Unitarian Universalism is distinctive among organised religions in having no required creed. Membership does not depend on assent to doctrines about God, Jesus, scripture or the afterlife, and congregations include theists, humanists, atheists, agnostics, and people drawing on Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Pagan and other traditions. What holds the religion together is not shared belief but a shared covenant, a mutual promise about how members will treat one another and pursue truth together, and a congregational polity in which each local congregation governs itself and calls its own minister.
The tradition explicitly draws on many sources: the direct experience of transcending mystery, the words and deeds of prophetic people, the world's religions, Jewish and Christian teachings, humanist reason and science, and earth-centred spiritualities. Worship varies widely but commonly includes readings, music, a sermon and the lighting of a flaming chalice, the movement's central symbol. In place of doctrinal orthodoxy the tradition emphasises ethics, with a strong and historically consistent commitment to social justice: abolition, women's rights, and more recently civil rights, LGBTQ inclusion and anti-racism have been prominent causes. Religious education encourages children to explore many traditions rather than catechising them into one.