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UU World staff report from the annual General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.
By Sonja L. Cohen July 12, 2010 at 2:13 pm Here are the final texts of the Actions of Immediate Witness, business resolutions, and responsive resolutions adopted by the UUA’s 2010 General Assembly.
Actions of Immediate Witness
Business Resolutions
Congregational Study/Action Issue
The UUA is developing resources for the newly selected Congregational/Study Action Issue for 2010–2014, Immigration as a Moral Issue, but you can read the original text here.
Responsive Resolutions
Statement of Conscience
Delegates also adopted all but one of the proposed bylaw amendments without making changes. Delegates did introduce substantive changes to the proposed bylaws governing the election of UUA president and moderator, which are not yet available online.
(*Correction 7.20.10: As originally published, this post incorrectly identified the responsive resolution “Confronting Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination” as a business resolution.)
By Christopher L. Walton July 1, 2010 at 9:38 am
By Christopher L. Walton July 1, 2010 at 9:33 am Here are the texts of the four responsive resolutions introduced during the final plenary session at the UUA’s 2010 General Assembly. These are unofficial versions, as presented to the delegates; final versions of the three approved resolutions will be published on UUA.org after they have been reviewed by the UUA’s legal council and have been copyedited.
Another responsive resolution, about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act currently under consideration in Congress, was approved without a text having been submitted in advance; we’ll post a link once it has been made available.
By Christopher L. Walton June 30, 2010 at 2:00 pm In the scramble to wrap up our coverage of the 2010 General Assembly, UU World published reports on three of the four proposed Responsive Resolutions presented during Sunday afternoon’s final plenary, but didn’t publish a report on the fourth. Here it is:
Delegates affirmed a Responsive Resolution concerning the 2012 General Assembly in Phoenix, Ariz., offered by the Youth Caucus during Sunday’s final plenary session. The resolution presented six recommendations to the UUA Board of Trustees, staff, and General Assembly Planning Committee about the “Justice General Assembly” delegates had endorsed for 2012.
WHEREAS the UUA Board Report on the Business Resolution on Phoenix General Assembly 2012 calls for a gathering of Unitarian Universalists for the “purposes of witnessing on immigration, racial, and economic justice – a ‘Justice’ General Assembly,”
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association strongly urges the UUA Staff, the Board of Trustees and the General Assembly Planning Committee to consider a number of conditions while planning for this “Justice” General Assembly in Arizona 2012. The Youth Caucus envisions a General Assembly in which:
1. We gather in nonviolent protest with a focus on public witness and social action;
2. Appropriate consideration is given to make this General Assembly accessible for all participants;
3. Efforts are made to recognize the voices of delegates who choose not to attend General Assembly 2012 for reasons of safety or personal ethics;
4. Worship services, specifically a bridging celebration and multigenerational worships, are preserved;
5. Programming, including Youth, Young Adult and Multigenerational programming, is educational, informative and reflective of the spirit of a “Justice” General Assembly; and
6. Youth and Young Adults are involved as both participants and leaders throughout the process.
The Rev. Roger Brewin, minister of the First Unitarian Church of Hobart, Ind., and the Berrien Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in St. Joseph, Mich., had strongly advocated a UUA boycott of Arizona, and had led the effort to pledge donations to cover the UUA’s losses if the General Assembly had approved a boycott. After the Youth Caucus offered their resolution, Brewin stepped to the Pro microphone and said that the Caucus’s vision gave him a way to endorse the 2012 “Justice General Assembly” in Phoenix because it explicitly called for ways to include the voices of those who could not come to Arizona for reasons of safety or personal conscience.
By Jane Greer June 28, 2010 at 3:22 pm The UUA board held its traditional post-General Assembly meeting on Monday morning, June 28. They conducted an informal evaluation of the board’s General Assembly workshops; discussed the possibility of reevaluating Responsive Resolutions and Actions of Immediate Witness; approved the Panel on Theological Education’s budget; revised a board policy to include the establishment of a site selection committee for off-site meetings; and refined language about which committees the board is responsible for funding.
The board was positive about the General Assembly just held. When asked to describe their impressions in one to two words, trustees said: “forward-looking,” “empowering,” “sea change,” “beautiful,” and “revealing.”
The board evaluated some of the workshops it gave, reviewing their attendance and relevance. UUA Moderator Gini Courter also initiated a discussion about Actions of Immediate Witness and Responsive Resolutions. Actions of Immediate Witness and Responsive Resolutions do not require congregational input as do Congregational Study/Action Issues and Statements of Conscience, which are subject to a thorough vetting process by congregations and the Commission on Social Witness. Actions of Immediate Witness and Responsive Resolutions lack accountability to a specific group, Courter said. She said that she expected that significant changes would be put into place concerning these two forms of social resolution before the 2012 GA in Phoenix, which will have a limited business agenda.
Linda Laskowski, trustee from the Pacific Central district*, reported on a successful experiment she conducted during GA, in which 11 off-site delegates in five different locations were able to attend GA electronically. The purpose of the experiment was to see which issues arose. One candidate had a proxy in three lines for debate at the same time, she said. “There are some things you can do more easily electronically.”
Doug Gallager, trustee from the Heartland district and Laskowski presented the Panel on Theological Education’s budget for the board’s approval. The Rev. Jeanne Pupke, trustee-at-large, said that she was disappointed that there were no major systemic changes in the UUA’s financing of theological education. “We need a capital undertaking in support of our seminaries. . . . I’m tired of not being able to attract the best candidates for ministry.”
The Rev. Will Saunders, trustee from the Northern New England district agreed. “We need to direct our efforts at major fundraising for theological education,” he said. “We’re playing in puddles rather than dealing with the reality of the educational enterprise. We’re not doing what we need to do.”
UUA President Peter Morales said that the proceeds from the next year’s Association Sunday campaign would be directed to theological education. He also said that several other initiatives looking at all aspects of the ministry were already underway.
UUA moderator Gini Courter then proposed an in-depth discussion on the funding of theological education to be held at the October meeting.
The POTE budget passed with Pupke and Saunders voting against it as a means of protest, and three abstentions.
The board amended one of its policies to include language about the appointment of a site selection team for off-site board meetings. The board has resolved to hold at least one of its regular meetings during the year outside of Boston. Last January it met in San Antonio, Tex., and this year it plans to meet in Phoenix. The new language empowers the team to recommend a geographic area for the board to meet.
The board also amended a policy on the cost of governance, outlining which committees would get the board’s financial support. According to the updated version, the board would cover operating and meeting costs for itself, board committees, board-appointed committees, and the elected committees of the association.
Outgoing youth observer Joe Gayeski offered some reflection on his one-year term on the board. These included the need for better orientation of incoming youth observers and the importance of paying attention to the issue of youth empowerment. The incoming youth observer Caleb Raible Clark was introduced.
Former youth observer and trustee Julian Sharp visited the meeting and talked about the revitalization of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, a school founded by Horace Mann, a Unitarian. The school was closed in 2008 and expects to re-open its doors to a small entering class in the fall of 2011.
*In an earlier version of this post we mistakenly said that Linda Laskowski was the trustee from the Pacific Northwest district.
By Doug Muder June 28, 2010 at 8:45 am On Saturday, more than 100 members and friends of the HUUmanist Association “came home” to the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, the congregation where John Dietrich became known as the “father of religious humanism” during his 1916-1938 ministry.
The day-long Humanist Homecoming conference began with UUA President Peter Morales answering questions during breakfast and concluded ten hours later with the election of John Hooper as the new HUUmanist Association president. More than two dozen speakers and moderators—including Good Without God author Greg Epstein—discussed the past, present, and future of Humanism in the world and in the Unitarian Universalist movement.
The event marked the conclusion of the HUUmanist presidency of David Schafer, who presented an optimistic picture in his opening remarks. “The subtext of this meeting today,” he said, “is that the UUA is changing and UU Humanism is changing, and it has turned the corner in the last year or so.” He pointed to “programs that have been well-attended and well-appreciated” as well as a “more cordial” relationship between the HUUmanist Association and the UUA. That cordial relationship was symbolized during the breakfast session, when questioner Woody Kaplan thanked President Morales for saying “we Humanists.”
The Rev. Kendyl Gibbons, senior minister of First Unitarian Society, said in her welcoming statement that hosting the conference was “part of fulfilling our mission to be the flagship congregation of Humanism in the UUA.”
The morning session covered the history of Unitarian Universalist Humanism, highlighted by historian Mason Olds’s review of the career of John Dietrich. A double session broken up by lunch showcased “Voices of Reason, Cooperation, and Community Service” in present-day Humanism, including Michael Werner’s description of SMART Recovery as a reason-and-evidence-based alternative to 12-step addiction programs and Sean Faircloth’s discussion of his work as executive director of the Secular Coalition for America.
“I’m a lobbyist for atheists,” Faircloth told an amused audience. “That’s tough. Take something unpopular and add something else unpopular and you’ve got me.”
Two afternoon sessions were oriented towards the future. The first highlighted Humanist education, including P. J. Deak’s talk on Humanist education for second and third graders, and Dan Schlorff’s introduction to the New Liturgical Movement—a “rebellion against rebellion” in the Millennial generation that sweeps across the religious spectrum, from the Emergent Church movement among conservative Protestants to desire for ritual and transcendence among liberal youth. Schlorff called for “new ways to transmit our humanist values and naturalistic worldview in a way that reaches younger generations.”
The conference’s final speaker was Greg Epstein, Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University and author of the recent book Good Without God. He used the fantasy of a 21st-century John Dietrich to illustrate the new realities of building a movement. Dietrich’s famous sermons, Epstein imagined, “might get a million hits” on YouTube without drawing new people to his congregation.
Epstein predicted that crowds will come to the 21st-century Humanist meetings “not to hear something worthwhile,” but “to experience something worthwhile . . . to connect to other human beings.”
Two well-known speakers, the Rev. Dr. Khoren Arisian and the Rev. Dr. Bill Murry, were listed in the program but unable to attend. Each promised to make his remarks available to the HUUmanist Association in writing.
By Donald E. Skinner June 27, 2010 at 10:14 pm Five days of workshops, business sessions, and worship ended with a grand flourish Sunday night with the closing ceremony for General Assembly 2010.
It was a musical night. Helping to draw the GA to a close were the GA band, the GA adult choir and, for the first time in four years, the GA Children’s Choir. The 74 green-shirted children and more than 150 adults filled the platform.
UUA Moderator Gini Courter summed up the week. Making reference to a decision delegates made Saturday to hold a “justice GA” in Phoenix in 2012 rather than boycott the state, she said, “A couple days ago the power of love . . .came to live among us because we made a place for it.” Now it’s time, she said, to broaden our community. “Our community can be larger, can be multilingual, can be multiclass. Let us reach outside our faith and across borders. When we leave (the power of love) cannot stay here. It has a new home. You must take it to your congregations. There is much to do.”
UUA President Peter Morales said, “We’ve had wonderful worship. We witnessed powerfully for marriage equality. As I said on Wednesday the real test of this GA is what will happen as we leave. Let us take the best of this week, the spirit, the knowledge, the passion and commitment and spread it around. Let us let our light shine.”
The Rev. Erik Walker Wikstrom gave his own charge to those who had remained to the end. “Let us commit ourselves to take forth from this place all that we have heard and thought and felt and all that surprised us, that delighted us, that disarmed us, that transformed us and use all of it each day as we go forth in the work of nurturing souls and healing the world.”
The children’s choir was directed by Janeal Krehbiel, director of the Lawrence, Kansas, Children’s Choir, and the adult choir by Ruth Palmer, director of music ministries at Unity Church-Unitarian in St. Paul.
The GA choir and the GA Children’s Choir together sang an anthem, “O, Colored Earth.” The children sang two other pieces, “Flaming Chalice” and “Birdsong,” which is a song with words written by a child in a World War II concentration camp.
Other participants in the closing ceremony included several members of the Bismarck-Mandan, South Dakota, UU Fellowship, which brought 13 of its 85 members to GA.
The service also included an invitation to the 50th annual General Assembly June 22-26, 2011, at Charlotte, North Carolina.
By Christopher L. Walton June 27, 2010 at 10:06 pm During the final plenary Sunday afternoon, delegates rejected a proposed responsive resolution that would have called on the Board of Trustees to to appoint a task force to review the way congregational Study/Action Issues and Actions of Immediate Witness are selected. The resolution also would have introduced ranked voting.
By Sonja L. Cohen June 27, 2010 at 9:41 pm UUA Moderator Gini Courter, in her annual report Sunday evening, reflected on how what could have been a painful debate on boycotting Arizona turned into a commitment that almost everyone can enthusiastically support. Proudly sporting a Standing on the Side of Love T-shirt, Courter started her report by reading an excerpt from the book The Arc of the Universe Is Long: Unitarian Universalists, Anti-Racism and the Journey from Calgary by Leslie Takahashi Morris, James Roush, and Leon Spencer. The passage described the Association’s historical race relations, starting with the murder of Unitarian minister the Rev. James Reeb in Selma, Ala., and ending with the Black Empowerment Controversy.
Courter explained that her decision to begin today’s report with the reading was because she’d heard from some people that they wished they’d had more time for debate during Saturday’s plenary and less time for conversation before the debate. Saturday’s plenary session, which included debate and a vote on the proposed Arizona GA boycott, also included a lot of talk and worship elements about immigration issues before the debate and vote started.
“I chose today’s reading with great care,” Courter said, “because last time this Assembly faced an issue this powerful about race we ended with an impasse that even today haunts our work together. … And so yes, some of us leaders who were well aware of our history, well aware of our legacy, we worked hard to make sure that there was a compromise achieved rather than have a positional fight to the death in this hall.”
The moderator’s report also had its share of light-hearted moments. Before her opening reading, a photo of Courter riding on the back of a motorcycle during Saturday’s public witness event was displayed on the two large plenary hall screens. Wild applause broke out after Courter referred to herself as a rock star at GA. And the room erupted in laughter after she said was going to auction a name tag worn by Sen. Al Franken (who dropped by earlier in the plenary) on eBay “…for our faith, of course.”
Later in her report, Courter talked about the power of marching in witness in Arizona to the sounds of people chanting “Si, se puede”—Spanish for “Yes, we can!” She acknowledged the concerns people have about the decision to go to Arizona for GA in 2012, including: fears of people in our communities of color who, given our history, may worry whether we will stick by the commitment we’ve made to them; concerns that people will be scared off by the changes and commitment of the witness-heavy event; and fears that people had voted for a GA they aren’t willing to attend. She acknowledged that “this may not be a GA of great creature comfort” and that it will be hard for some people to come and work outside. But Courter also urged people to bring their own enthusiasm back to their congregations and encourage the people in them to come to GA in 2012.
“How many will help us make General Assembly 2012 one of the biggest General Assemblies in our history?” she asked the audience.
Raised hands and loud chants of “Si, se puede!” filled the hall in response.
“We are the best hope for democracy and inclusion in this country,” Courter said. “I would say not just that we can; I would say, my friends, that we must.”
Near the end of her report, Courter also dealt with another of this week’s sensitive issues. During Wednesday’s opening celebration, in a ceremony that many found moving but which inadvertently offended some attendees, people of a variety of ages, but all apparently white, able-bodied, and either male or female, introduced themselves and said “I am the UUA.” Near the end of her report, Courter called up a diverse group of people who were “sad and hurt” at not feeling included in the ceremony, to give them a chance to feel represented. These people introduced themselves and declared, “I am a Unitarian Universalist!”
Concluding her report, Courter said, “Friends, the work is just beginning on our part. It’s just beginning. Please, you must take home a sense of urgency to your own congregation; you have to take the spirit that we have here there and help work on how we will stand together on the side of love in opposition to systemic racism and oppression.”
By Christopher L. Walton June 27, 2010 at 9:32 pm Jody Malloy, a delegate from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County in Media, Pa., offered a responsive resolution in response to the Moderator’s Report. The responsive resolution called on the Board of Trustees to “investigate how we might develop a Covenant of Right Relationships for all of our work together, and report back to this General Assembly next year.” It also asked the board and/or UUA staff to “provide opportunities to learn the skill of compassionate witness so that when one of us forgoes the covenant, we have the skill to a lovingly call that person to account and invite them back into covenant, so that we may all share in the ministry of creating our beloved community.”
Malloy told the assembly that the much of the conversation on the UUA’s General Assembly email discussion list about holding a General Assembly in Arizona had been painful to read. “If I had been someone considering coming to GA for the first time, I would not have come,” she said. “We are called to be in right relation with each other” even when we are not at GA.
Delegates approved the motion.
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