#290 | Jennifer Courtwright | Proposal is too Generic to be Meaningful

I have a PROCEDURAL/foundational question for the BOT or the Moderators @CharlesD.
Am copying my question from the A2SC FB page:

Given that, I believe, it’s the Board of Trustees that puts forth a limited number of amendments (submitted by delegates),

How will the BOT handle what appear to be paradigm-different types of amendments — amendments that work WITHIN the context of a given section vs. Those that replace the entire section?

Thus, an amendment working within a given section (Values) doesn’t make sense in the context of an amendment that may pass replacing the entire section.

Thus, for example, this possible amendment targets just one phrase inside the existing Inspiration section: https://discuss.uua.org/…/72-frederick-wildes…/200

Whereas this possible amendment replaces the entire inspirations section: https://discuss.uua.org/…/290-jennifer…/501/6


How will the BOT of trustees/Moderators handle this paradigm-different approach to the Proposed Revision to A2 during GA?

Thank you,
Bek Wheeler
@KLusignan @beccaboerger @courtwrightj01 @Janet @peckalec

I’ve also wondered what happens if two conflicting amendments both get over 75% – it’s unlikely for very different amendments, but certainly possible for a total-rewriting amendment and a small revision that addresses one of the same issues could both pass but have mutually exclusive solutions.

Thinking about “naming” the values/principles… names are better than numbers --and more egalitarian. There are two big things we want in a name: it should be unique, and memorable. I feel the ideas behind “equity”, “pluralism”, and “interdependence” are relatively clear, but “generosity”, “transformation”, and “justice” have some overlap that could be better organized (just as with the current 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 8th principles).

I’m almost done analyzing the C-2-2 amendments data, but having skimmed through most of the proposals now, here are some “names” for the themes which I think the principles/values try to stand for:

  • “Inherent Worth” — inherent & equitable personal worth, right to dignity, respect for individuals
  • “Religious Truth” (alternative: Religious Freedom) — search for truth and meaning, pluralistic interpretation of the spirit, collective understanding
  • “Beloved Community” (alternative: World Community) — use of democracy and rights of minority, egalitarian power structures, fighting systems of oppression, goal of world community
  • “Natural Connection” (alternative: Global Interdependence) — interdependent web, interconnected tree of life, human connection and relation to nature
  • “Empathetic Justice” (alternative: Isotropic )— peace between and justice for groups, empathy and compassion in personal relationships, need for diverse perspectives
  • “Spiritual Growth” (alternative: Personal Transformation) — acceptance of personal identities, encouragement and openness to change, balance between acceptance and change

“Isotropic” would have been a good word to use, but it’s too obscure.

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We will do our best to structure the order of the amendments to lead to some logical understanding of the intentions of the delegates if/when more than one amendment passes. We can’t prevent people from submitting amendments that may be in conflict with one another. In the discussion prior to and during GA, the sponsors of conflicting amendments may be able to argue for the passage of theirs, while encouraging a no vote on the other.

Also, the goal of the workshops is, for those of you who have submitted ideas, to find one another and look for compromise and merge ideas together.

I like this idea a lot. I was really uncomfortable with how the official UUA proposal focused on Love as the ONE central value that all the others are based around. To me it felt too much like smuggling “god” back in as our movement’s focus. (Thinking of the “God is love” idea.) This proposal decenters that and puts the emphasis on the pluralistic nature of our tradition, which is where I think it should be. Thank you!

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Considering aesthetics and rhythm, might “Empathic Justice” flow better than “Empathetic Justice”?

Section 2.2. Covenant, Values, and Inspirations

As Unitarian Universalists, we covenant, congregation-to-congregation and through our association, to support and assist one another in our ministries. Drawing from our Universalist heritages of love and our Unitarian heritages of wonder, these diverse ministries of our living religious tradition can be thought of as a metaphor of a flower and its environment. The flower’s petals represent our values. Our values are how we communicate and live out our tradition with the ultimate goal of love. Our inspirations, represented by the sun, stem, leaves and ground, provide energy, pathways, and nutrients needed for life. Air and water are not depicted. These elements represent that which cannot be named, and the ultimate forms in which we live, move, and have our being.

Values

Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline love. Inseparable from one another, these shared values are:

[[[insert final values statements here]]]]

Inspirations

As a pluralistic, living religious tradition, we draw inspiration from direct experiences of transcending mystery and wonder as well as historical wisdom which provides many paths to feeling a part of something larger than ourselves. Inseparable from one another our inspirations are:

Wonder. We find energy and joy in the mystery, beauty, and creativity of life.

We cultivate wonder by using science to explore mystery and quantify uncertainty, experiencing and creating moral and physical beauty, and connecting physically and emotionally with others.

Wisdom. We make meaning from our experiences which photosynthesizes courage, hope, and faith needed for our work.

We expand our wisdom by gaining perspective, practicing discernment, practicing philosophies and religious and spiritual traditions, and participating in the creative arts.

Grounding. We practice balance, restoration, and resurrection during difficult times.

We ground ourselves using rituals, mindfulness practices, sacred rest, and composting difficult experiences into new paths forward. By deeply listening to ourselves, each other, reason, and the ground of being, we co-create and re-create our home.

We respect the histories, contexts and cultures in which these paths were created and are currently practiced. Grateful for the experiences that move us, aware of the religious ancestries we inherit, and enriched by the diversity of our faith, we are called to ever deepen and expand our paths of connection.

Alternative graphic

I think the graphic is beautiful. However, I believe a graphic would better be displayed on our website and in informational documents that explain the meaning of UUism, not in the formal document of the bylaws.

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Hmmm… What does it even mean “congregation-to-congregation"and through our association”? The older wording was much simpler and clearer. This wording from A2SC almost doesn’t even make sense.

How about instead, the more direct:

“We, the member congregations of the UUA, covenant to support and assist one another in our ministries.”

Our intent is too limit our edits mostly to the Inspirations sections and let others propose amendments to the other verbiage of the covenant and the values. I have only included the other sections in this version of our amendment for context. The exception I made was to change the sentence that talked about heritage “We draw from our heritages of freedom, reason, hope, and courage, building
on the foundation of love.” as I think that could be better articulated using the revised inspirations paradigm we are proposing.

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@CharlesD The initial amendment proposals had to be limited to a specific section of Article II. This revised version of our amendment recombines the covenant, values, and inspirations sections. Is this something that is possible to do in an amendment or do we need to limit our amendment to a specific section of the new proposed article II?

Also our new amendment deviates significantly from our first proposed amendment based on the feedback we have received here. My understanding is that is acceptable but I just want to make sure that a change this large is still considered as being proposed and discussed prior to the required deadlines.

We have been encouraging people to focus on individual sections, because it seems like it would be easier for the delegates to discuss changes in that way.

You can combine sections into one new section.

And, yes, your proposed amendment can be different from the idea or suggestion that started the process.

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@CharlesD The guidelines the UUA just presented tonight include “not taking a section in a new direction” I think we are staying within the intent of the covenant, values, and inspirations but we are proposing a very new direction for the inspirations. Could you comment on whether or not this inspirations amendment would be within the UUA guidelines? #290 | Jennifer Courtwright | Proposal is too Generic to be Meaningful - #19 by courtwrightj01

I think this will qualify for consideration. Please be advised the priority order is not the sole decision of any one of us. “The Moderator, in consultation with the chair of the study commission, the parliamentarian and legal counsel shall prioritize proposed amendments for consideration by the General Assembly.”

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@CharlesD great thanks! I understand the prioritization of amendments is complex. Just wanted to make sure we weren’t coloring too far outside the lines to even be considered.

Here is the latest version of our amendment

Section 2.2 Covenant, Values, and Inspirations

As Unitarian Universalists, we covenant, congregation-to-congregation and through our association, to support and assist one another in our ministries. Drawing from our Universalist heritages of love and our Unitarian heritages of wonder, these diverse ministries of our living religious tradition can be thought of as a metaphor of a flower and its environment. The flower’s petals represent our values. Our values are how we communicate and live out our tradition with the ultimate goal of love. Our inspirations, represented by the sun, stem, leaves and ground, provide energy, pathways, and nutrients needed for life. Air and water represent our free and responsible search for truth and meaning, that which cannot be named, and the ultimate forms in which we live, move, and have our being.

Values
[[[ insert love statement “Love is the power that…” and values here. We are not proposing any changes to the values or love statement but are open to other amendments that specifically focus on those sections]]]

Inspirations

As a pluralistic, living religious tradition, we draw inspiration from direct experiences of transcending mystery and wonder as well as historical wisdom and grounding which provide many paths to feeling a part of something larger than ourselves. Inseparable from one another our inspirations are:

Wonder . We find energy and joy in the mystery, beauty, and creativity of life.

We cultivate wonder by using science to explore mystery and quantify uncertainty, experiencing and creating moral and physical beauty, and connecting physically and emotionally with others.

Wisdom. We make meaning from our experiences which provides courage, hope, and faith needed for our work.

We expand our wisdom by gaining perspective, practicing discernment, and learning from philosophies and religious and spiritual traditions, the creative arts, science, and history.

Grounding. We practice balance, resiliency, and resurrection during difficult times.

We ground ourselves using rituals, mindfulness practices, and sacred rest. By deeply listening to ourselves, each other, reason, and the ground of being, we co-create and re-create our home.

We are mindful of the cultures in which these paths were created and are currently practiced. Grateful for the experiences that move us, the religious and cultural ancestries we inherit, and the diversity that enriches our community, we are called to ever deepen and expand our paths of connection.

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Thank you for removing photosynthesis and composting

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Here is our revised rationale statement

During these difficult times, we need inspiration now more than ever. Yet we feel like the commission’s proposal has made inspirations an after-thought. Our goal was to put inspirations back on equal footing with the values, create an amendment that was truly inspirational, and to breathe life into our bylaws. We built on the existing graphic in the commissions proposal and focused on three categories of what our inspirations do for us: They provide us with wonder, wisdom, and grounding.

Reactions to including a graphic in the bylaws has been mixed, but we strongly feel that metaphor is the best way to articulate concepts that are this complex while still allowing room for future spiritual growth of our living tradition. We have succeeded in showing that we can have specificity without prioritizing one source over another or creating laundry lists. We have tried to incorporated ideas from all other inspirations amendments into ours. Additionally, our amendment addresses other amendments that deal with definitions of love, decentering of love, and the current flower graphic. If others feel that our amendment is too different from the commission’s proposal or that specifics need more discussion, we ask that the board create an interdisciplinary team of professionals and lay people that focus on the inspirations, as the commission suggested in their proposal, so we can further these inspirational conversations.

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If you are a delegate and support this amendment. Please add your name to this google doc form

which will be posted as a comment on this site after June 4th

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@CharlesD we just submitted this final version of our amendment under Dorothea Wallace’s name but there was no way to tie it back to this original posting number. Will the final submitted amendments get posted somewhere else and if so where should we put a list of delegates that support it? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BHfo0aHAPX1wDD4MUxjNSarbZUagoM_P/view?usp=sharing