Unitarianism is criticized by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

In a journal entry, Emerson describes Edward Everett as giving himself over to “The corpse-cold Unitarianism [and] Immorality of Brattle Street and Boston.” But in a subsequent eulogy for his step-grandfather, Dr. Ripley, Emerson later declares his affection for “Your unpainted churches, strict platforms, and sad offices; the iron-gray deacon, and the wearisome prayer, rich with the diction of ages.”