Prague, 15 January 2017

Dear Applicants,

As an active member of the Society of Czech Unitarians and someone who directly takes part in its management, I am deeply interested in the idea of setting up an independent educational institution of our society, the Unitarian Academy.

I see this initiative as an opportunity for the public to find out more about the tradition of liberal religious movements and as a much-needed opportunity for our members to gain deeper insight into the identity and roots of Unitarianism and specific ways of putting it into practice. I believe that our academy will help to improve – indeed, to professionalize, in the good sense of the word – our activities in the different congregations and inspire new ways of sharing our thoughts, supporting our members, but also learning how to be effectively useful for the wider society. Our Unitarian Academy is also an instrument for members as well as our friends from abroad to get involved in a more conscious process of shaping Czech Unitarianism today.

Along with all this the Unitarian Academy also creates space for the continuation of the original intention of the founding fathers of our fellowship: to become a center of open-minded religious thinking on a national scale. This idea may now seem almost too bold. However, I see it as an important and, particularly for secular and skeptical Czech society, a much-needed vision.

I wish the Unitarian Academy much success and would like to invite all those interested and of good will, whether Unitarians or simply supporters of liberal religious thinking, to take part in it.

Sincerely,


    Michal Kohout
    Director of the Unitarian Academy