Calling for Dialogue on the Direction of the UUA

Everyone has the right to be listened to and dialogue is essential to the growth and well being of the church.

As part of our beloved liberal religious community of Unitarian Universalists, I've observed over recent years that something illiberal, intolerant, dogmatic, and even hate-filled was emerging from the corporate-sponsored "anti-racism" / deterministic "critical race theory" movement, in its inroads among some Unitarian Universalists and some in the UUA. I've puzzled over this and mourned its effects on congregations, its erosion of our 7 principles, and I'm thankful that it is being called out. I happily join in this petition for renewed open dialogue and reform. The revolutionary liberal religious-philosophical tradition, which helped spark the Enlightenment and modern movements of philosophical, religious, political freedom, and toward actual social-economic-racial-environmental justice, and which for centuries has been a refuge welcoming freethinkers and liberal dissidents, should not now become that against which it was once a refuge. Our own UUA (which claims to be an heir of that broad tradition) needs the windows and doors of reform thrown open wide.

I believe inherent worth and dignity is for everyone.

A redirection of the UUA is overdue. We need true tolerance of all points of view.

I thought that democratic process was a cornerstone of UU and a major positive difference from main line churches.

YES!

This is soooooooo needed. Thanks to those who have inspired this.

Democracy for UUA Now!

I agree whole heartedly that the current antiracism rhetoric leads to more polarization and disregards the deeper issues that are the root of ALL inequality,

UUA was hijacked by a self-aggrandizing mob of outliers with little understanding of UU, attempting to debase our Principles with CRT dogma. They must be stopped.

5 years ago Featured

I resigned my membership because of my disillusionment with the hypocrisy of UUA regarding the Rev. Todd Eklof. Apologize to him, and then let the dialogue begin.

I have been a UU for over 30 years. I love my local congregation and the people in it , and the larger community we serve. While our congregation is a positive force in our local community, I find that the UUA has become nothing more than the mouthpiece for the extreme Left wing of the Democratic party. Our congregation cares about what is in your heart not what political party you support.

I'm a birthright UU who left the faith of my childhood after experiencing institutional betrayal at the continental, district, and local levels. I see things have continued to devolve. Heartbreaking. When I was young I was so proud that the Unitarian Universalists had the courage of our convictions to stand up for dialog and protect the voiceless. Was it always a lie?

I signed because my UU church, under the guidance of a newly-ordained UU minister, has become driven by doctrine, not the right of conscience or the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. I am concerned about how ministers are being formed in our faith, and how this reflects on UUism. This is not the way to respond to years of racism and classism in our faith. Let us open our hearts, not close them.

I'm signing as an individual and a ministerial colleague of Rev. Todd Eklof. Let’s make no mistake: actions such as public censure and removal from a Good Offices position or from ministerial fellowship are executed as a sort of death sentence. These are attempts to kill our colleagues, institutionally. Even if the executing officers should claim that this is just a "little bit" of death, or only a “kind” of death, it is disingenuous to imagine that such acts of institutional violence do not affect their victims' health and well-being. Nor should anyone imagine that such acts represent Unitarian Universalist tradition.

5 years ago Featured

Having served as Rev. Eklof's Good Officer and having witnessed the unfairness in the ways he has been treated I support this call for honest dialogue

Eklof's little liberal light has cast a lot of shadows.

I am very concerned about the undemocratic lack of dialog about certain directions within the UUA.

I am signing as an individual. I have read Eklof's book. He makes some excellent points. His treatment by the UUA is very disturbing

I am signing as an individual, not as a representative of any group or other individual(s).