Original Sin

The UUA and its founding traditions consistently rejected the doctrine of original sin — the teaching that all humans are born in a state of inherited guilt and total depravity resulting from Adam's fall. Classical Unitarianism held that humans are inherently dignified, rational, and morally capable beings. The Augustinian-Calvinist view of universal depravity was rejected as both empirically unsound and morally damaging, as it denied the natural human capacities for reason, goodness, and spiritual growth.

The UUA's first principle — 'the inherent worth and dignity of every person' — stands in direct theological tension with the doctrine of original sin. If every person has inherent worth and dignity, then the Augustinian claim that human nature is fundamentally corrupted and deserving of divine condemnation from birth is rejected. The UUA affirms the goodness of human nature while acknowledging the reality of human failure, brokenness, and the need for moral growth — but frames these in terms of growth and transformation rather than guilt and condemnation.

Contemporary UUism engages with questions of human evil, structural injustice, and personal failing through frameworks of psychology, sociology, and prophetic justice rather than through traditional categories of sin and original guilt. The UUA's social justice commitments reflect a conviction that human beings can and must do better — a conviction that assumes genuine human moral capacity.