Submission 406
Caryl Lyons
Unitarian Universalist Society (Coralville, Iowa)
What is your suggestion or idea?
I would like to retain the 7 principles basically in their original form. These principles were the reason that I became UU about 40 years ago. They are specific and to the point, and upon reading them the first time, I immediately felt that I had found my ““home.”” I am fine with adding the 8th principle, and our congregation has already voted to accept it.
If the new values are accepted, then there need to be some changes to mention the word humanism, since so many UUs identify as humanists. We should also mention the importance we place on science and reason.
If the new values are the only way, then I wish that they could be added on to the original principles, rather than replacing those original principles.
What is the reason for your amendment idea?
The suggested values are vague and ambiguous and would not have attracted me to Unitarianism. The expansions from each word are too long to be read and absorbed easily, though I don’t disagree with most of the content of the expansions. I don’t feel that the words or their expansions serve the purpose that the principles have served, of allowing people to know in a fairly complete, yet concise, way the basis of Unitarian Universalism in a format that is easily absorbed and easily shared with others, including by fitting on a card that can easily be shared with others.
Have you discussed this idea with your congregation or other UUs?
Our secular humanist sub-group has discussed this and there was quite a lot of agreement about our liking the original principles better and about wanting to add back in (since the sources are changed also) a reference to humanism as one important source for UUs. We would also like overt references to reason and science. No vote was taken, so I can’t give numbers.