Archived MVUUF Forum August 1-31, 2010

I continue to be energized by my participation in Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) events such as the General Assembly (GA). Such large gatherings of UUs take me beyond the warm and loving community I find at MVUUF and transport me into a movement. There are thousands of UUs, behaving well, acting courteously, and speaking honestly and thoughtfully. It helps me recognize that if we could bottle what we have we could have peace in the world! Well, okay, I may exaggerate but we really do have something to celebrate.

One of the meaningful aspects of GA comes through the reflections of a group called the Right Relationship Team. This group helps identify and speak of mistakes we may make with one another so they can be corrected. Let me explain.

At an early session, the GA planning team put together an energizing skit that involved people from all different generations, most with limited experience as UU, describing what attracted them to the faith and ending with, "I am the UUA." It showed some of our diverse backgrounds and our generational diversity but all of the speakers were white and able-bodied. The Right Relations Team pointed this out to the entire assembly the next day because it was a painful exclusion of many of our members. That helped all of us recognize that we may be behaving in ways that are hurtful - even though we have the very best of intentions. At the end of the assembly, the planning team made it right by having a second skit with people of color and different abilities describe what attracted them to the faith and ending with, "I am the UUA." (The best was a young person who self-identified as young, gender queer, economically poor, and a red neck.)

I know it sounds a bit like the politically-correct police, but having observed this team do its work for several years now, I have come to appreciate both the method and the message. We really are diverse in many ways and need to make our best efforts to be inclusive of our diversity. It helps us learn and grow when we are attentive and respectful to the experiences of others. But aside from recognizing how our movement touches people of all sorts, GA also helps us learn how to struggle with difficult issues and arrive at workable approaches to them.

I would like to share two other examples that don't involve Right Relations, but reflect thoughtfulness in the face of conflict and difficult decisions. First, the UUA Board of Trustees asked the assembly to consider a resolution about whether or not it should hold the 2012 GA in Phoenix in light of the state's immigration laws that allow the police to ask for citizenship papers if they suspect someone may be in the country illegally. Many see this law as overreaching and as racial profiling and are calling for a boycott of Arizona. The GA was scheduled there several years ago, so the question was whether or not we should keep our reservation. Money was at stake, but was not the most important factor in the choice. Instead, it was a choice between those who felt we should go stand with our Arizona congregations and make a statement against these policies and those who said we should boycott in order to have an economic impact. Rather than become an either-or choice, the mini-assemblies re-worked the resolution to hold GA in Phoenix, but to minimize the ordinary business and workshops of the assembly and instead to work with Arizonans as part of a "justice GA" that will focus on justice work in the area of immigration. This agreement passed by a very, large majority.

Another resolution, or Action of Immediate Witness (AIW), called on the US to condemn Israel for its Palestinian relations. The language in this resolution revealed a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli tilt. Many of the UUs of Jewish heritage spoke against the resolution for its biased view. They wanted to see a more honest appraisal of the situation there. The AIW did not pass, I think in large part out of the wisdom of those calling for more accurate kinds of statements. It reminds me of how we can try to do the right thing but inadvertently be exclusionary. The issue is not dead, but the next iteration will be more balanced and reflective of diverse voices.

Finally, The UUA is trying to make the decision-making process of the GA more democratic. Right now the practice is "direct democracy." The people who show up make the decisions. The UUA would like it to be more of a "representative democracy." The assembly will be deciding on changes like this in the coming years in an attempt to make GA more affordable so that it can be representative of our congregations. I applaud efforts like these. I hope you will find a way to go when it is in Charlotte next year to celebrate our 50th anniversary as an association bringing Unitarians and Universalists together. It's a reasonable drive!

~ Alice Diebel