I move the approval of an amendment to the Proposed Revision of Article II to insert after line 43 (after “Section C-2.2 Values and Covenant” and before “Section C-2.3 Inspirations”) the text of the current 7 Principles of the existing “Section C-2.1. Principles,” excluding the “sources” text. The precise text of the insertion is as follows:
“Section C-2.3. Principles
We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote
- The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
- Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
- Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
- A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
- The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
- The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;
- Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”
I find myself waffling about whether I would like the old Principles to be inserted before or after the new Values and Covenants. But the more I think about it, the more I lean toward inserting before. My reasoning is that the Principles are shorter and more general, so they serve as an introduction to the longer and more specific Values and Covenants.
I am conflicted about this myself, Kara. On the one hand, the Values as a beliefs statement probably make less sense without providing the full context of the old Principles they draw from. On the other, the Values incorporate the key phrases and ideas from the Principles thoroughly enough that whichever list was placed after the other could feel redundant. The discrepancy here may come down to who our intended reader is: do we intend the Values more to reach current UUs or newcomers to the faith? Both?
In any case, the Principles should be included as an appendix to the revised document, at least.
Is Kenneth Button monitoring this? (I tried connecting in Whova.) I would like to get with you and discuss this amendment and my amendment, number 3. The two are nearly identical and possibly only one should go forward, otherwise there may be some confusion.
The following fifteen amendments also seek to add the current Article II, Section C-2.1 “Principles” (with some modifications) to the Proposed Revision: #3 - Eric Burch #9 - Merridy McDaniel #29 Jim Hall #41 Dick Burckhart #44 Nancy Henley #49 Kara Stebbins #58 Patrick Deak #59 Lurine DeVos #61 Jan Radoslovich #66 Pablo deVos-Deak #78 Marsha Bates #79 Chris Stotler #83 Linda Richardson #84 Becky Sandman
Thank You, Kenneth (and others) for proposing this. I will support whatever amendment has the most ability to place the 7 principles back into article II.
I definitely want us to keep the Principles in the By-Laws. Many of our members and friends also prefer the Principles that are presently in our By-Laws.
A comment to those favoring or authoring amendments that weren’t prioritized or presented: This forum is closing for comment tomorrow, but our lay-led public Facebook group, Blue Boat Passengers, will remain open for another few weeks for commenting (and still be viewable after that).
If you want to find people to coordinate with for the 15-congregation amendment process, you may use the group to do so while it remains open. There’s now a specific post for this in the group (“A post for those wishing to do the 15-congregation amendment process to coordinate”).
Please read both the rules and the pinned post about the pending suspension of the group before posting or commenting there.