After 39 years, the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly of Member Congregations voted Saturday with 80% of the Gathered Delegates (including my vote) to adopt Justice, Equity, Transformation, Pluralism, Inclusion and Generosity–with Love in the Center as our Statement of Values. This is the “Article 2” that we’ve been discussing for the last two years.
The Seven Principles and Six Sources that they replace were adopted in 1985. These are the statements that helped me see that Unitarian Universalism was my faith home. It has been a delight to watch our denomination the last four years go through this process of discernment, building, refinement and adoption. I have so much gratitude for the Article II Commission who drafted the original statement, took in the opinions, edits, debate, edits, votes and other input of over 10,000 Unitarian Universalists.
In truth, this change doesn’t affect UUCP drastically, but it is a sign and a metaphor for how our denomination and faith is evolving. With more of a focus on justice and accountability, it is representative of how we have grown and changed.
If you want to read more about it, you can find a UU World article about it here: https://www.uuworld.org/articles/uua-article-ii-passes-general-assembly-result-unitarian-universalism-bylaws-vote-values-statement
I’ll be out the next three weeks on vacation and then serving as minister at our UU High School camp. I’ll return to these columns when I return.