The Unitarians and the Universalists were two separate churches until they merged in 1961. The Unitarians did not claim to be a Christian church at the time of the merger (having been drummed out of Christian circles by denouncing the validity of the Trinity), but the Universalists considered themselves (and were considered by others) to be Christians when the churches merged. Even when the Unitarians were decidedly NOT a Christian church there were still many among them who believed in a Unitarian Christianity, based on a sermon by Rev. William Ellery Channing delivered in 1819, called (oddly enough) "Unitarian Christianity."