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Spiritualists' National Union

 
Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia: Spiritualists' National Union
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One of the oldest British Spiritualist organizations. It was founded in July 1890 at the suggestion of Emma Hardinge Britten and focused attention on Spiritualism in Manchester and throughout northern England. In the beginning, it was known as the Spiritualists' National Federation, bringing together a number of leading Spiritualists in Manchester for an annual conference with delegates from other Spiritualist societies to discuss matters of common interest. This annual conference still takes place today.

In October 1901, the Spiritualists' National Union was incorporated under the Companies Acts, taking over the assets, rights, and obligations of the federation in July 1902.

In 1948, the British Spiritualists' Lyceum Union, founded in 1890, amalgamated with the SNU, transferring its work of spiritual education for children and young people to that organization. The SNU formulates policy through a National Executive Committee, which delegates certain responsibilities to standing and sub-committees such as Trust Property, Education, Training, and Awards, Publicity and Public Relations and Healing. The SNU also operates the Arthur Findlay College, which is based at Stansted Hall in Essex and runs courses on Spiritualist philosophy, religious practice, spiritual healing, and other related subjects.

The SNU delegates local matters to fourteen district councils, with executive committees formed by directly-elected members in the districts. Four hundred Spiritualist churches are affiliated with the SNU, most are in the UK, along with one in the US and several in Australia. The union also maintains a register of National Spiritualist ministers and mediums.

Membership in the union is open to individual Spiritualists as well as to churches and other organizations. The primary aim of the union is to promote the religion and religious philosophy of Spiritualism on the basis of the seven principles:

  1. The fatherhood of God
  2. The brotherhood of Man
  3. The communion of spirits and the ministry of angels
  4. The continuous existence of the human soul
  5. Personal responsibility
  6. Compensation and retribution hereafter for good and evil deeds done on earth
  7. Eternal progress open to every human soul.

The Spiritualists' National Union may be contacted at Redwoods, Stansted Hall, Stansted, CM24 8UD. Website: http://www.snu.org.uk.

Sources:

Edmunds, Simeon. Spiritualism: A Critical Survey. London: Aquarian Press, 1966.

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Wikipedia: Spiritualists' National Union
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The Spiritualists' National Union (SNU) is a Spiritualist organisation, founded in the United Kingdom in 1901, and is one of the largest spiritualist groups in the world. Its motto is Light, Nature, Truth.

Over its history, it has organised test cases regarding the legal status of spiritualist mediums, with regard to such matters as exemption from national service. In legal terms, spiritualist mediums were considered to violate such laws as the Vagrancy Act 1824, which outlawed fortune telling, and the Witchcraft Act 1735. The Union campaigned against these laws for many years.[1][2][3][4] They were eventually repealed by the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951, which legalised the practice of mediums unless it was shown that they were profiting financially from a fraudulent service.

It has also performed more everyday services, such as organising war memorial services in the wake of the First World War.[5]

In more recent times, the Union has organised educational courses in spiritualism-related subjects, and has participated in scientific research into mediumship. Mission Statement and Goals In 2000 the SNU adopted the following mission statement:

To Promote the Religion and Religious Philosophy of Spiritualism as based upon The Seven Principles

It also re-defined its goals as:

  • To procure perfect religious equality
  • To assist in the formation of new Societies and Churches
  • To strengthen the fraternal relations between Spiritualists
  • To increase all classes of membership
  • To print, publish and distribute literature
  • To promote mission work
  • To do all such lawful things as are for the advancement of Spiritualism

Contents

History

The SNU was founded on 18 October 1901 as the Association of the Spiritualists' National Union Ltd. In 1916, it campaigned to get government recognition for the religion of spiritualism.[citation needed]

The Seven Principles

The SNU has organised seven principles for its members to live by:

  1. The Fatherhood of God
  2. The Brotherhood of Man
  3. The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels
  4. The continuous existence of the human soul
  5. Personal responsibility
  6. Compensation and retribution hereafter for all the good and evil deeds done on earth
  7. Eternal progress open to every human soul

These were created by Emma Hardinge Britten, an early member, apparently after being devised through mediumship with a spirit called Robert Owen in 1871.

These are the whole of the S.N.U. doctrine. Many members also hold beliefs on matters such as reincarnation and whether animals have spirits, but the Union has never made any official declarations. There is currently an Ethics Committee in the Union, which is researching the beliefs held by member churches.

Recent Presidents

  • 1970 - 1993 Gordon Mons Higginson
  • 1993 - 1996 Eric L. Hatton
  • 1996 - 2000 Mrs J.J. Seaman
  • 2000 - todate D.P. Gascoyne
  • Hon. President: E. Hatton MSNU.
  • Hon. Vice-President: T. Horton MSNU, Mrs D. Hudson MSNU.

See also

References

  1. ^ "High Court of Justice. King's Bench Division. Spiritualists and Military Service. Oaten vs. Anty". The Times: pp. 6. April 8, 1919. 
  2. ^ "News in Brief". The Times: pp. 13. July 5, 1927. 
  3. ^ "Spiritualists and the Law: Mr Morrison's Statement". The Times: pp. 2. December 16, 1943. 
  4. ^ "Spiritualists and the Witchcraft Act". The Times: pp. 2. July 20, 1946. 
  5. ^ "News in Advertisements". The Times: pp. 9. April 17, 1919. 

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Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Copyright © 2001 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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