SALT LAKE CITY—The Rev. Peter Morales of Colorado has been elected as the first Latino president of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Morales, senior minister of Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colo., was elected to the post June 27 at the Unitarian General Assembly in Salt Lake City.

Unitarians, who have roots in a movement that rejected Puritan orthodoxy in New England, support a free search for spiritual truth. Atheists and pagans are a significant part of their membership. Others sometimes join to maintain their traditions without having to accept, wholesale, their denominations’ creed.

“I want to grow our faith, to reach all those people who are looking for non-dogmatic, liberal religious community,” Morales said.

Separately, the United Church of Christ also elected a new president, the Rev. Geoffrey Black, who has served for nearly a decade as minister of the denomination’s New York district. The liberal-leaning Protestant church has about 1.1 million members.