Rev. Dr. Todd Eklof discusses what the NAUA is, or seeks to be, and what in his view it is not, with nearly 100 interested and concerned UU’s. The video is approximately 1 1/2 hours long and begins with Rev. Eklof’s clarifications of his motives and intentions regarding the founding of this new UU organization, followed by questions and answers.
Every Voice Deserves a Vote
This was a good discussion. Thanks for uploading it so quickly. Starting an organization like this is going to be a LOT of work. I hope people will step up, volunteer, and get involved. It’s only going to be as successful as we make it!
I just found this project and website and am relieved to see what is being advocated for here. I’m curious to learn more about NAUA. I’ve only been a UU for five years in the MDD region. My comment is not so much about the NAUA and I will be looking to learn more. I’m curious about something some emerging intellectuals are proposing regarding transitioning of race conversations to conversations about ethnicities. I apologize that I do not remember names at the moment. I think the conversation about race lacks the nuance and usefulness that a ethnicity centered conversation could… Read more »
Thank you Cynthia for your interest in our efforts. We hope you stick around and join us. The NAUA is just getting off the ground and we will move fast toward getting the web page up and our magazine published. So look forward to a good deal of news about in the next month or so. Might I ask how it is you found us? Also, that discussion sounds like a decent counterpoint to what appears to be the racial essentialism in the ideological of the UUA. Thanks for the reference. Lastly, be aware that even while the A2 Commission… Read more »
What a bummer. I think the principles have so much value. Finding them online was the whole thing that brought me to UU in the first place. I found this website because we are seeing a lack of the application of the fifth principle in my own congregation. I was using Google to hopefully find guidance either from the UUA or something someone else has published on the topic. That’s how I found this website. I had previously heard about the Gadfly Papers and read a portion of it someone shared with me. Now I understand why our part-time minister… Read more »
It’s our own fault that we cannot convey an understanding of our principles to a novice. I blame the clergy. For one, we think of them in a linear list rather than in a ring, like what surrounds our chalice. A ring shows they are all equally important to the integrity of the ring. We also use a lot of adjectives when the we could boil each down to a one word “essence” that can serve in visual graphics and as a prompt to remember the exacting wordings. How about PERSON, JUSTICE, SPIRIT, FREEDOM, VOICE, PEACE, WEB for principles 1… Read more »
Dr Sheena Mason is doing a lot of work around this issue.
https://www.theoryofracelessness.org/
Thank you, I’ll take a look. I was just pondering why people might purposefully choose to speak about race over ethnicity and it came to me that in America and other countries all around the world that enslaved many Africans, that perhaps it’s because the enslaved peoples ethnicities were partially destroyed whereas their skin color remained with them. A large piece of all of that pain is lost culture. I wonder to what degree an anthropologist would consider African Americans who decended from slaves to be one ethnicity?
I am reading “Theory of Racelessness” and it would be reasonable to maintain that African Americans would be identified by the various tribes (ethnicities) that their ancestors are descended from. Reclaiming that ethnic connection might be part of the healing process.The same would be true of Europeans and Asians, and of course Native Americans. This seems to be the real long term solution to the problem of racism, of course it will still take a lot of work to reach the goal.
Yes, it is very important to explain away racism in America.
Cops never kill people because of their race. It’s because the cops are just doing their jobs.
People are never denied jobs because of their race, it is always individual.
Whenever you read anything like “cops never” or “people are never” you know you have entered the realm of bullshit.
I will be ready to join Rev Eklof if and only if we fail at stopping the UUA and the Article II Study Commission’s proposal to replace our principles. The NAUA is syphoning off recruits before building an army and going to battle. Let’s first build the army and resist. His can be a fall back position.
Rev. Todd Eklof is a wonderful human and I am beyond grateful and proud to have been able to, and continue to, call him my minister. I fully support the NAUA and all that it stands for. Rev. Todd Eklof is making important steps to save our beloved liberal religion. THANK YOU.
I was on the search team that brought Rev. Todd Eklof to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane. He was the last of our candidates that we invited. His sermons at both the first and second services (at a distant UU church) were the only sermons at which any of our candidates received standing ovations. During his eleven plus years as our minister he has consistently presented us with visionary sermons based on reason, logic, science and caring for each other. He also has been a leader in regional and local issues that UUCS supports. I am proud of the… Read more »
Kate’s suggestion at 54:20 was especially helpful: we can form “house churches” that subscribe to a remote organization (like uuspokane.org or ohmfellowship.org) for online “sermons and worship content,” but watch these together as a group, in person, for local community.
(Note that ohmfellowship.org was originally the “Seven Principles Fellowship,” but forced to change their name after legal threats from the UUA.)