Submission 361
Karen Zindell
UUCT (Tampa)
What is your suggestion or idea?
Words Matter
Trigger Warning - the following was written by a questioning white woman recounting her lived experience.
Before I first joined a UU Church, I asked to see the bylaws. If I’d found words like accountably, and the emphasis on covenant and social action, I would have kept seeking a spiritual community.
I began questioning things when I learned that the lyrics to Standing on the Side of Love were changed to Answering the Call of Love in respect to people who use a wheelchair - what about respect for those who are hard of hearing? Why change ableist language to protect one group, only to exclude a different one?
I read the charge to the Study Commission and the report and formed a study group in my congregation. We wondered how confirmation bias was considered as a number of us did not feel particularly welcomed when we first walked in the doors. I was often called by the name of another fat woman. Was that a micro aggression?
Race essentialism is divisive, and the approach to be more welcoming by declaring that ““either one is a racist or an anti-racist””, along with the assumption that ““if one is white one is automatically a racist””, while maintaining that either/or thinking is a tool of white supremacy, smacks of Orwellian control. There seems to be an assumption that the proposed changes will result in increasing membership - why? What is it about the existing language that is unwelcoming? (Please be specific).
Trust Matters too. Why are Accountability Launch Groups being created now, as if the proposal has already passed?
I reject the wholesale rewrite of Art.2.
What is the reason for your amendment idea?
This is a general comment - specific amendments to follow
Have you discussed this idea with your congregation or other UUs?
Yes. My congregation voted to reject the proposal.