With the permission of Rev. Trudeau, we are publishing his video appeal to his ministerial colleagues to inform them of the vote on Article II scheduled for the upcoming June 2024 virtual General Assembly. We have provided a transcript of Rev. Trudeau’s video message. You can share the video URL or transcript on your social media
Rev. Trudeau shares in part.
The issues it seems to me are grave. The current national leadership is in the process of turning the UUA from being a service organization to being a social justice collective.
Another reason that perhaps you haven’t been paying a lot of attention or have been unwilling to look into it is that is that we ministers tend to be conflict-averse and this also is very understandable. The people in our pews do not come to church to get involved in a political fight about the national Association and we are very interested in preserving the unity of our congregations
GA this year will be free, if you want it to be. Anyone can attend the business sessions for free.
Article II contains the Seven Principles and the Six Sources. The new revision is a kind of a word salad in which you can perceive the fragments, the definite fragments of many of the Seven Principles but not all. The Six Sources are gone. There is no firm commitment to individual freedom of belief.
Two Important Things
Subscribe to Comments
Subscribe to comments to follow the comments from other readers.
Join the Fifth Principle Project. It’s free. The Fifth Principle Project is an organic grassroots initiative to gather into community Unitarian Universalists who want to reinvigorate the right of conscience and renew the democratic process in the governing of our denomination.
Thank you for publishing this, and to Rev. Richard Trudeau for making the video. It seems that the UUA is turning the UU into a social justice org that has the expectation of a monolithic viewpoint (orthodoxy) about social justice issues, with an aversion to allowing room for some diversity of thought about visions of, and strategies for obtaining, social justice. Ironically, on occasion, people can label themselves as activists for social justice and yet act unjustly themselves, as in the notable case of 500 UU ministers libelling (aka bearing written false witness against) a fine colleague, Rev. Todd Eklof… Read more »
..out from the door of the farmhouse came a long file of pigs, all walking on their hind legs…out came Napoleon himself, majestically upright, casting haughty glances from side to side, and with his dogs gambolling round him. He carried a whip in his trotter. There was a deadly silence. Amazed, terrified, huddling together, the animals watched the long line of pigs march slowly round the yard. It was as though the world had turned upside-down. Then there came a moment when the first shock had worn off and when, in spite of everything-in spite of their terror of the… Read more »
Why, Jim, whatever can you mean by this fable? LOL
Thank you Rev. Trudeau for this gently given and profoundly important plea to ministers. Another concern regarding the troublesome direction in which the UUA is moving is its intention to hold everyone “accountable”. That includes: UUA staff such as the regional consultants who have strong influence on churches, all congregational ministers, lay leadership, and members. To do that it has established and budgeted a new department/office/director responsible for assuring “accountability”. What if a congregation thinks there are a variety of ways to address institutional racism or racial inequity…., perhaps a way that isn’t “blame and shame?” Perhaps a way that… Read more »
The amendment can read: there is nothing in this amendment and review that removes the 7th. Principles from Article Ii narrative.
Thanks, Rev. Trudeau! And TIA to all those who post this video far and wide – we need to distribute it so as many UUs find out about this attempt to dismantle Unitarian Universalism as we know it, and what they can do to stop it. Put the video on Facebook, Youtube – wherever you think it will have an audience where at least one person might scratch their head and say “Hey, wait a minute!” That person may tell and/or share the info with another UU, and so on and so on. This is one good way we’re going… Read more »
Thankyou for making this video Reverent Trudeau. I think we need to have a basic understanding of our history at Unitarian Universalists and look it our history in the context of global changes the were occurring across society as it intersects with our history. I found this excellent point by point historical presentation that really helps walk us through it: https://essexuu.org/UU_History_Timeline.html It’s interesting to me (among many points of interest in our rich history) that while the Unitarians and Universalists merged there was also this dance about with the Congregationalists in North America inviting the possibility of a merger with… Read more »
Scott, thanks for the timeline link.
You are correct that TOLERANCE has been removed from the rewrite of Article II. For those who understand liberalism, the phrase “freedom, reason, and tolerance” is a triad that goes together. The absence of tolerance in the new language (below) is apparent.
Section C-2.2. Values and Covenant.
As Unitarian Universalists, we covenant, congregation-to-congregation and through our Association, to support and assist one another in our ministries. We draw from our heritages of freedom, reason,
TOLERANCE, hope, and courage, building on the foundation of love.Ministers from Meadville Lombard: if we the lay people are the ones speaking out. We trust in you to be the scholarly experts. We trust in your leadership recognizing that no matter what, you have independence and freedom of the pulpit and that ours is a free and responsible religion based on Freedom, Reason, and Tolerance. I have looked at your course catalogs, I’ve seen what it costs. We all know how hard you work and study to become what you are. We put our trust in you. I didn’t join my local congregation placing my trust in the UUA… Read more »
I agree with the suggestion that ministers inform themselves and vote according to their own conscience about Article II. Indeed, I hope that is what all delegates will do. I have posted elsewhere my own thoughts about Article II, how it relates to some of the issues in dispute, and how it might be used to explore, synthesize, and even reconcile some of these differences (which I agree did not happen at GA 2023). I also do think that the conversation about Article II actually needs to be continued, openly and fully (with multiple points of view), while I recognize… Read more »
Here is the public Facebook post mentioned above, regarding a staff member termination:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/779339622863440
Great video. I have been trying to figure all the things that are happening within the UUA and my own Church. Today after service we had a discussion about the 7-principles and the new proposed values. It was presented by two younger members who were basically telling us how good the changes are versus what we already have. I tried to tell the congregation just some of the things that are happening, but I am not a very good speaker as I come across angry and very nervous, thus I probably did more harm than good. But I need help… Read more »
If you go to savethe7principles.org you can get onto their discussion list and ask the question there. There’s a good chance that someone there would be able to give you the ammunition you need.
Thank You Richard.
This platform is unbelievable. The magnificent data uncovers the distributer’s excitement. I’m shocked and expect additional such astonishing posts.
Yikes.