#355 | Beki Halpin | "Address and heal"

Submission 355
Beki Halpin
First UU Church of Austin (Austin, TX) 7713

What is your suggestion or idea?

Section
C-2.1. Purposes.

The Unitarian Universalist Association will devote its
resources to and use its organizational powers for religious, educational, and
humanitarian purposes. Its primary purposes are to assist congregations in
their vital ministries, support and train leaders both lay and professional, to
foster lifelong faith formation, to address and heal
historic and current injustices, and to advance
our Unitarian Universalist values in the world.

What is the reason for your amendment idea?

Cannot limit our purpose to
healing only historic injustices because we are seeing and will continue to see
injustices we have never seen before, such as injustices from the climate
crisis, threat to democracy, massive homelessness, gun crisis, corporate animal
agriculture, reproductive oppression, food insecurity and hunger, generational
oppression so that the young can no longer afford college or home ownership and
more. These injustices are not generally historic and should also be addressed and healed.

Have you discussed this idea with your congregation or other UUs?

Yes. At a session on this document led by our Interim Minister. Generally well received.

Hi Beki, I agree about needing do address both historic and current injustices.

I think my Fellowship’s main concern with either “addressing” or “healing” is that it sounds impossible! The best we could come up with was “understand and work to heal”.

What do you think of that idea?

Or do you have other ideas?