1 Text of Eklof’s sermon, “Correction: Ours Is a Liberal Religion, Not a ‘Covenantal’ One,” may be found at https://uuspokane.org/WP2/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/CorrectionLiberalNotCovenantal.pdf It is worth nothing that, in the YouTube video of this sermon, Eklof repeatedly departs from the script and says things that are not in the text. The web address for the Fifth Principle Project’s posting of the sermon, and also the YouTube video, are listed below. (Note #5) As I write this, at least, the video can also be found by searching the title on YouTube.
2 A partial compendium of United Church of Christ (UCC) covenants may be found at https://www.ucc.org/?s=covenant
3 The reader may access a PDF file of the Westminster Confession at http://files1.wts.edu/uploads/pdf/about/WCF_30.pdf . Be warned that, to a non-theistic, liberal reader, it is uncomfortable, even shocking, reading. Mention of “God’s Covenant with Man” may be found in chapters VII, VIII, and XIX.
4 I have written elsewhere that “American Calvinism (the Pilgrims) were an authoritarian religion who didn’t realize they were pregnant with liberal religion.” Not just American Unitarianism, but also Congregationalism (now the United Church of Christ), as well as others. It would require several pages to go into historical/theological details. But the fact that our religious outlook is far different from our forbears does not change the fact that our Puritan/Congregational roots can still be seen in some Unitarian Universalist practices and attitudes in our own day.
5 McCarty, Dennis: “Of Terrorism, Horrorism, Covenant, and Rebellion,” The Home We Share: Globalism, Post-Modernism, and Unitarian/Universalist Theology, Clifford M. Reed and Jill K. McAllister eds., International Council of Unitarians and Universalists, Caerphilly, Wales, 2007, pg. 91.
6 Todd Eklof’s Oct. 17, 2021 sermon, as well a long debate about it, may be found at the Fifth Principle Project website: https://fifthprincipleproject.org/2021/11/04/correction-ours-is-a-liberal-religion-not-a-covenantal-one/ , or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKakVDyKLqs&t=13s
7 Eklof, Todd, “Correction: Ours Is a Liberal Religion, Not a ‘Covenantal’ One,” pg. 1.
8 I recommend James Luther Adams’ 1975 essay, “From Cage to Covenant,” found in his essay collection, The Prophethood of All Believers; Alice Blair Wesley’s 2001 book, Our Covenant, or my own 2008 UUWorld article, “The Tyger and the Lamb,” just for starters. My article can be found online at: https://www.uuworld.org/articles/the-tyger-the-lamb
9 Eklof IBID. pg. 1.
10 See “Expectations of all General Assembly Attendees” at https://www.uua.org/ga/registration/expectations These guidelines have developed over the last two decades or so, due to repeated instances of intolerant or insensitive behavior toward people of historically marginalized identities by—often well meaning, but still rude or insensitive—General Assembly attendees. This was also the reason GA established a Right Relations team.
11 For context on Eklof’s book and the response to it, please refer to “A Gadfly Papers Timeline” at https://revdennismccarty.com/think-pieces/
12 Eklof IBID. pg. 2.
13 Eklof IBID. pg. 6
14 Eklof IBID. pg. 2.
15 It should be noted that the phrase, “broken covenant,” is used theologically, by both General Assembly and UUMA Leadership, to mean violations of Behavioral Guidelines and Ethical Guidelines, as well as provisions of written covenants. This is intended, following the writing of Unitarian Universalist theologian James Luther Adams, to allow for a process of restorative justice, rather than a punitive justice model. Todd Eklof was censured by the UUMA, and removed from Ministerial Fellowship by the UUA’s Ministerial Fellowship Committee because, at every stage, he refused to participate in restorative justice, and in many cases, refused to even communicate.
16 Given the many falsehoods and errors in The Gadfly Papers, as well as in this sermon, this provision is as necessary as its repeated breach is troubling.
17 For examples of some of the hurtful language and erroneous claims in The Gadfly Papers, go to: https://revdennismccarty.com/the-truth-about-the-gadfly-papers/
18 UUMA Letter of Censure to Todd Eklof, August 17, 2019.
19 UUMA IBID.
20 Eklof IBID. pg. 3.
21 Eklof IBID. pg. 3.
22 Adams, James Luther: “From Cage to Covenant” in The Prophethood of All Believers, George Kimmich Beach ed., Beacon Press, Boston, 1986, pg. 137.
23 Adams IBID. pg. 137.
24 Adams IBID. pg. 136.
25 Eklof, Todd: The Gadfly Papers Three Inconvenient Essays by One Pesky Minister, self-published, 2019, pg. 75. Even in his citation in his text, Eklof is misrepresenting his source. On Being Human Religiously was published in 1976, after the Unitarian/Universalist merger. Adams is best known as a Unitarian Universalist theologian, and founded three Unitarian Universalist “study groups” for scholars and ministers. At least one, The Prairie Group, is still active today.
26 Adams, James Luther, On Being Human Religiously, M.L. Stackhouse ed., Beacon Press, Boston, 1976, pg. 9.
27 Adams The Prophethood of All Believers, pg. 137
28 Covenants section of the UUMA Guidelines for the Conduct of Ministry.
29 Eklof IBID. pg. 3.
30 Eklof IBID. pg. 4.
31 Eklof IBID. pg. 4.
32 Adams IBID. pg. 136
33 Wilbur, Earl Morse, “The Meaning and Lessons of Unitarian History,” 1920 Barry Street Lecture, Unitarian Ministerial Conference, pg. 1 of 6. available online at https://www.uuma.org/BlankCustom.asp?page=BSE1920
34 Wilbur, IBID. pg. 1 of 6.
35 Wilbur IBID. pg. 6 of 6.
36 Earl Morse Wilbur entry at Dictionary of Unitarian Universalist Biography site, found at: https://uudb.org/articles/earlmorsewilbur.html
37 Wilbur, Earl Morse: The History of Unitarianism, Vol. I, Beacon Press, Boston, 1945, pg. 7
38 Wilbur, Barry Street Lecture IBID. pg. 1 of 6.
39 Patton, Kenneth: “Let All who Live in Freedom,” Hymns for the Celebration of Life, Beacon Press, Boston, 1964, Hymn #170.
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