Contrary to popular belief, the first Unitarians were not a bunch of well-intentioned New England WASPs banding together in solidarity with apostate Jews who'd moved to Vermont. They were Transylvanians.

That's right, the kindest of religions hails in part from the land of Count Dracula. Just as Vlad the Impaler sucked the blood of many to keep his one bad self alive, Unitarian theology drew from a variety of beliefs to create one creed. Unitarianism's first followers were 16th-century Transylvanians and Poles inspired by the Reformation to reject what they saw as the confusing trinity of traditional Christianity.

Putting the mono back in monotheism, they declared the "unipersonality" of God and the universal salvation of all souls. Which, when you think about it, should have made everyone but the devil happy.

Yet by the time Unitarianism had spread to Britain in the 17th century, saying any old bum can get into heaven had become a dangerous business. Early Unitarians faced imprisonment and even martyrdom for their everybody's-in ideology.

Perhaps in response, across the ocean Unitarians soon began displaying a swaggering, take-all-comers approach to the ping-pong match that would later be called interfaith dialogue. With a missionary zeal usually reserved for the cause of Independence, no less an American than Thomas Jefferson once declared, "There is not a young man alive today who will not die a Unitarian."

In the two centuries and change since these prophetic words were spoken, Jefferson's sturdy spiritual carpetbag has morphed into the happy Halloween sack of modern Unitarian Universalism. Today's UUs acknowledge and affirm the influence of not only Christianity and Judaism, but also Eastern religions and Earth worship. As long as you believe in live and let live, you won't find much to argue with in Unitarian theology. But you won't find much to chew on, either. Atheists and fundamentalists agree -- if you're not going to damn anyone to Hell, why bother going to church at all?

Dude -- for the beer bread. The upside of a faith that's mostly just about feeling good is that it doesn't object to a drink now and then. Heck, many Unitarians even bake some booze into their daily bread! The good folks of the NWCUUC of Houston, Texas (or, the Northwest Community Unitarian Universalist Church, for those of you who don't know UU-lingo) offer up this quick n' easy recipe to get you a little closer to God, or whatever.