Introduction
Guest Contributor Dick Burkhart
Although the Fifth Principle Project has concluded that further engagement with the Unitarian Universalist Association to reinvigorate the right of conscience and renew the democratic process in the governance of our denomination is no longer a viable quest, we still wish to keep people informed. People can engage as they see appropriate.
Below we have provided Voting Recommendations for Actions of Immediate Witness offered by Dick Burkhard for the upcoming General Assembly. GA will convene June 18-22, 2025. Delegates may attend in person (Baltimore, MD) or virtually. Business Delegates with voting rights may register without charge. See the GA Registration page. Information on the General Assembly is found at this link.
Voting Recommendations Overview
Below are the five proposed Actions of Immediate Witness (AIW), as currently written. They are subject to amendment. To comment on the AIWs or to register for a feedback session, you need to establish a login at discuss.uua.org.
The Commission on Social Witness will conduct an online poll to decide which three of these five will be voted on during the GA (2/3 vote to pass).
Delegates can vote on only three AIWs. The AIWs are ranked top to bottom according to Dick’s recommendations.
Overview Comments
I ranked them in order, assessing their quality, importance, and urgency.
Additional information and explanation of the AIWs are found at this link.
AIW 1: Faithful Defiance of Authoritarianism, a Call to Action: Reaffirming Our Covenants for Democracy and Freedom!
An outstanding call to protect our democracy and the rule of law. It asks us to live out our values in “solidarity with interfaith and secular partners” and to “transcend lesser differences…to defend the guarantees of just law, constitutional integrity, equal justice, meaningful separation of powers, due process, and the freedoms of speech and press” from the assaults of authoritarian governance.
AIW 2: We declare and reaffirm: all people have inherent worth and inalienable rights
A powerful and timely call to protect immigrants from the multiple abuses they are being subjected to by the current authoritarian regime in the US. This includes ways to resist locally, such as how to come to the aid of immigrants at risk in your area or to support local governments that want to help. Alliances to create or nurture.
AIW 3: Voter Justice and Racial Equity for the Citizens of the Nation’s Capital
A powerful statement for statehood for the District of Columbia, which has been repeatedly denied, decade after decade, for reasons of politics and prejudice. Without statehood, the abuses of congressional rule continue, depending on the party in power, making it more urgent than ever.
AIW 4: Funding Global LGBTIQ Freedom Amid Crisis: A Call for Immediate Action and Solidarity
This AIW is quite verbose and repetitious, but does identify an urgent issue for global gender communities. Funding for their support organizations is being cut by 25%, primarily due to reductions in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) budget by the current US administration.
AIW 5: Bringing a Feminist and Womanist Lens to Resistance and Activism
This AIW is all over the map. It fails to maintain its proclaimed focus on women and feminism but endorses gender ideologies that have been strongly opposed or debunked, including by feminists and scientists. The focus of this AIW is more on the legal abuses of the current authoritarian regime in the US, a topic that deserves its own AIW, since most of the abuses identified in the AIW only tangentially affect women.
Another point raised is the use of the word “misogynoir” (discrimination against black women). From slavery through to the New Jim Crow, black men have been treated more harshly than black women. Welfare has also privileged black women over black men.
The assertion that “transwomen are women” is based on gender ideology, not biological science. In addition, the purported medical science used to justify puberty blockers and teen surgeries has been found to suffer from bad methodology or misinterpretations of data (Cass Review out of the UK, HHS report from the US). Distressed girls, far more than boys, have become the target of social media posts to convince them they suffer from gender dysphoria, requiring medical treatments with permanent consequences, rather than something far more common, such as a tomboyish phase, homosexuality, or autism.
The Details
AIW 1: Faithful Defiance of Authoritarianism, a Call to Action: Reaffirming Our Covenants for Democracy and Freedom!
- Proposer:Fred Van Deusen, UUSJ, First Parish in Concord, MA
- Collaborator:Ursula Scott, UUSJ Democracy Action Team Co-convener, River Road UU Congregation, Bethesda, MD
Description: In a time when the soul of democracy is under siege, Unitarian Universalists should rise with a flame kindled not only in protest and defiance, but in covenantal love and sacred resolve. This AIW resolution affirms a deep theological and historical grounding for democratic action, invoking the symbolic power of the flaming chalice and the tradition of covenant as spiritual and civic commitments. Recognizing the current threats to justice, equity, democratic institutions, and the rule of law—from authoritarian abuses to systemic oppression—the resolution calls on us to transcend isolation, strengthen alliances, and uphold civil society through peaceful, principled resistance. It urges UUs to engage nationally and locally with movements for justice, inclusion, and democratic renewal, framing this moment as both a moral trial and a sacred opportunity to co-create a radically inclusive, beloved community.
AIW 2: We declare and reaffirm: all people have inherent worth and inalienable rights
- Proposing Delegate: Abhi Janamanchi, Cedar Lane UU Congregation, MD
- Collaborators:The Rev. Dr. Beth Ann Johnson & Charlotte Jones-Carroll
Description: Unitarian Universalists affirm the inherent worth and inalienable rights of all people, including immigrants, and are called by faith to uphold justice, dignity, and compassion. Recent authoritarian actions in the U.S.—such as mass deportations, family separations, and the erosion of due process—represent moral and democratic failures that demand a bold and faithful response. In light of these injustices, the 2025 UUA General Assembly should commit to personal, congregational, and advocacy actions, including public witness, community partnerships, and legislative engagement. Unitarian Universalists are called to rise with courage, solidarity, and love, embodying justice through action and refusing to be silent in the face of oppression.
AIW 3: Voter Justice and Racial Equity for the Citizens of the Nation’s Capital
- Proposer: Rob Keithan, All Souls Church Unitarian, Washington, DC
Description: Unitarian Universalists in Washington, D.C., are calling on fellow UUs across the 50 states to join them in protecting D.C.’s Home Rule and advancing the cause of D.C. Statehood. For over 200 years, residents of the District have been denied full representation in Congress—a fundamental democratic right. Now, even the limited autonomy D.C. currently holds is under repeated threat. Recent congressional proposals would severely undermine the District’s authority to govern itself: restricting its ability to collect, allocate, and spend local funds; overturning local laws on criminal justice, environmental protections, and voter eligibility; and slashing essential services, including reproductive healthcare and sanctuary protections for immigrants. Some lawmakers have gone further, openly advocating for the complete repeal of Home Rule, reverting D.C. to a time when Congress exercised total control over local policies and services.
AIW 4: Funding Global LGBTIQ Freedom Amid Crisis: A Call for Immediate Action and Solidarity
- Proposer:Keola Whittaker, Delegate for First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles
Description: Our Unitarian Universalist principles affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person, justice and compassion in human relations, and the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. Our UU faith calls us to recognize that all bodies are sacred, and that each person is endowed with the divine gifts of agency, conscience, and self-determination, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
As Unitarian Universalists, we understand that liberation theology requires us to center the most marginalized communities and stand against systems of oppression that target our LGBTIQ siblings across the globe.
We recognize that true global justice requires that we acknowledge the interconnected nature of human rights struggles and accept our moral responsibility to act from a place of radical solidarity.
AIW 5: Bringing a Feminist and Womanist Lens to Resistance and Activism
- Proposers: Ann Wiesner of Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation and Karen Kortsch of International Convocation of UU Women
Description: Our Unitarian Universalist faith affirms the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and centers justice, equity, and compassion in all our endeavors. In this moment, UU Congregations should be safe, nurturing, and affirming places for women+ and their families to obtain spiritual sustenance and support. Our faith demands that we not only speak out and resist the activities of the regime, but we must also ensure that our own faith community roots out misogyny, misogynoir, and transphobia so that all of us feel true belonging. Without spiritual sustenance, the violence and oppression that’s happening around us will be impossible to endure. We must resist the oppression of women+ both outside and inside our own walls.
If we really want to preserve democracy, it is far more critical that we learn to talk to normal people so we can have some real hope to sustain a majority who shares that goal than to keep reaffirming allegiance just to the few identify groups that someone has decreed alone deserve recognition, and who total a minority of the voting population!
We have formed a tribe that has become as almost blind to our own shibboleths as those who we deplore.
Protecting our values starts with examining ourselves.
Why progressive activist language turns off most people
Democrats, Progressives, and UUs bought George Lakoff’s Frames twenty years ago and tangled themselves in abstract nouns since then; early earlier but Lakoff wrote the book on this. (See Jess Walker’s The Man Who Framed Himself in Reason Mag back in 2005.) People see through it, and Trump turned the nonsense to his advantage.
When management’s response at an old job was to respond to a senior exec’s gaff on women in the workplace into a mandatory lecture for all-hands (not the Execs) from a DEI contractor explaining the meaning behind each letter of LGBTQ+, I understood the Left had cratered. All the diverse hands wanted to know was if the company would ever turn a profit (it didn’t). Our self interest in our livelihoods was our inclusion. Channeling Pete Buttigieg’s apt remark, we did not want PowerPoints from Portlandia.
a spot on observation – polling repeatedly shows that the general population finds much of progressive terminologies distasteful. and, our #4 proposal introduces a term so up-to-date that few of us have ever seen it before today. i view this contest among unitarian universalists to be amazingly similar to the one playing out across ‘murica currently.
in both cases, a more suitable strategy might be a better choice than doubling down on old methods.
It’s not the end of Democracy when your candidate loses an election.
On first read I must admit to being a bit surprised at how often the principles UU’s voted to discard are invoked. This is encouraging but in my view UU’s no longer have the moral authority to invoke the principles.
Frank. Haven’t you learned that the intellectual elite knows best? Why would they permit or allow the democratic process to impair their self determined best outcome?
Yes, I’ve heard that, but I keep relapsing into the inquisitive mode. My bad.
on first reading, i had exactly that reaction – for such old and stale language, certain words and phrases certainly cropped up frequently in these proposals. but having slept on this, i would offer another possible interpretation.
in my opinion, by no means should all the uua dissidents be assumed as being present in NAUA & 5th Principle membership rolls. might there be silent dissidents responsible for these highly visible references to our discarded principles….a taste of malicious compliance?
no JETPIGS to be seen…
Re: AIW #5: “Bringing a Feminist and Womanist Lens to Resistance and Activism”
Most of my friends are women. Many of them identify as feminists.
Since 1999, most active, ordained UU ministers are women. More than 60% of UUs are women. Among the 11 new members of my congregation, only 3 are men. The rift is growing. Is this concerning to you?
I’m concerned that non-toxic men may not “feel true belonging.” The Democratic Party is grappling with a parallel trend.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/31/politics/video/galloway-election-masculinity-smerconish-digvid
The question I have is what is meant by a feminist perspective?
Possible answer?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyMwNYccKCc
UUA is a microcosm of the Dem Party macro. Sad…but true. Why UUs and Dems insist on “staying the course” is startling … at this point. 2025? Both entities are in a downward spiraling suicidal decline. They have only themselves to blame. Both suffering from a brain-drain and a man-drain that leads to powerlessness through declining relevancy. Neither has the vision, nor the leadership, necessary to self-correct. The top-level minds are gone. They departed years ago…
AIW ranking: AIW 2. ( reiteration of one of 7 principles).
AIW 1,3,4, & 5: Ranked 96,97,98,& 99. Ie. not a problem, or simplistic hyperbole. Society and nature usually displays itself as a spectrum. Just accept it as fact. It’s okay. Deal with it.
The AIW focused on immigration could be more balanced. While I PERSONALLY think the U.S. would benefit from higher levels of legal immigration, with particularly high benefits for skilled immigration. I think the public is concerned about what this would due to the country’s social fabric and identity. And it is not crazy to have this as a concern. So, a more balanced AIW would recognize that the U.S., like all nations, has the right to set limits to immigration flows to achieve national goals. The U.S. is NOT morally obligated to admit as an immigrant anyone whose earnings might… Read more »
Yes, good post, Tim. I’ll add that the strong insinuation of an open border policy flows logically from the epistemology underlying the ideology, which posits that there are oppressors and the oppressed; the latter keeps expanding because their epistemology condemns them to search for victims. The ostensible goal is to achieve social justice for the oppressed. But if the nature of what it means to be human is the oppressed and the oppressor, there is likely not much hope of that. The good news for those adopting this ideology is that their purpose in life is assured.