About Us

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="0a9fd5a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Unitaris Universalistes  de  Catalunya</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Unitaris Universalistes de Catalunya"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>About Us</B>   |   <A HREF="id13.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What we believe"><U>What we believe</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id14.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Where we meet"><U>Where we meet</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact us"><U>Contact us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="0aad2043.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="0ad8f8c0.jpg" border=0 width="143" height="140" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://uuhispano.blogspot.com" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://uuhispano.blogspot.com"><U><IMG SRC="0b1581f0.jpg" border=0 width="88" height="31" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>About Us</I></div> <div> The Unitarian Universalists of Catalonia are the women and men, gathered in local groups and associated in the spirit of community and mutual help, which promote, celebrate and proclaim the Unitarian-Universalist tradition in the Catalan-speaking lands. This tradition is based upon the freedom of conscience and beliefs of every single person, the open and responsible search for truth and meaning, the affirmation of the inherent dignity of all people and the vision of global unity in peace, freedom, justice, democracy, and respect for the interdependent web of Life.</div> <bR> <div> The history of the Unitarian-Universalist tradition begins with some trends in Christianity which were labeled as heresies in the 4th century, because they affirmed the unity of God and universal salvation.</div> <bR> <div> The Spaniard Michael Servetus (1511-1553) was persecuted by Catholics and Protestants alike because of his non-orthodox ideas about the Trinity. He was burned as a heretic in Geneva and is seen as the pioneer and first martyr of Unitarianism.</div> <bR> <div> Some liberal reformers, who were struggling for freedom of conscience and beliefs and the prevalence of reason and free religious inquiry, were inspired by Servetus's work and his sacrifice. </div> <bR> <div> If you want to read more about the history of the Unitarians and Universalists, <A HREF="http://www.uuhispano.net/historia.html" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.uuhispano.net/historia.html"><U>click here (Spanish)</U></A> or <A HREF="http://www.uua.org/info/origins.html" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.uua.org/info/origins.html"><U>here (English)</U></A>.</div> <bR> <div> Some famous Unitarians were Thomas Jefferson (writer of the Declaration of Independence and president of the United States), the philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Spanish writer José Mª Blanco White, Nobel Prizer winner Linus Pauling and composer Béla Bartók, among others. Some contemporary Unitarian Universalists are actor Christopher Reeve, folk singer Pete Seeger, writer Kurt Vonnegut, and Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>