#60 | Linda Sanders | Mulitple Changes in Pluralism and Justice

2023 Article II Amendment Idea Submissions Amendment Ideas
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Submission 60
Linda Sanders
First Unitarian Church of Wilmington Del. (Wilmington, DE) 2823

What is your suggestion or idea?

Section C-2.2

Pluralism. We celebrate that we are all sacred beings diverse in culture, RESOURCES, IDENTITES, experience and theology.

add bolded words

Justice. We work to be diverse multicultural Beloved Communities where all PARTICIPATE AND thrive.

We covenant to dismantle recognize and eliminate racism and all OTHER forms of systemic oppression.

replace “dismantle” with 'RECOGNIZE AND ELIMINATE". We think "dismantle is too ambitious. Adding “Other” recognizes the many different forms of oppression, e.g., gender bias, identity biases, oppression of women, etc.

What is the reason for your amendment idea?

Pluralism needs to recognize that differences in level of resources (money, education, family support structures, etc.) is a significant difference in privilege in our congregations and is often overlooked in our discussion of beloved community. Also, pluralism makes no reference to differences in identities, for example gay/straight, trans, non-binary, ethnicity, etc., which are significant differences in privilege in our congregations also.

Justice needs to emphasize participation of all equally, so adding the word ““participate”” makes that clear. ““Dismantle”” racism is an ambitious goal and may discourage adoption of the values. The steps to dismantle are to ““recognize”” and then ““eliminate”” so enunciating the steps makes it more achievable. Also, adding ““Other”” to the second phrase makes it clear that there are many more forms of oppression that racism that also need to be eliminated.

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

yes, at our congregational session to discuss Article II on April 2, 2023. This represents the work of our sub team at that session.

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I like these suggested changes to the text. However I would remove the word “Pluralism” altogether. It is too unfamiliar a term for most people to have any meaning to them and would only be off-putting. I would suggest a phrase like “Our Faiths are Unique Journeys that we Travel Together”

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Not sure that faith is a journey, nor that we all have one. What about “We are on unique journeys that we travel together”? Could add an adjective, such as ethical journeys or life journeys (journeys through life)

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Please see Cheryl Parson’s suggestion, #342, to replace “Pluralism” with “Respect”. I agree that “Respect” would be a better word than “Pluralism”. We should strive to use words that are easily understood and that have deep emotional resonance. As we evaluate our lives, we can ask ourselves, “Did I treat everyone with Respect?” The question, “Did I live my life in a pluralistic way” is not very helpful or inspiring.

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Agree with comment about Pluralsim being an unfamiliar term. The headings of each of the values need to land with those inside and outside UU. Universal might serve better than Respect.