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In the 1930’s, James Luther Adams, who would go on to become twentieth century Unitarianism’s most beloved ethicist, arrived in Germany to study theology. He witnessed there first hand the rise of Nazism as well as the responses of the theologians and the churches. He began a lifelong quest to articulate the resources of liberal religion capable of resisting fascism. He found them in the prophetic tradition and in the separation of the church and state, which encourages dissent, believing that if God speaks, it will be through the voice of the minority. The free church, then, must be a voluntary association that both critiques and engages directly with the social organization of power. The contemporary Unitarian Universalist approach to social justice owes much to his vision. This video features footage captured by Adams himself using a home video camera, as well as interviews with him conducted much later by the James Luther Adams Foundation.
