At 20, Henry David Thoreau finished Harvard College. With his Transcendentalist friends, they referred to Harvard as "the castle of ice." Although Harvard was presided over by a liberal, a Unitarian at the time, Thoreau's friend's put their criticisms acerbically saying, "Obtaining a divinity school degree from Harvard was like taking a flask of frozen mercury to your breast."

One of their friends, 28 year old Margaret Fuller, being a women in still too Puritan Boston, was not permitted to attend Harvard. Being independent enough that she did not have to look solely to marriage for sustenance, she was able procure all of the books that Harvard Divinity school was using, and she set up reading circles in her home. At first, inviting only women, and later Thereau, Emerson, and several other Harvard men felt that these conversations were superior to their experiences during class. They won admission to the reading circles, including having to pay Margaret Fuller tuition equal to the cost of Harvard.

And then there was Channing, more timid, later in asserting an independent voice. It wasn't until he was 35 that he organized an address that came to define Unitarians as a distinct movement. A movement shaped around the idea that we are given an original blessing, not a curse, and that Christ was more like you and I then he was like the creator of the universe. Worshiping Christ as God was idolatry.

These three Young Adults describe three kinds of prophet that have formed our movement since its beginning. Three kinds of prophet that still emerge from our RE classes and spread out into the world. Three kinds of prophet that sometimes leave us confused about how to be Unitarian Universalist. Thoreau: a dissident, so critical, so ethical, so necessary. Fuller: so intelligent, able to create an entirely parallel organization despite being opposed by the mores and strictures of society. Channing: so supported, trained and encouraged, so enfranchised by a system that needs innovators if it is to survive the rush of science and the world changes resulting from democracy. Dissident, Parallel and Enfranchised prophets: categories that I think will help us understand who we are, even today.

Academic historians, even those in our movement, have trouble conceiving us. Our boundaries are too permeable. We are broader than our membership roles, more influential than our numbers, always grasping at emerging theologies. I think we need a Young Adult centered history. We need to create the categories that express the values and possibilities of our emerging world. And we need to be grounded in the stories and voices that have spirited our movement.

If we are to become prophets, if we are to grow our movement and to lead our people to freedom, we need to develop our vision of the wide world, our historic role in it, and the influence we wish to have on it.

Who could have been in Seattle at the World Trade Organization protests, worshipping the spirit of democracy, and not known the gift our movement has brought to this country. We hold the legacy of "The Religion of Democracy," as Reese dubbed our movement in 1925. We made a chant in Seattle, "This is what Democracy looks like," smilingly shouted as we looked across a circle into each other's faces, "This is what Democracy looks like."

We are starting a group to make our history come alive. We are starting small, in the Pacifica Central District, a group of about ten young adults and elders. You'll be hearing from us.

Neil MacLean
UUs for a Just Economic Community, PCD Young Adult Prophets project