WEST COAST UNIVERSALISM by David Lawyer April 28 1995 (a sermon at Throop Memorial Church) On July 16, 1995 I plan to present the Sunday Service on this subject. The history of Universalism on the west coast of the United States is in large part a history of this church since this church was by far the largest Universalist church in the far west. Why was this? Why did the Universalist churches in major western cities fail (such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle)? While other Universalist churches in the West were failing, Throop was a shining star of success as a Universalist church. After it merged with the Unitarians in 1961 it entered a protracted period of slow (and more recently rapid) decline. The Throop Church which we now control was built by Universalists. The name of our religion contains the word "Universalist". Out of reverence for those who gave us this church we should try to understand a little of it's history. But there are other reasons as well. By trying to understand past mistakes, perhaps we can avoid them in the future. Should the name of our religion be changed? Are we still Universalist in belief? What is (and was) Universalism anyway? Another intriguing possibility is a future revival of universalism. UU churches could drop the word "Universalist" from their name. The few UU's that are universalist in belief plus other sympathetic people could start a new Universalist Church of America which would revert to a modern version of the original beliefs of Universalists: Heaven exists and everyone eventually gets there (after possibly being punished for a finite time in Hell). The entire July/August 1993 issue of "World" was devoted to the topic of "Universalism at 200". In the article with the euphemistic title "200 Years and Growing", 4 major former Universalist churches were presented with Throop Church one of the 4. But Universalism as a religion is (and was) not growing. Quite the contrary. Universalism as a religion has been on the decline since about the time of the Civil War. Ironically, universalism as a belief among Protestants and others has been rapidly growing. As the population of the US increased 10 fold between 1840 and 1960, the number of Universalists hardly grew at all, resulting in a 10 fold decrease as a percent of the US population. After a peak in membership of about 50 thousand in 1890, membership declined to under 40 thousand by the time of the merger in 1961 (over a 3-fold decrease as a percent of the population). Exaggerated claims for Universalist membership were sometimes made, resulting in much higher (but erroneous) estimated rates of decline. The Universalist movement had its dogma: the Winchester Profession, adopted in 1803. It supported the authority of the Bible, a God of love revealed by the "Lord Jesus Christ", and good works to help humankind. The main idea was "universal salvation" meaning that everyone in the world will eventually be saved and go to heaven (perhaps after being punished for a while in Hell). However, by the time of the merger with the Unitarians in 1961, most Universalists no longer fully believed in their original dogma. Many had actually become much like the Unitarians in their beliefs. Universalist churches were generally friendly places with a family-like atmosphere. The religion got started by itinerant preachers in rural areas. They often attracted many working class people. Unitarians tended to be higher class intellectuals from significant cities (or their suburbs). The class differences kept the two churches from merging sooner. The Los Angeles Universalist church at 1373 S. Alvarado St. was almost as large as ours but has vanished without a trace. A picture of it (plus the defunct Hollywood church) is now posted in Throop Hall. I asked someone who once visited its congregation if anyone might still be alive who attended it in the 1940's. I was told that the entire congregation was elderly and that not a soul would be alive today to tell the tale of its downfall. Don't confuse this church with the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles on 8th St. which is still in existence despite a large decline in its membership. The attempt to establish Universalism on the West Coast was mostly a failure, with the major exception being successful Throop Church. Why? The answers are not easy to find as failing churches seldom document their history of failure or understand the reasons for it. We'll discuss all of the above and more on July 16.