More opinions on Arizona

The Rev. Michael Tino, vice president of UU Allies for Racial Equality, thinks that the staff members of the UUA “are engaging in a convenient fantasy by inventing a situation in which we can think it’s OK to hold our GA in Phoenix.” (“The Arc of the Universe,” June 11) Rev. Tino’s post ignited an extensive debate in the comments section, and he later apologized for his tone and looks to make the debate more civil.

“Making Chutney” calls on us to avoid name-calling and recognize that the Arizona debate is complex:

The hard reality is that GA in Phoenix in 2012 is exactly one of those tough ethical problems. All the rhetoric needs to start with the assumption that this is a tough one, and that there isn’t a clear cut answer. We’re a pretty bright and a pretty well-intentioned bunch, and if this was an easy one, we’d have reached consensus about it from the get go. (“Making Chutney,” June 12)

Kinsi at “Spirituality and Sunflowers” says that we must approach the issue of Arizona with courage:

It would be the easier decision to boycott Phoenix because some are afraid of going. It would be tougher to go to Phoenix despite feeling fear of what might happen to us or our fellow congregants. . . . It takes a lot of courage to stand on the side of love when you’re afraid. But . . . isn’t that what we ought to do? (“Spirituality and Sunflowers,” June 13)

Deb Weiner at “Morning Stars Rising” reflects on the meaning of being American in our nation of immigrants. (“Morning Stars Rising,” June 14)

And the Rev. Cynthia Landrum provides a helpful summary of the UU Arizona debate for those who are confused by the many participating voices. (“Rev. Cyn,” June 11)

There’s a lively debate about Arizona on Facebook. For a taste of the conversation, check out the comments on UU World‘s posts highlighting the letter from Puente and NDLON inviting the UUA to come to Arizona in 2012 for a transformed GA, UUA President Peter Morales’s statement in response, and Jane Greer’s news story covering these statements.

Similar comments have been posted on the UUA’s Facebook links to the invitation and Morales’s statement.

Social justice theories and history

The Rev. Scott Wells wonders if it is time for the UUA to focus on other methods of pursuing social justice besides racism theory:

At every time I turn, established racism theory is either the trump card, the unspoken anxiety or magic formula for, well, everything. Forget art, education, cooperation, mission, prayer, appeals for sacrifice, merry-making or the host of other avenues once tried, or rather, it seems they have been forgotten. (“Boy in the Bands,” June 11)

“PolityWonk” contemplates the effect that the Civil Rights movement had on Unitarian Universalist understandings of social justice:

Any objective study of history reveals that we did not play a major role in the Civil Rights movement, so much as its success played a major role in shaping us. It gave us a way to come together on corporate social justice, and one of the few times in our history that it succeeded … When will we have the courage to ask what prices we have paid for letting corporate social justice become our common primary function? (“PolityWonk,” June 15)

Around the blogosphere

“RevEliot” urges us to recognize how our lifestyle choices make us partly responsible for the BP oil spill:

Some of us ignore how our behavior affects the world. Some of us worry about it. Either way, something needs to be done … When I sit down in my car and debate turning on the air conditioner I am faced with the stark fact that I am a coward and need help to make the sort of change I believe in. Will a new energy policy help us to dig out of cultural and economic norms more than a century in the making?” (“The Burbania Posts”, June 16)

The Rev. Tom Capo returns to the blogosphere and calls on us to evaluate how we treat the “cherished images” of our past:

As part of our grief, we hold onto cherished images of what was important to us. Sometimes these images can be like a hardened arm that we are dragging around with us everywhere … Sometimes these images can be helpful … I am starting to look at the cherished images from my own losses right now, and wondering are they helping me or are they dragging alone beside me as I move through life. (“Faith Talk,” June 16)

The Rev. Debra Haffner wishes the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office (UU-UNO) would expand its goals beyond the mere decriminalization of homosexual activity:

However, we need to be articulating and working toward a world where it is understood that sexual and gender diversities are part of God’s blessing to us, that sexual rights are human rights, and for a relationship-based rather than an act-based sexual ethic … I want to be at meeting where we discuss how to move people of faith to a broader affirmation of sexual rights and pleasure for all of us. (“Sexuality and Religion: What’s the Connection?” June 17)

The Safety Net, a group whose “goal is to work in a positive way to effect much-needed change in the policies, procedures, and attitudes surrounding clergy sexual misconduct in Unitarian Universalist congregations,” publishes an open letter to the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association (UUMA). (“Safety Net,” June 17)