Unitarian Fellowship in Saskatchewan

The Regina Unitarian Fellowship was founded in 1956 in Regina. It is a member of the worldwide Unitarian Universalist Association, headquartered in Boston, and of the Canadian Unitarian Council, headquartered in Toronto. The Wynyard Unitarian Church was founded by Icelandic immigrants who were members of the Icelandic Free Church movement. The Saskatoon Unitarian Church began as a Fellowship after World War II and is now the largest Unitarian Church in Saskatchewan, with full-time ministry since the 1970s. The Regina Unitarian Fellowship is the only non-creedal, non-dogmatic and non-hierarchical organization in Regina's religious community; there are no formal religious days, but Unitarians join Christian and other faiths in celebrating Holy Days of various kinds. The roots of Unitarianism go back to freethinking Greek philosophers such as Socrates; religious leaders are democratically elected, and are free to hold individual views on the major religious issues of our time. All members are encouraged to further develop their personal spirituality and to examine other viewpoints. There are currently two lay chaplains who officiate at rites of passage. Unitarians have had women ministers and ministers of different sexual orientations for over a hundred years. All individuals in the congregation share the pulpit and have the right to express their views.

The original Unitarians long ago rejected the concepts of Trinity and Original Sin. All religious thought should be critically examined with the goal to improve one's religious consciousness. Unitarians celebrate the achievements of people like Socrates, Jon Hus (theologian), Michael Servetus (Spanish theologian), Walt Whitman (poet and sexual liberationist), William Blake (poet), Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, William Taft, Albert Schweitzer (humanitarian), Clara Barton (founder of the American Red Cross), Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Morse, Frank Lloyd Wright (architect), and many more. Outstanding Canadian Unitarians include Lotta Hitchmanova (Unitarian Service Committee), Alexander Graham Bell, John Brockelbank (politician), Howard Pawley (politician), Stan Calder (gay rights activist), and Philip Hewett (author of numerous books on Unitarianism in Canada).

Richard D. Jack