This past Sunday morning, children at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, began their production of the musical Annie.

Moments later, a gunman fired on the congregation with a shotgun, killing two and wounding several others. The gunman was Jim Adkisson, a 58-year-old unemployed trucker who has a history of abuse and alcohol charges — and whose wife was a former member of the church.

Adkisson left a four-page note in his car in the church parking lot explaining that he hated the liberal movement, upheld by the Tennessee Valley church’s stance on gay rights, women’s rights, and so forth. He is now being charged with at least one count of murder and is being held on $1 million bond, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, the church is beginning to offer counseling to those affected by the shootings.

What is Unitarian Universalism?

According to the Unitarian Universalist Association Web site, “Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion with Jewish-Christian roots. It has no creed. It affirms the worth of human beings, advocates freedom of belief and the search for advancing truth, and tries to provide a warm, open, supportive community for people who believe that ethical living is the supreme witness of religion.”

Unitarian Universalism is a result of the merger between the Unitarian Church and the Universalist Church in 1961. At the time, the church traced its roots to Judeo-Christian traditions and most closely identified with liberal Christianity. But since the merge, the church has become so diverse that it no longer identifies with any one religion and is instead considered a completely separate religious tradition.

While they don’t require adherence to any specific set of beliefs, Unitarian Universalists traditionally

• believe that God is one (it is thus considered a monotheistic religion but, unlike most Christian denominations, it does not include belief in the Trinity);
• believe all people will go to heaven; and
• incorporate ideas and teachings from a variety of sources, including philosophical thinkers, religious figures, and sacred Judeo-Christian texts.

Unitarian Universalists began passing resolutions supporting gay rights in 1970 and remains open to a number of people, movements, and ideas often considered liberal.

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