Amendment 6 to Article II - Proposed by Anne Schneider

General Assembly 2023 Prioritized Article II Amendments
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Bold underlining indicate insertion ; [brackets indicate deletion.]

57 Section C-2.5. Freedom of belief.
58 Congregational freedom and the individual’s right of conscience are central to our Unitarian
59 Universalist heritage, and we remain committed to individual and congregational freedom of belief and individual right of conscience.
60 Congregations may establish statements of purpose, covenants, and bonds of union so long
61 as they do not require that members adhere to a particular creed.

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I agree with this idea, but I would prefer simpler wording, maybe:

Congregational freedom and the individual’s right of conscience are central to our Unitarian heritage, identity, and future.

I see now that Amendment 12 does something I like better - see what you think?

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I think that this concept is critical and I would probably not vote for a version that omits it. The specific wordings included here, in the amendments and reply, are all acceptable to me.

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While the concept of individual and congregational freedom of belief is important however expressed, other elements of the Article II revisions infringe of these freedoms by requiring members to essentially swear allegiance to each of the newly stated values with the implication that if they don’t, they are no longer welcome. (See Section C-2-4 Inclusion. “We. . . truly welcome all persons who share our values,”)

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I agree with Ricknida’s comment and would have submitted an amendment to remove that sentence if we had been able to submit two amendments. I hope someone else has done so.

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I agree – I think 12 is simpler and covers it.

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This is one of the amendments that the board has indicated is a priority.

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I strongly support this amendment.

Congregational right of conscience and individual freedom of belief are bedrock elements of Unitarian Universalism that drew many of us to our faith and keeps us here today.

Right of conscience and individual freedom also speak to the trust we feel towards one another, a trust that binds us together and is not imposed from without.

If we loose the trust we have in one another to act out of conscience individually and as congregations and feel we must impose right thinking and behavior through prescribed covenants, then we morphing into a different faith.

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I like the idea behind this amendment, but I liked #12’s wording better:

57 Section C-2.5 Freedom of belief
58 Congregational freedom and the individual’s right of conscience are [central to] essential to and inseparable from our Unitarian
59 Universalist heritage and practice.

Here’s a possible mash-up:

57 Section C-2.5 Freedom of belief
58 Individual and congregational freedom of belief and [the] individual[’s] right of conscience are [central to] essential to and inseparable from our Unitarian
59 Universalist heritage and practice.

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No, I think that Amendment 6’s Line 59 is important, to state our commitment clearly.

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Hi Sally, would you be willing to re-read the “mash-up” and then clarify for me how you feel it doesn’t include the IDEA from Amendment 6 Line 59?

Or alternately, can you help me think about how to propose a friendly Amendment to 6 that would make it less repetitive?

Thanks for your consideration.

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original
58 Congregational freedom and the individual’s right of conscience are central to our Unitarian
59 Universalist heritage, and we remain committed to individual and congregational freedom of belief and individual right of conscience.

mash-up
58 Individual and congregational freedom of belief and [the] individual[’s] right of conscience are [central to] essential to and inseparable from our Unitarian
59 Universalist heritage and practice.

comments
Congregations don’t have beliefs, so they can have freedom, but not freedom of belief.
I am O.K. with essential to and inseparable from rather than central to; they seem equivalent to me.
Just saying and practice rather than spelling out the ongoing commitment doesn’t seem as strong, particularly at a time when folks are questioning the practice of democracy in our denomination.
I just saw that the original also includes congregational freedom of belief in its last sentence, so looking at a better option there. Perhaps and we remain committed these congregational and individual freedoms.?

new version
58 Congregational freedom and the individual’s right of conscience are essential to and inseparable from our Unitarian
59 Universalist heritage, and we remain committed to these congregational and individual freedoms.

I don’t see Amendment 6 as negative, so IDK if this helps.

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Thanks, I like this!

I do have one suggestion to reduce repetition:

58 Congregational freedom and the individual’s right of conscience are essential to and inseparable from our Unitarian
59 Universalist heritage, and we remain committed to these [congregational and individual] freedoms.

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Individualism is important. I don’t feel the need to resate individual right of conscience as it’s in the sentence above. Can you work with 12?

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yes, that works for me

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@annelarason

Hi Anne, I wonder whether you would comment as to whether you might be open to any of the changes that have been discussed, including the most recent:

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A statement toward the future would resonate more strongly for me than a statement that anchors us to a history, one newcomers most certainly don’t have.

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FYI, this is the draft UUFMC Statement about Amendment 6:

We agree with the idea behind this Amendment, but we find the wording too redundant and complicated. Several edits have been suggested on the website discuss.uua.org. The simplest edit we support is:

“[heritage] identity and practice.”

A longer version from discuss.uua.org that we could also support is:

“Congregational freedom and the individual’s right of conscience are [central to] essential to and inseparable from our Unitarian Universalist heritage, and we remain committed to these freedoms.

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Ilots of good ideas here. Snd I think we are all in agreement but at some point need to stop wordsmithing.

58 Congregational freedom and the individual’s right of conscience are essential to and inseparable from our Unitarian
59 Universalist heritage, and we remain committed to these [congregational and individual] freedoms.

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I like just a piece of Amendment 12, the addition of “and practice” so that lines 58 and 59 would read “Congregational freedom and the individual’s right of conscience are central to our Unitarian Universalist heritage and practice.” Or maybe “Congregational freedom and the individual’s right of conscience are central to our Unitarian Universalist faith.” Our faith is both our heritage and the present. In general, I think that some very small change to language would address concerns that the term “heritage” suggests that these ideas are in our past and not our present.

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