Although Emerson is remembered as a literary figure, he had a life-long passion for religious subjects. As a young man he served as a Unitarian minister, in the tradition of William Ellery Channing, but later rejected this denomination, and all denominations, as too confining. Emerson became an essayist and public speaker, using poetic language to celebrate the glories of nature. Emerson rejected doctrines, creeds, and sacraments. He believed that the essence of religion is finding the divine within oneself by getting in touch with nature. Instead of the atonement of Christ as the way to salvation, Emerson preached self-reliance. Many of Emerson's literary colleagues were attracted to utopian communities, but Emerson himself preferred the solitary approach. He believed that slavery was wrong, but found it impossible to participate in a collective effort such as abolitionism.