellowship and co-operation among them." This council has held biennial sessions in London, Amsterdam, Geneva and Boston. During the period after 1885 the influence of Emerson became predominant, modified by the more scientific preaching of Minot J. Savage, who found his guides in Darwin and Spencer. Beyond its own borders the body obtained recognition through the public work of such men as Henry Whitney Bellows and Edward Everett Hale, the remarkable influence of James Freeman Clarke and the popular power of Robert Collyer. The number of Unitarian churches in the United States in 1909 was 461, with 541 ministers. The church membership then, really nominal, may be estimated at 100,000. The periodicals were The Christian Register, weekly, Boston; Unity, weekly, Chicago; The Unitarian, monthly, New York; Old and New, monthly, Des Moines; Pacific Unitarian, San Francisco. In 1961 the American Unitarian Association merged with the Universalist Church of America, forming the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA). The American Unitarian Conference (AUC) was founded in 2000. Its mission is "renewal of the historic Unitarian faith". It promotes a set of God-centered religious principles, but like Unitarian Universalism, it does not impose a creed on its members. In 2004, Red River Unitarian Universalist Church in Denison, Texas was briefly denied its tax-exempt status by the state comptroller, allegedly because the church "does not have one system of belief". This is likely the first time in U.S. history that a Unitarian Universalist church has been denied this status due to beliefs. The status was later restored.

Germany

There are currently three unaffiliated groups of Unitarians in Germany: :
- The [http://www.unitarier.net/ Unitarische Freie Religionsgemeinde] (Unitarian Free Religious Community, then called German Catholics) was founded in 1845 in Frankfurt am Main. :
- The Religionsgemeinschaft Freier Protestanten ("Religious Community of Free Protestants") was formed in 1876 in Germany's Rheinhessen region. in 1911 their newspaper took on the subtitle "deutsch-unitarische Blätter" ("German Unitarian Gazette") as leader Rudolf Walbaum wanted to connect to American Unitarians. In 1950 the Free Protestants changed their name to Deutsche Unitarier Religionsgemeinschaft ("German Unitarian Religious Community"). It is the only Unitarian group in Germany to belong to the ICUU :
- The Unitarian Church in Berlin was founded by Hansgeorg Remus in 1949.

Denmark

In 1900 Det fri Kirkesamfund (literally, The Free Congregation) was founded by a group of liberal Christians in Copenhagen. Since 1908, the church is outside the Folkekirke (the Danish Lutheran state church). In Aarhus, another Unitarian congregation was founded at this time; it has since closed.

Spain

Although European Unitarianism was actually inspired by a Spaniard, Michael Servetus, the Spanish Inquisition and the religious monopoly of the Catholic Church blocked for centuries any possibility of developing a Spanish Unitarian Church. This situation began to change in the 19th century. A liberal Spanish writer and former priest, [http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/josemariablancowhite.html José María Blanco-White], became a Unitarian during his exile in England and remained so until the end of his life (1841). At the end of the century, a group of liberal Spanish intellectuals and reformers, the Krausistas (who received this name for being followers of German idealist philosopher Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, were admirers of American Unitarian leaders William Ellery Channing and Theodore Parker, and wished that natural religion and religious rationalism were more present in Spain, although they did not create any liberal church to push that process forward. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) put an end to any expectations of change and liberal developments in Spain for several decades. After the death of dictator Francisco Franco and the approval of a democratic Constitution in 1978, religious freedom was finally established in Spain (although still with many restrictions in actual practice). In 2000, the [http://www.suue.org Sociedad Unitaria Universalista de España] (Unitarian Universalist Society of Spain) was founded in Barcelona and in 2001 it became a member of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU).

Impact and opposition

The adoption of unitarian belief almost always entails severance of identification with Christianity as it is understood by the Nicene-Chalcedonian churches (Orthodox, Catholic, and most Protestants). Unitarianism is outside of the fellowship of these traditions, subscribing to a very different idea of what Christianity really is. It has a tradition of its own, parallel to trinitarianism. Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants of various stripes insist on trinitarian belief as an essential of Christianity, and basic to a group's continuity of identity with the historical Christian faith. Occasionally, especially in Protestant history, traditionally trinitarian groups occasionally grow friendly to or incorporate unitarianism. Friendliness toward unitarianism has sometimes gone hand-in-hand with anti-Catholicism. In some cases non-trinitarian or unitarian belief has been adopted by some, and tolerated in Christian churches as a "non-essential". This was the case in the English Presbyterian Church, and in the Congregational Church in New England late in the 18th century. The Restoration Movement also attempted to forge a compatible relation between trinitarians and unitarians, as did the Seventh Day Baptists and various Adventists. The unitarian tendency in these last-mentioned groups is probably due to the in-built skepticism about Catholic history as a reliable guide to the Christian tradition of interpretation. In other cases, this openness to unitarianism within traditionally trinitarian churches has been inspired by a very broad ecumenical motive. Modern liberal Protestant denominations are often accused by trinitarians within their ranks, and critics outside, of being indifferent to the doctrine, and therefore self-isolated from their respective trinitarian pasts and heritage. In some cases, it is charged that these trinitarian denominations are no longer Christian, because of their toleration of unitarian belief among their teachers, and in their seminaries. It must be noted that the overwhelming opinion of mainstream Christians throughout history has been that a belief in the trinity as being 'Father, Son and Holy Spirit', all in one, is essential to the practising of the religion.

References

- Joseph Henry Allen, Our Liberal Movement in Theology (Boston, 1882)
- Joseph Henry Allen, Sequel to our Liberal Movement (Boston, 1897)
- John White Chadwick, Old and New Unitarian Belief (Boston, 1894)
- William Ellery Channing (1903)
- Unitarianism: its Origin and history, a course of Sixteen Lectures (Boston, 1895)
- George Willis Cooke, Unitarianism in America: a History of its Origin and Development (Boston, 1902)
- Unitarian Year Book (Boston).

External links

- [http://online.sksm.edu/ouh/book.html Our Unitarian Heritage] online version of 1925 history of American Unitarianism
- [http://www.unitarianchristianity.info Unitarian Christianity: A Very Short Introduction]
- [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnitarianChristians/ Unitarian Christians Yahoo Group]
- [http://www.uua.org Unitarian Universalist Association] Category:Unitarian Universalism Category:Unitarianism Category:Antitrinitarianism

Boston, Massachusetts

:For other uses of Boston, see Boston (disambiguation) Boston is the capital and largest city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. It is the unofficial capital of the region known as New England, and one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most culturally significant large cities in the United States. Its economy is based on education, health care, finance, and technology. Boston has many nicknames. The City on a Hill came from the original Massachusetts Bay Colony's governor John Winthrop's goal to create the biblical "City on a Hill." It also refers to Boston's original three hills. Beantown refers to early Bostonian merchants' habit for making baked beans with imported molasses. The Hub is a shortened form of writer Oliver Wendell Holmes's phrase The Hub of the Solar System. William Tudor, co-founder of the North American Review, christened the city The Athens of America for its great cultural and intellectual influence. Boston is sometimes called Puritan City because its founders were Puritans. The city is also sometimes called The Cradle of Liberty for its role in instigating the American Revolution. Citizens of Boston are called Bostonians. The city lies at the center of the Boston CMSA (Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area), the seventh largest in the United States. The area encompasses parts of the states of New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The city also lies at the center of Greater Boston, which also includes the cities of Cambridge, Brookline, Quincy, Newton, and many suburban communities farther from Boston.

History

Newton Boston was founded on September 17, 1630, on a peninsula called Shawmut by its original Native American inhabitants. The peninsula was connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus, and surrounded by the waters of Massachusetts Bay and the marshes at the mouth of the Charles River. Boston's early European settlers first called the area Trimountain. They later renamed the town for Boston, England, in Lincolnshire, from which several prominent colonists emigrated. A majority of Boston's early citizens were Puritans. Massachusetts Bay Colony's original governor, John Winthrop, gave a famous sermon entitled "a City upon a Hill," which captured the idea that Boston had a special covenant with God. Puritan ethics molded an extremely stable and well-structured society in Boston. For example, shortly after Boston's settlement, Puritans founded America's first school, Boston Latin School (1635), and America's first college, Harvard College (1636). Hard work, moral uprightness, and an emphasis on education remain part of Boston's culture. During the early 1770s, British attempts to exert control on the thirteen colonies, primarily via taxation, prompted Bostonians to initiate the American Revolution. The Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and several early battles occurred in or near the city, including the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. During this period, Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride. After the Revolution, Boston became one of the world's wealthiest international trading ports — major exports were rum, fish, salt, and tobacco. During this era, descendants of old Boston families became regarded, in the American popular mind, as the nation's social and cultural elites; they were later dubbed the Boston Brahmins. In 1822, Boston was chartered as a city. By the mid-1800s, the city's industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance. Until the early 1900s, Boston remained one of the nation's largest manufacturing centers, and was notable for its garment production, leather goods, and machinery industries. From the mid-to-late-nineteenth century, Boston flourished culturally — it became renowned for its rarefied literary culture and lavish artistic patronage. It also became a center of the abolitionist movement. In the 1820s, Boston's ethnic composition began to change dramatically; groups like the Irish and Italians moved into the city and brought with them Roman Catholicism. Currently, Catholics make up Boston's largest religious community. The Irish played a major role in Boston politics — prominent figures include the Kennedys and John F. Fitzgerald. The city increased its physical size by land reclamation, filling in marshes and mud flats on each side of the isthmus to create the Back Bay and South End neighborhoods, and by filling gaps between wharves along the waterfront. Boston also annexed nearby communities of East Boston, Dorchester and Charlestown. Charlestown From the late 1800s until the mid-1900s, Boston earned a reputation for intolerance, discipline, and prudishness. The phrase "Banned in Boston" was used to describe a literary work, motion picture, or play prohibited from distribution or exhibition. During this time, Boston city officials took it upon themselves to "ban" anything that they found to be salacious, immoral, or offensive. Boston's infamous "vice squad" found favor amongst the ruling-class Brahmins, and working-class Catholics. Consequently, Boston became perceived as less sophisticated than many cities without strict censorship practices. The phrase "banned in Boston" became associated in the popular mind with something sexy and lurid. By the early and mid-20th century, the city was in decline as factories became old and obsolete, and businesses moved out of the region for cheaper labor elsewhere. Boston responded by initiating various urban renewal projects, including the demolition of the old West End neighborhood and the construction of Government Center. In the 1970s, Boston boomed after thirty years of economic downturn, becoming a leader in the mutual fund industry. Boston already had a reputation for excellent healthcare services. Hospitals such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Brigham and Women's Hospital led the nation in medical innovation and patient care. Universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Boston University attracted many students to the Boston area. Nevertheless, the city experienced conflict starting in 1974 over desegregation busing, which resulted in unrest and violence around public schools throughout the mid-1970s. The unrest served to highlight racial tensions in the city. Over the past several decades, Boston has experienced a dramatic loss of regional institutions and traditions, which once gave it a very distinct social character. Boston has begun to resemble other parts of the continuous string of Northeast seaboard cities dubbed the BosWash megalopolis. The city faces gentrification issues and exorbitant living costs. Conversely, Boston's streets currently bustle with a vitality not seen since the 1920s; crime and poverty remain very low for an American city. Once again Boston has become a hub of intellectual, technological, and political ideas.

Geography and climate

Geography

1920s.]] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 232.1 km² (89.6 mi²). 125.4 km² (48.4 mi²) of it is land and 106.7 km² (41.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 46.0% water. With an elevation of 19 feet (5.8 m) above sea level at Logan International Airport, Boston is bordered by the cities of Winthrop, Revere, Chelsea, Everett, Somerville, Cambridge, Watertown, Newton, Brookline, Needham, Dedham, Canton, Milton, and Quincy—often known as, and considered a part of, Greater Boston. Much of the Back Bay and South End are built on reclaimed land—two and a half of Boston's three original hills were used as a source of material for landfill. Only Beacon Hill, the smallest of the three original hills, remains partially intact. The downtown area and immediate surroundings consist mostly of low-rise brick or stone buildings, with many older buildings in the Federal style. Several of these buildings mix in with modern high-rises, notably in the Financial District, Government Center, Back Bay, and the South Boston waterfront. To this day, the South End Historical District remains the nation's largest surviving contiguous Victorian-era neighborhood. Smaller commercial areas are interspersed amongst single-family homes and wooden/brick multifamily row houses. The Charles River separates Boston proper from Cambridge, Watertown, and the neighborhood of Charlestown. To the east lies Boston Harbor and the Boston Harbor Islands, many of which are part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, operated by the National Park Service. The Neponset River forms the boundary between Boston's southern neighborhoods and the cities of Quincy and Milton. The Mystic River separates the neighborhoods of East Boston and Charlestown from Chelsea and Everett.

Climate

Boston experiences a continental climate that is very common in New England. The weather in Boston, like much of New England, changes rapidly. It is not uncommon for the city to experience temperature swings of 54 °F (30 °C) or more over the course of several days. The summers are typically warm and humid, while the winters are cold and windy. It has been known to snow in October and get quite warm in February. The hottest month is August, with an average high of 80 °F (27 °C) and a low of 64 °F (18 °C). The coldest month is January, with an average high of 36 °F (2.2 °C) and a low of 22 °F (−5.6 °C). Brief periods exceeding 100 °F in summer and below 0 °F in winter are not uncommon. The city averages 42 in (1,100 mm) of rainfall a year. It also coincidentally averages 42 in (110 cm) of snowfall a year, though this increases dramatically as one goes inland away from the city

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 589,141 people, 239,528 households, and 115,212 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,697/km² (12,166/mi²). There were 251,935 housing units at an average density of 2,009/km² (5,203/mi²). The Irish are the largest ethnic group in the city of Boston, and Boston is commonly considered the capital of "Irish America". The racial makeup of the city was 54.48% White, 25.33% Black or African American, 0.40% Native American, 7.52% Asian American, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 7.83% from other races, and 4.39% from two or more races. 14.44% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. These figures became less reliable because of the large, partly undocumented Brazilian population, estimated by some studies to approach 250,000 in Massachusetts. Census data did not account for this significant segment of the community because of confusing terminology, as Brazilians speak Portuguese and often do not consider themselves specifically Hispanic, Latino, White or African American. Portuguese There were 239,528 households out of which 22.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.4% were married couples living together, 16.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 51.9% were non-families. 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 3.17. In the city the population was spread out with 19.8% under the age of 18, 16.2% from 18 to 24, 35.8% from 25 to 44, 17.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $39,629, and the median income for a family was $44,151. Males had a median income of $37,435 versus $32,421 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,353. 19.5% of the population and 15.3% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 25.6% of those under the age of 18 and 18.2% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Law and government

Boston has a "strong mayor" system in which the mayor is vested with extensive executive powers. The mayor is elected to a four-year term by plurality voting. The city council is elected every two years. There are nine wards or neighborhood seats, each elected by the residents of that ward through plurality voting, and four at-large seats. Each voter casts up to four votes for at-large councilors, no more than one vote per candidate. The candidates with the four highest vote totals are elected. The president of the city council is elected by the councilors from within themselves. The current city council president is Michael F. Flaherty. The school committee is appointed by the mayor, as are city department heads. On the federal level, the city is in the 8th and 9th Congressional districts. In addition to city government, numerous state authorities and commissions play a role in the life of Bostonians, including the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), which operates Logan International Airport. Since the city is the capital of Massachusetts, Boston plays a major role in state politics. Boston is also the United States federal government center for New England. Properties include the John F. Kennedy Federal Office Building and the Thomas P. O'Neil Federal Building. The city also serves as the home of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit as well as the headquarters of the 1st District of the Federal Reserve. Boston's low crime rate in the last years of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st has been credited to its police department's collaboration with neighborhood groups and church parishes to prevent youths from joining gangs, as well as heavy involvement from the District Attorney's office. The current DA for Suffolk County and Boston, Daniel F. Conley, spent nearly ten years working at reducing gang violence in the city. This helped lead in part to what has been touted as the "Boston Miracle," murders in the city dropped from 152 in 1990 (for a murder rate of 26.5 per 100,000 people) to just 31—not one of them a juvenile—in 1999 (for a murder rate of 5.26 per 100,000). In more recent years, however, the annual murder count has fluctuated by as much as 50% compared to the year before, with 60 murders in 2002, followed by just 39 in 2003 and 64 in 2004. Though the figures are nowhere near the high-water mark set in 1990, the aberrations in the murder rate have been unsettling for many Bostonians and have prompted discussion over whether the Boston Police Department should reevaluate its approach to fighting crime. Boston has eight sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International (SCI): Barcelona (Spain), Hangzhou (People's Republic of China), Kyoto (Japan), Melbourne (Australia), Padua (Italy), Strasbourg (France), Sekondi-Takoradi (Ghana), and Taipei (Taiwan). The city has thrice been a recipient of the All-America City Award, the oldest and most respected civic award in the U.S.

Economy

Boston's colleges and universities have a major impact on the city and region's economy. Not only are they major employers, but they also attract high-tech industries to the city and surrounding region, including computer hardware and software companies as well as biotechnology companies like Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Biogen Idec. Other important industries include financial services, especially mutual funds and insurance. Boston-based Fidelity Investments helped popularize the mutual fund in the 1980s, and has made Boston one of the top financial cities in the United States. The city is also the regional headquarters of major banks such as Bank of America and Sovereign Bank, and a center for venture capital. Boston is also a printing and publishing center. Textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin is headquartered within the city. The city is also a major convention destination with four major convention centers: the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay, the Bayside Expo Center in Dorchester, and the World Trade Center Boston and Boston Convention & Exhibition Center on the South Boston waterfront. Because of its status as a state capital and the regional home of federal agencies, law and government is another major component of the city's economy. Major companies headquartered within the city include Gillette, owned by Proctor & Gamble, and Teradyne, one of the world's leading manufacturers of semiconductors and other electronic equipment. New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. has its headquarters in the city. Other major companies are located outside the city, especially along Route 128. The Port of Boston is the largest and busiest seaport in Massachusetts. It is also a major seaport along the United States east coast as well as a major fishing port. :See also: Major companies in Greater Boston
Education
Major companies in Greater Boston Considered by ePodunk to be America's greatest college town amongst cities with 300,000 people or more, Boston's reputation as the Athens of America derives in large part from the teaching and research activities of over 100 colleges and universities located in its metropolitan area. Boston College was the first institution of higher education established in the city. It was originally located in the South End before moving to Chestnut Hill, on the city's western edge. Its campus, initially envisioned as an Oxford in America, subsequently expanded so that almost half of it is now within the city's political boundaries. Boston University, now the city's second largest employer and one of the largest private universities in the country, was originally established in Vermont before moving to Brookline and later to its present campus in Boston's Back Bay in the 1950s. Harvard University, the nation's oldest and perhaps the world's most prestigious university, is based across the Charles River in Cambridge; however, most of its current land holdings lie in Boston. These holdings include the Arnold Arboretum, and its business and medical schools. Harvard has also announced plans to expand its main campus across the Charles River into Boston's Allston neighborhood. Emerson College, a highly regarded arts university, maintains a campus near the Theatre District at the southwest corner of Boston Common. Northeastern University, a large private university with a distinctive work/study program, maintains a campus in the Fenway district. Suffolk University, a small private university known for its law school, maintains a campus on Beacon Hill. Boston Public Schools, the oldest public school system in the U.S., enrolls 58,600 students from kindergarten to grade 12. The system operates 145 schools, which includes Boston Latin School (the oldest public school, established in 1635), English High (the oldest public high school, established 1821), and Mather (the oldest public elementary school, established in 1639). The city also has private, parochial, and charter schools. 3000 students of racial minorities attend participating suburban schools through the Metropolitan Educational Opportunity Council, or METCO.
Culture
charter school Boston shares many cultural roots with greater New England, including a dialect of the Eastern New England accent popularly known as Boston English, and a regional cuisine with a large emphasis on seafood and dairy products. Irish Americans are a major influence on Boston's politics and religious institutions and consequently on the rest of Massachusetts. Italian, Chinese, and Hispanic groups also have major contributions to Boston's cultural composition. Boston has its own collection of neologisms known as Boston slang. Many consider Boston a highly cultured city, perhaps as a result of its intellectual reputation. Much of Boston's culture originates at its universities. The city also has a number of ornate theatres, including the Cutler Majestic Theatre and The Wang Center for the Performing Arts. Renowned performing arts groups include the Boston Ballet, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Boston Lyric Opera Company, and the Handel and Haydn Society (the oldest choral company in the United States). There are a number of major annual events such as First Night, which occurs during New Year's Eve, and several events during the Fourth of July. These events include the weeklong Harborfest festivities and a Boston Pops concert accompanied by fireworks on the banks of the Charles River. In contrast to what might be considered the more "refined" aspects of Boston's culture, the city is also one of the birthplaces of the hardcore punk genre of music. Boston musicians have contributed greatly to the hardcore scene over the years (see also Boston hardcore). Boston also had one of the leading local ska scenes in the ska revival of the mid-1990s with bands like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Allstonians, and Skavoovie and the Epitones.
Media
The Boston Globe, owned by the New York Times Company, and The Boston Herald are Boston's two major daily newspapers. The city is also served by a number of smaller publications such as The Boston Phoenix and The Improper Bostonian. Boston has the largest broadcasting market in New England, with the Boston radio market being the eleventh largest in the United States. Several major AM stations include talk radio WRKO 680 AM, sports/talk station WEEI 850 AM, and news radio WBZ 1030 AM. A variety of FM radio formats serve the area as well as NPR stations WBUR and WGBH. University radio stations include WZBC (Boston College), WERS (Emerson), and WUMB (UMass Boston). The Boston television DMA, which also includes Manchester, New Hampshire, is the fifth largest in the United States. The city is served by stations representing every major American network including WBZ 4 (CBS), WCVB 5 (ABC), WHDH 7 (NBC), WFXT 25 (FOX), WSBK 38 (UPN), and WLVI 56 (WB). Boston is also home to PBS station WGBH 2, which also operates WGBX 44. WGBH is a major producer of PBS programs. Most Boston television stations have their transmitters in nearby Needham and Newton.
Sites of interest
Newton Because of the city's prominent role in the American Revolution, several historic sites relating to that period are preserved as part of the Boston National Historical Park. Many are found along the Freedom Trail, which is marked by a red line or bricks embedded in the ground. Also along the Freedom Trail is Boston Common, with the Boston Public Garden being adjacent. Boston Common is part of the Emerald Necklace, a string of parks designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. In the winter, the Frog Pond at Boston Common doubles as a popular ice-skating rink. Another major park is the Esplanade located along the banks of the Charles River. A major recreation site for many Bostonians, it is also the site of the Hatch Shell. Other parks are scattered throughout the city, with the major parks located near Castle Island, Charlestown, the Dorchester shoreline, and East Boston. The Back Bay district includes many prominent landmarks such as the Christian Science Center, Boston Public Library, Copley Square, and Newbury Street. Back Bay is also the home of two of New England's tallest buildings: the John Hancock Tower and the Prudential Center. Near the John Hancock Tower is the old John Hancock Building with its prominent weather forecast beacon. Other notable districts/neighborhoods include Beacon Hill, Charlestown, Chinatown, Downtown Crossing, North End, and South Boston. Boston is home to several world-renowned museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Museum of Science. The University of Massachusetts campus at Columbia Point houses the John F. Kennedy Library. The New England Aquarium, Franklin Park Zoo, Boston Athenaeum (one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States), and the Boston Children's Museum are located within the city. There are also two self-guided walking tours: Harbor Walk, which is designed to allow people the walk the entire shore of Boston Harbor, and the Black Heritage Trail. A popular guided tour is the Boston Duck Tour, which uses World War II-era duck boats. The outer suburbs of Boston, which tend to be forested, have vibrantly colored foliage every autumn that attracts many tourists.
Sports
autumn The TD Banknorth Garden near North Station is the home of two major league teams: the Boston Bruins ice hockey team (National Hockey League) and the Boston Celtics basketball team (National Basketball Association). The Celtics have the distinction of having more World Championships than any other NBA team with 16 championships from 1957 to 1986. The baseball team Boston Red Sox is a member of the American League of Major League Baseball. Their home at Fenway Park, located near Kenmore Square, is the oldest ballpark in active use in the United States. Boston was once the home of the National League baseball team Boston Braves as well as the site of the first World Series in 1903. The game was played between the Boston Americans (currently the Boston Red Sox) and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Once the Boston Patriots, a charter team of the American Football League, the NFL's New England Patriots football team plays in nearby Foxboro. Boston fans travel there to see the Patriots and the New England Revolution soccer team of Major League Soccer. Both teams play at Gillette Stadium. Another major league team is the lacrosse team Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse. The team plays at Boston University's Nickerson Field. Boston's many colleges and universities field sports teams. The most prominent include Boston College (member of the Atlantic Coast Conference), Boston University (America East Conference), Northeastern University (Colonial Athletic Association), and Harvard University. The hockey teams of these four universities meet every year in an immensely popular four-team tournament known as the "Beanpot". The city is also the site of two other major annual sporting events: the Boston Marathon, the world-famous 26-mile run from Hopkinton to Copley Square in Boston, and the Head of the Charles Regatta rowing competition on the Charles River.
Infrastructure

Health and medicine
As the home to some of the world's most respected research hospitals, Boston enjoys an international reputation in the medical field. The Longwood Medical Area is a region of Boston with a concentration of medical and research facilities, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Harvard Medical School. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital were both formed by mergers: the former between Beth Israel Hospital and New England Deaconess Hospital, and the latter by Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and the Boston Hospital for Women. Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is located near the Beacon Hill neighborhood, with the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital nearby. Boston also has VA medical centers in the Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury neighborhoods. Many of Boston's major medical facilities are associated with universities. The facilities in the Longwood Medical Area and MGH are world-renowned research medical centers affiliated with Harvard Medical School. New England Medical Center, located in the southern portions of the Chinatown neighborhood, is affiliated with Tufts University. Boston Medical Center, located in the South End neighborhood, is the primary teaching facility for the Boston University School of Medicine as well as the largest trauma center in the Boston area; it was formed by the merger of Boston University Hospital and Boston City Hospital.
Transportation
trauma center neighborhood is in the background.]] Logan International Airport, located in the East Boston neighborhood, is the major airport serving Boston. Another airport serving the city and surrounding areas is Hanscom Field in Lexington and Bedford. T. F. Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island, and Manchester Airport in Manchester, New Hampshire, are airports outside Massachusetts which serve as secondary facilities. Boston's streets appear as though they were not planned, evolving from centuries-old foot and cow paths. Except for the reclaimed Back Bay and part of South Boston, the city has no street grid. Boston has been described as a "City of Squares", referring to the tradition of naming the intersections of major thoroughfares after prominent city residents. Roads change names and lose and add lanes seemingly at random. The city also has a number of rotaries, which have confused many drivers. Boston is the eastern terminus of I-90, also known as the Mass Pike. I-95, which surrounds the city, is known as Route 128. US 1 and I-93 runs north to south through the city. The most infamous portion, the Central Artery, runs through downtown Boston and was constantly prone to heavy traffic. Through the Big Dig the elevated highway was replaced with an underground tunnel. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operated the nation's first underground subway system, which has since been expanded to an extensive rapid transit system reaching as far north as Melrose, as far south as Braintree, and as far west as Waltham. Collectively known as the "T", the MBTA also operates an extensive network of bus lines and water shuttles, and a commuter rail network extending north to the Merrimack River valley, west to Worcester, and south to Providence, Rhode Island. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and Chicago lines originate at South Station and stop at Back Bay. Fast Northeast Corridor trains, which service New York City, Washington, D.C., and points in between, also stop at Route 128 Station in the southwestern suburbs of Boston. Meanwhile, Amtrak's Downeaster service to Maine originates at North Station.
Utilities
Water supply and sewage-disposal services are provided by the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. The Commission in turn purchases wholesale water and sewage disposal from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). Established as a public authority in 1984, the MWRA pipes water from reservoirs in Western and Central Massachusetts, notably the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs, for several communities within Greater Boston. The agency operates several facilities for sewage treatment, notably an effluent tunnel in Boston Harbor and the Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Plant near the mouth of Boston Harbor. NSTAR distributes electric power to the city. Natural gas is provided by KeySpan Corporation (the successor company to Boston Gas). Verizon, successor to New England Telephone, NYNEX, and Bell Atlantic, is the primary telephone service provider for the area. Cable television and cable broadband internet are provided by Comcast, RCN, and Verizon in select communities.
See also

- Notable Bostonians
- List of television shows set in Boston
- List of films, operas, and plays set in Boston
- Boston in fiction
- Fictional people from Boston
Notes
#[http://weather.yahoo.com/climo/USMA0046_c.html Records and Averages - Boston (2005)]. Yahoo! Weather. Accessed September 13, 2005. #[http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027.html Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990 (June 1998)]. U.S. Census Bureau. # Winship, Christopher (March 2002). [http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/soc/faculty/winship/End_of_a_Miracle.pdf End of a Miracle?] Harvard University. #[http://www.ci.boston.ma.us/police/ore.asp Boston Police Department's Monthly Crime Statistics (2005)]. CityOfBoston.gov. #[http://boston.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm Boston MA Crime Statistics (2004 - New Crime Data)]. areaConnect.com. #[http://www.epodunk.com/top10/colleges/index.html Great College Towns]. ePodunk. April, 2002. #[http://www.boston.k12.ma.us/bps/bpsglance.asp The Boston Public Schools at a Glance (2004)]. Boston Public School. Accessed October 5, 2005. #[http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/mm001050.asp Arbitron - Market Ranks and Schedule, 1-50 (Fall 2005)]. #[http://www.nielsenmedia.com/DMAs.html Nielsen Media - DMA Listing (September 24, 2005)]. #[http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/?id=101045 Boston Skyscrapers. Skyscrapers.com]. Accessed May 15, 2005. #[http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws_recaps.jsp?feature=1903 1903 World Series - Major League Baseball: World Series History. MLB.com].

References

- [http://www.tbf.org/indicatorsProject/ The Boston Indicators Project (2004)]. The Boston Foundation.
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External links

- [http://www.cityofboston.gov City's official website]
- [http://www.cityofboston.gov/bra/maps/mapsPDFs.asp Maps of Boston neighborhoods]
- [http://www.bostonsquares.com Boston guide organized by square]
- [http://yourtown.boston.com/town/boston/ City information]
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- [http://www.bostonusa.com/ Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau]
- [http://www.boston-online.com/glossary.html Guide to the local language]
- [http://www.terragalleria.com/america/north-east/massachusetts Photos of Boston - Terra Galleria]
- [http://www.bostonhistory.org/ The Boston Historical Society]
- [http://wikitravel.org/en/article/Boston Boston travel guide at Wikitravel] Category:All-America City Category:Coastal cities Category:Suffolk County, Massachusetts
- Category:Cities in Massachusetts ko:보스턴 ja:ボストン

Selma, Alabama

Selma is a city in Alabama located on the banks of the Alabama River in Dallas County, Alabama, of which it is the county seat. As of the last census, the population of the city is 20,512. The city is known for the Selma to Montgomery marches, three civil rights marches that began in this city.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 20,512 people, 8,196 households, and 5,343 families residing in the city. The population density is 571.4/km² (1,479.6/mi²). There are 9,264 housing units at an average density of 258.1/km² (668.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 28.77% White, 69.68% Black or African American, 0.10% Native American, 0.56% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.22% from other races, and 0.66% from two or more races. 0.67% of the population is never to be known by any on th Planet Earth or Mars(don't ask why because I don't know There are 8,196 households out of which 30.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.2% are married couples living together, 27.2% have a female householder with no husband present, and 34.8% are non-families. 32.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 14.6% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.44 and the average family size is 3.10. In the city the population is spread out with 27.3% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 78.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 72.0 males. The median income for a household in the city is $21,261, and the median income for a family is $28,345. Males have a median income of $29,769 versus $18,129 for females. The per capita income for the city is $13,369. 31.7% of the population and 26.9% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 41.8% of those under the age of 18 and 28.0% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Geography

Selma is located at . According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 37.4 km² (14.4 mi²). 35.9 km² (13.9 mi²) of it is land and 1.5 km² (0.6 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 4.02% water. The ZIP codes for Selma are 36701 and 36703. 36702 is a ZIP code used only for P.O. Boxes, but 36701 is a standard ZIP code.

History

Native American lore states that Selma is built where Chief Tuskaloosa met with explorer DeSoto. The site was officially recorded in 1732 as Ecor Bienville, then later as the Moore's Bluff settlement. In 1820, Selma (meaning "high seat" or "throne") was incorporated. It was planned and named by future Vice President of the United States William R. King. During the Civil War, it was one of the South's main military manufacturing centers, producing tons of supplies and munitions, and turning out Confederate warships such as the Ironclad warship Tennessee, resulting in the Battle of Selma. Union General J. H. Wilson's troops destroyed Selma's army arsenal and factories, and much of the city, in a fiery, bloody siege.

Selma during the Civil War

Importance of Selma to the Confederacy

Because of its central location, production facilities and rail connections, the advantages of Selma as a site for production of Cartridge (weaponry), saltpetre, powder, shot and shell, rifles, cannon and steam rams soon became apparent to the Confederacy. By 1863, just about every war material was manufactured within the limits of Selma, employing at least ten thousand people. The hull was laid for at least one Confederate ironclad, the Tennessee, and millions of dollars worth of army supplies were accumulated and distributed from Selma.

Previous attempts on Selma

The capacities and importance of Selma, in its relation to the Confederate movement, had been notorious in the North, and too great to be overlooked by the Federal authorities, as early as 1862. But to reach it with a Federal force baffled the ingenuity of the federal Generals. As the place grew in importance, the greater the necessity to reach it with a Federal force. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman first made an effort to reach it, but after advancing as far as Meridian, within one hundred and seven miles, retreated to the Mississippi River; Gen. Benjamin Grierson, with a cavalry force from Memphis, was intercepted and returned; Gen. Rousseau made a dash in the direction of Selma, but was misled by his guides and struck the railroad forty miles east of Montgomery, Alabama.

Battle of Selma

On March 30, Wilson detached Gen. John T. Croxton's Brigade to destroy all Confederate property at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. After capturing a Confederate courier who carried dispatches from Forrest describing the strengths and dispositions of his scattered forces, Wilson also sent a brigade to destroy the bridge across the Cahaba River at Centreville. This action effectively cut off most of Forrest's reinforcements. Then began a running fight that did not end until after the fall of Selma. On the afternoon of April 1, after skirmishing all morning, Wilson's advanced guard ran into Forrest's line of battle at Ebenezer Church, where the Randolph Road intersected the main Selma road. Here Forrest had hoped to bring his entire force to bear on Wilson. However delays caused by flooding plus earlier contact with the enemy enabled Forrest to muster less than 2,000 men, a large number of whom were not veterans but militia consisting of old men and young boys. The outnumbered and outgunned Confederates fought bravely for more than an hour as more Union Cavalry and Artillery deployed on the field. Forrest himself was wounded in a charge by a saber-swinging Yankee Captain who he killed with his revolver. Finally, a mounted Federal charge with carbines blazing broke the Confederate militia causing Forrest to be flanked on his right. He was forced to retreat under severe pressure. Early the next morning Forrest arrived at Selma, "horse and rider covered in blood." He advised Gen