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…that CLF offers religious education curricula to use at home or for congregations with mixed-aged groups of children? Read more →

Hosea Ballou was born in 1771, and grew up in a Baptist family who believed that people were sinful, and should live in fear of a punishing God.

But when he was a teenager, Hosea started questioning the beliefs he was raised with. If God loves us, why would God want to punish us?

If God is like a father to us, what father would want his children to be punished for all eternity?

Hosea became a Universalist, and preached the good news that what God wants is for us to be happy, and to build our happiness through being kind to others.

When someone asked Ballou how God could show such grace even to people who were bad, he responded by asking: If your child falls down and gets all filthy, and you wash them and get them clean clothes, do you love your child because they are now clean, or did you clean your child because you love them?

Hosea, and Universalists to come after him, believed in a God of grace who loves everyone just as they are.

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My youngest sister Beth was very talented physically. When she was seven she could roller skate across the basement, up the stairs, down the steep driveway and the steeper hill of the road with perfect balance and grace. But she was very shy. Read more →

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It’s no secret that the CLF is willing to try new things and risk mistakes to reach more people with a Unitarian Universalist message of hope, love, and justice. Read more →

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The reason I’ve been able to
produce so much
is that I’m not a perfectionist—
I’m an imperfectionist. Read more →