I have recently returned from the 49th General Assembly (GA) of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA, for short), which met in Minneapolis June 23-27. I was one of two delegates representing my congregation in Bowling Green, KY. Since Tikkun Daily includes subscribers and bloggers who consider themselves UU’s and the UUA grapples with many of the same challenges as do otherwise affiliated or unaffiliated spiritual progressives, it’s a reasonable guess that what occurred at the UUA General Assembly will interest Tikkun Daily readers.

Above: Excerpt from Native American activist, environmentalist, economist, and writer Winona LaDuke’s June 26 lecture to the 2010 General Assembly of the UUA. See the complete lecture here.

The Unitarian Universalist Association resulted from unification in 1961 of two of the country’s oldest radical/liberal religious denominations, both of which have roots in the Radical Reformation. General Assembly is the annual decision-making gathering of delegates representing the congregations that belong to the Association. This denomination is committed in principle to democratic process in society and in its member congregations. Like other socially engaged religious movements, it has continuously faced the task of renewing itself in changing social, political, and spiritual conditions. This was especially evident at this General Assembly. One index of the urgency of this task is the fact, reported by UUA President Rev. Peter Morales, that half of our ministers are likely to retire in the next decade.

UUA Secretary Tom Loughrey reported at the start of the June 25 plenary that 1866 delegates registered for the Assembly. This number included 1478 congregational delegates, 378 ministers, and two credentialed religious educators from 571 congregations. A total of 3835 UU’s registered for the Assembly, among them 146 youth. The Youth Caucus played an important role in the deliberation of the Assembly.

In his first President’s Report, Rev. Morales reported that after years of very slight growth, UUA Membership has been shrinking slightly. On a positive note, he noted the successes of the UUA-sponsored campaign Standing on the Side of Love, which has become a vehicle for denominational and congregational visibility in social witness activism related to Marriage Equality and human rights in the U.S.

Immigration: “A Struggle For America’s Soul”

Dominating the full agenda of this engaged movement was a set of issues surrounding immigration and the racial profiling illustrated by Arizona’s SB 1070. An important part of the proceedings were occupied by the UUA’s social witness process, by which the denomination, which inscribes pluralism and democracy in its principles and in the self-determination of its member congregations, nevertheless reaches a degree of commonality on social justice issues.

The Assembly considered five Congregational Study-Action Issues (CSAI’s) and selected “Immigration as a Moral Issue” as the issue for congregational study and action over a four-year period, probably leading to a denominational Statement of Conscience at General Assembly on the question in 2014. CSAI’s are formulated and reduced to a manageable number for final selection by a process that involves consultation with congregations in the months prior to General Assembly. Of the five “candidate” CSAI’s selected for the agenda, “Immigration As a Moral Issue” and “National Economic Reform: A Moral Imperative” received the highest number of votes on the first ballot but neither had a majority. On the run-off, Immigration was chosen by a decisive margin.

Later in the Assembly, delegates proposed a number of Actions of Immediate Witness, and once again the Immigration issue rose to the top of the Agenda. The title of AIW-1 sums it up: “Oppose Anti-Immigrant Measures at the State Level (Arizona Law SB 1070 and the Like) and Hasten Federal Immigration Reform. ”

Actions of Immediate Witness (AIW’s) are placed on the agenda by petitions circulated at General Assembly itself. They represent the collective witness of the delegates and do not technically represent the denomination as a whole, since the congregations selecting the delegates do not know precisely what AIW’s will be on the agenda and would not have had an opportunity to discuss them before delegate selection.

The delegates responded enthusiastically to the premises of AIW-1: “We welcome the stranger and we recognize our neighbor…we know that immigrants come to this nation to work hard and provide for their families… The presence of immigrants benefits the nation…”

Resolved: to Oppose Arizona Law SB 1070

Asserting that “the legislators and governor of Arizona interfered with federal interests, encroached on federal jurisdiction, and created in SB 1070 a law that would press for the deportation of our neighbors or bully our neighbors, especially people of color, and punish their compassionate friends,” the AIW “resolved that the 2010 General Assembly oppose Arizona Law SB 1070 and the enactment of laws similar to Arizona Law SB 1070 in other states.”

The resolution, approved June 27, the last day of the Assembly, included action specifics such as “to support Arizona on a July 29, 2010 Day of Non-Compliance and for events during the Human Rights Summer” and “apply such economic pressure to the state as is specifically targeted to achieve repeal.”

The last point reflected the previous day’s discussion and decision on a business resolution affecting General Assembly 2012, which had been scheduled, prior to the passage of Arizona Law SB 1070, to take place in Phoenix. Expressing the near universal opposition of Unitarian Universalists to this law, the Board of Trustees had placed on the original agenda a resolution that the Planning Committee should find an alternate location for GA 2012 outside Arizona — in other words, to join the movement to boycott Arizona as long as the anti-immigrant law is in effect. But local UU congregations in the Southwest already working with grassroots Hispanic groups in their area opposed this proposal, starting a conversation that continued at a well-attended workshop and a plenary in Minneapolis. The workshop produced a substitute resolution that called on “the UUA Board to gather Unitarian Universalists for the purpose of witnessing on immigration, racial and economic justice – a Justice General Assembly — in June 2012 to be held in Phoenix, AZ.” It urged the UUA Administration “to work with leaders in Arizona UU Congregations to establish an Arizona immigration ministry to partner with other groups in Arizona working for immigration reform to strengthen those partnerships in preparation for our arrival in 2012.”

A number of speakers addressed the issue. UUA President Morales, elected at the 2009 General Assembly, described the immigration justice issue as “a struggle for America’s soul. It’s going to go on for a generation.” More than once speakers described this issue as “the civil rights issue of this generation.” Morales reminded delegates of the Unitarian Universalists’ participation in the May 29 demonstration (against SB 1070) in Phoenix. “We were the most visible faith community.” He urged attendees to remember that “todos somos Arizona” (we are all Arizona).

Practice Radical Hospitality

Rev. Abhi Janamanchi, minister for the Unitarian Universalist congregation in Clearwater FL, himself from India and a holder of a green card, said “radical hospitality is a Unitarian Universalist virtue.” The “call to welcome the stranger, the alien, the immigrant is … an ancient precept of many religions. Yet it is desperately needed in today’s world… Today’s world needs religious communities, such as ours, responding to the call to practice radical hospitality… This hospitality of the heart calls us to step out of our comfort zones, to encounter, wrestle with, and reconcile with stranger and friend. It reminds us that encounters with the stranger can sometimes be a wounding experience, but a wounding that will heal and transforms us.”

Salvador Reza, a leader of Puente Movement, a group representing ten organized barrios in the Phoenix area, told the Unitarian Universalists that his group would welcome the presence and witness of the Unitarian Universalists
in 2012. Speaking of the recent legislation, he said, “We are witnessing the beginning of apartheid in [North] America.” Also speaking was Rev. Leslie Takahasi-Morris, who urged UU’s to “be willing to speak [on this issue even] where our message may not be well-received.”

Creating Peace — Naming the Principles Behind the Work

Immigration was not of course the only social justice issue on the agenda. A Statement of Conscience entitled “Creating Peace” – the product of four years reflection and debate on a similarly titled Study Action Issue – had been up for approval at GA 2009, but that Assembly decided to refer it for further discussion and reconsideration at the 2010 meeting. In the past year, the document had been significantly reconceived, with its underlying theological principles clearly “named.” This was somewhat unusual in a movement whose ministers usually prefer to do theology by telling stories.

Some of these principles were familiar from the list of seven principles adopted by the denomination several years ago; at least one of them – “the transforming power of love” – echoed the centrality of the recent Standing on the Side of Love campaign; some were a bit philosophical or abstract: “human freedom”; “cooperative power”; “humility and open-mindedness”; and “rejection of moral dualism.” Each had an accompanying explanation. The last principle, for instance, was followed by this explanation: “We reject as false the sharp separation of good and evil, refusing to assign individuals and nations into one category or the other. Moral dualism can blind us to our own and our nation’s capacity for evil and to the inherent worth and dignity of those whom our nation labels as enemies. In the midst of ambiguity we can build peace by cultivating the goodness in our selves and others.” The draft Statement of Conscience as it appeared in the published “Agenda” of the Unitarian Universalist Association 49th Annual General Assembly may be found on the UUA website here.

Amendments were proposed and debated at a Mini-Assembly on the morning of June 24. The final debate and vote on a slightly amended version took place at a plenary session that afternoon. The delegates overwhelmingly endorsed the Statement of Conscience.

Winona LaDuke, Keith Ellison, Peter Meyer, and More

Plenary business is only a part, although a major part, of what transpires at a General Assembly. There were, for instance, several Worship Services at which some of the best UU preaching and musical talent was on display; a mid-day adjournment of the GA plenary so that all could attend a rally for Marriage Equality organized by Standing on the Side of Love at the Gay Pride Festival gathered at Loring Park; a late evening concert by UU singer and lyricist Peter Meyer, whose “Holy Now” and “Blue Boat Home” are staples of Sunday services in many UU congregations; a set of programs for UU youth; the annual Ware Lecture, this time delivered by the eloquent Winona Laduke, Native American community leader, environmental activist, and twice Vice Presidential candidate on the Green Party ticket; addresses in plenary by civic leaders such as Minnesota Secretary of State (and UU) Mark Ritchie, Representative Keith Ellison, and Senator Al Franken; and an eight-part series of lectures by Rev. Galen Gingerich on “The Necessity of Virtue,” about which I intend to write in a future blog.

Of course, it remains for our congregations locally and collectively to translate these resolutions and plans into effective, transformative action. For more information on the UUA General Assembly, click here.