These principles, first adopted in 1960 and later revised in 1984 and 1985, proved so popular that many Unitarian Universalists came to see them as a wisdom source in and of themselves and a guide for participation in Unitarian Universalist congregations.
In June, 2024, the UUA's General Assembly voted to replace the 7 principles in Article II of the UUA bylaws with a new covenant of 7 values. The central value is love. The other 6 are: interdependence, equity, transformation, pluralism, generosity, and justice.
In Canada, members of the Canadian Unitarian Council affirm the seven principles along with an eighth principle: "Individual and communal action that accountably dismantles racism and systemic barriers to full inclusion in ourselves and our institutions."
In the Philippines, where Unitarian Universalism is much more theistically oriented, member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines affirm the seven principles, but with the addition of their own first principle: "There is God. God is love."
Justice
Unitarian Universalism believes that actions taken to make the world a better place are more important than what a person actually believes, as espoused by a common slogan in Unitarian Universalist congregations, "Deeds, not creeds." They hold that belief divorced from action does not change the world and that good intentions often lead to a worse situation in the long term. Unitarian Universalist thinkers have long recognized the need to bring belief and action together and encourage their members to go into the larger world and improve it.
Because of this importance of action, Unitarian Universalists have long been involved in social, economic, and environmental justice movements, both through organizations created by Unitarian Universalists and through local, regional, national, and international grassroots organizing. Many Unitarian Universalists see this work as inseparable from their Unitarian Universalist faith and see their participation in justice movements as a deeply important part of their religious faith.
Historically, the Unitarian Universalist Association's predecessor movements, Unitarianism and Universalism, saw members involved in abolitionism, women's suffrage, pacifism, temperance, and prison reform. LGBTQ movements, feminism and women's rights, immigration justice, reproductive rights, climate justice, and economic inequality.
Worship and practices
Diversity of practices
The Unitarian belief that reason, and not creed, defines the search for truth, and the Universalist belief that God embraces all people equally has led to the current Unitarian Universalist belief that truth and spiritual meaning can be found in all faiths. This is reflected in the wide array of spiritual practices found among Unitarian Universalists today. Many Unitarian Universalist congregations include Buddhist-style meditation groups, Jewish Seder, Yom Kippur and Passover dinners, iftaar meals (marking the breaking of Ramadan fast for Muslims), and Christmas Eve/Winter Solstice services. Children's and youth's religious education classes teach about the divinity of the world and the sanctity of world religions. One of its more popular curricula, Neighboring Faiths (formerly Church Across the Street), takes middle and high school participants to visit the places of worship of many faith traditions including a Hindu temple, a Reform or Orthodox synagogue, and a Catholic church.
There is great variety among Unitarian Universalist congregations, with some favoring particular religious beliefs or forms of worship over others, with many more home to an eclectic mix of beliefs. Regardless of their orientation, most congregations are fairly open to differing beliefs, though not always with various faith traditions represented to the same degree.
Diversity of congregations
There is a wide variety in how congregations conceive of themselves, calling themselves "churches", "societies", "fellowships", "congregations", or eschew the use of any particular descriptor. Many use the name "Unitarian Universalist", (and a few "Universalist Unitarian"), having gradually adopted this formulation since consolidation in 1961. Others use names that reflect their historic roots by keeping the historical designation "Unitarian" or "Universalist" (e.g. "First Unitarian Church"). A few congregations use neither (e.g. Unity Temple). For some congregations, the name can be a clue to their theological orientation. For others, avoidance of the word "church" indicates a desire to distance itself from traditional Christian theology. Sometimes the use of another term may simply indicate a congregation's lay-led or relatively new status. However, some Unitarian Universalist congregations have grown to appreciate alternative terms such as fellowship and retained them even though they have grown much larger or lost features sometimes associated with their use (such as, in the case of fellowships, a traditionally lay-led worship model).
Also of note is that there are many more people who identify as Unitarian Universalist on surveys than those who attend Unitarian Universalist congregations (by a factor of four in a recent survey), reflecting those who have never joined (and lapsed members) but nonetheless consider themselves part of the Unitarian Universalist movement.
Elevator speeches
In 2004, UU World magazine asked for contributions of "elevator speeches" explaining Unitarian Universalism. These are short speeches that could be made in the course of an elevator ride to those who knew nothing of the religion. Here are examples of the speeches submitted: