"WHY CHANGE ARTICLE II?" by Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum

“Why do the Principles need to be deconstructed/removed in order for the values content to be added?” a Unitarian Universalist asked plaintively on a post on social media recently. My answer is only my own, not speaking for the Article II Commission or the UUA Board.

The UUA Board in its charge to the Article II Commission said, “The Commission is charged with reviewing all sections of Article II, and is free to revise, replace, or restructure them as needed to meet the objectives stated above. There is nothing sacred about the number of principles or sources, nor their specific wordings, nor in the way that Article II is laid out. We encourage creativity.”^[i] In addition, in 2021, the UUA Genera Assembly passed a resolution telling the Commission, “For that reason, we ask the Article II Commission and the Board to ensure proposed changes to Article II include in the Principles a clear and direct statement that accountable systemic anti-racist and anti-oppressive actions to build Beloved Community are part of what it means to be Unitarian Universalist.” From these it’s clear that the Article II Commission didn’t start with the perspective that the Principles had to be removed, but they did started with the perspective that the whole of Article II, including the Principles was open to change. When asking the question of what Article II should look like if it were all up for change, and what it should say to reflect who we are as an association now, the process led them to an answer that surprised many people. However, if you look at it more deeply, it becomes understandable how they got where they did.

Implicit in the question “Why do the Principles need to be deconstructed/removed in order for the values content to be added?” is the question, “What’s wrong with the principles? Why aren’t they good enough for us to keep them?” This was my first reaction, as well, so I started asking around about the specifics. And what I heard was that there were problems in the Principles. I’m sure the Article II Commission heard many of the same things. What I heard was there were some struggles people had with the current 7 Principles, and ways they were both insufficient to meet the present age and in some cases not living up to our values. Some of what I heard was:

“The word “worth” has a negative connotation to peoples whose ancestors were bought & sold.”

“The concept of ‘peace’ has been used against some people to say ‘be quiet,’ ‘be peaceful’ instead of supporting the call to justice.”

“The democratic process can be used by a majority to oppress a minority, so we need to qualify what we mean by ‘use of the democratic process.'”

“‘World community’ has sometimes been used in colonizing ways, and similarly needs clarification.”

“‘Acceptance of one another’ is sometimes used to argue that we should accept bad behavior in our congregations.”

In addition, there was already a movement to put forwards a specific principle, the 8^th Principle, on anti-racism. Many people thought, well, isn’t that implicit in our first principle of the inherent worth and dignity of all people? But the response is, it’s not a strong enough call given what’s been happening in our world over the centuries, but specifically right now. It’s like saying, “All Lives Matter” when Black people are crying out about the deaths of Black people and needing their own lives specifically affirmed in the face of inhumane treatment. It was even worse with the “worth” issue in the First Principle. So it’s not despite our first principle, but really because of our first principle that we needed the call for the 8^th Principle.

Furthermore, the preamble of the Principles is a very weak statement in that it just calls us as congregations to “affirm and promote” these things. There are stronger verbs that could call us to live these Principles in more meaningful ways.

I believe the Article II Commission started with thinking about opening up the question of the structure of Article II and thinking about ways to construct things that might be more valuable in the current era. Meanwhile, they had hundreds of conversations and responses from their GA surveys to inform them, and I think they also dove into the history of what Principles and other congregational and denominational covenants have looked like over the ages.

I am sure that in their conversations, they also discovered that there were many concepts core to Unitarian Universalism that are NOT there in the Principles. Prior to the Article II Commission process, indeed ever since UUA President Bill Sinkford opened up debate about the UU Principles and their lack of theological language in 2003, I’ve heard people lament what is not in the principles, and most often it is Love. The most major thing was that many many people mentioned how Love is not mentioned, and that they see Love as central to our faith. How many congregations have a covenant that says, “Love is the spirit of this church…”? My last church had a closing song that said, “Go may love’s presence ever guide you.” My current church has a closing song that says, “Keep love’s banner floating o’er you.” The church I grew up in, as well as the first church I served as a student minister, had a closing song that said, “Then in peace with love and courage, may our hearts and minds be free.”

FROM JAMES LUTHER ADAMS’ “FIVE SMOOTH STONES OF LIBERAL RELIGION:

FREEDOM: “All relations between persons ought ideally to rest on mutual, free consent and not coercion.”

AGENCY (COVENANT): “(W)e deny the immaculate conception of virtue and affirm the necessity of social incarnation.”

HOPE: “(L)iberalism holds that the resources (divine and human) that are available for the achievement of meaningful change justify an attitude of ultimate optimism.”

VALUES: As Unitarian Universalists in religious community, we covenant, congregation-to-congregation and through our association, to support and assist one another in our ministries. We draw from our heritages of freedom, reason, hope, and courage, building on the foundation of love.

In addition, it’s clear to me that the Article II Commission looked at other foundational documents and wove them in that are not the Principles. I can see UU historian Earl Morse Wilbur’s “freedom, reason & tolerance” terms that we’ve used in so much UU advertising, and James Luther Adams’ Five Smooth Stones woven into the preamble about Love. And JLA again there in the Justice value and Interdependence. I can see the Rev. Lewis Fisher’s statement “We do not stand… we move” in the Transformation value. All these documents which are important parts of our heritage are referenced, woven in, in really clever ways. And then there are statements from other traditions. I see the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words woven into the Interdependence & Generosity values. It was even more clear in the earlier draft that they were drawing from King, but the echo of his words still remains.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: “In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the inter-related structure of reality.”

VALUES: Interdependence. We honor the sacred interdependent web of all existence. We covenant to cherish Earth and all beings by creating and nurturing relationships of care and respect. With humility and reverence, we acknowledge our place in the great web of life, and we work to repair harm and damaged relationships.

GENEROSITY: We cultivate a spirit of gratitude and hope. We covenant to freely and compassionat4ely share our faith, presence, and resources. Our generosity connects us to one another in relationships of interdependence and mutuality.

Another thing that was clearer to me in an earlier draft, but still remains is the reference to Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower in the Transformation value. Something I think is so important and foundational to Unitarian Universalism in so many ways is something that was not in our Principles: Our faith is not frozen faith. The Transformation Value brings in so many concepts that have inspired us about this over the years. Our grey hymnals call this the Living Tradition, which means we believe, as James Luther Adams said in his Five Smooth Stones, that “religious liberalism depends on the principle that ‘revelation’ is continuous.”

OCTAVIA BUTLER, Parable of the Sower: “All that you touch you Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change.”

VALUES: Transformation. We adapt to the changing world. We covenant to collectively transform and grow spiritually and ethically. Openness to change is fundamental to our Unitarian and Universalist heritages, never complete and never perfect.

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“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but a little ways. . . .”

–Theodore Parker

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

–Martin Luther King, Jr.

“But here is the thing: it does not bend on its own. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction of justice.”

–Barack Obama

In the Transformation Value I can also see the echoes of the words of Theodore Parker which Martin Luther King refined: that the arc of the Universe bends towards justice. There is so much of our faith that is not present in the Principles that the Values pull in.

But it’s clear to me that the Article II Commission didn’t completely want to throw out the Principles, rather that they looked back at the Principles, and asked, “What do we most value from here? What can we pull forward in different and fresh ways? What do we want to make sure is not lost?” So the Principles, the major concepts from them, are mostly all embedded in the Values. When you look you see that Equity contains our first Principle of the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

PRINCIPLES 1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person.

VALUES EQUITY: We declare that every person has the right to flourish with inherent dignity and worthiness. We covenant to use our time, wisdom, attention, and money to build and sustain fully accessible and inclusive communities.

Our second Principle of Justice, equity and compassion in human relations is less obvious, but it is carried through in several of the values, including Justice, Equity, and Generosity.

PRINCIPLES 2. Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

VALUES JUSTICE: We work to be diverse multicultural Beloved Communities where all thrive. . . .

EQUITY: We declare that every person has the right to flourish with inherent dignity and worthiness. . . .

GENEROSITY: We cultivate a spirit of gratitude and hope. We covenant to freely and compassionately share our faith, presence, and resources. . . .

In Pluralism and Transformation we find the pieces of our Third Principle, Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth.

PRINCIPLES 3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations. . . .

VALUES PLURALISM: We celebrate that we are all sacred beings diverse in culture, experience, and theology. We covenant to learn from one another in our free and responsible search for truth and meaning. We embrace our differences and commonalities with Love, curiosity, and respect.

TRANSFORMATION: We adapt to the changing world. We covenant to collectively transform and grow spiritually and ethically. Openness to change is fundamental to our Unitarian and Universalist heritages, never complete and never perfect.

And in Pluralism we also find our Fourth Principle of the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

PRINCIPLES 4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning. . . .

Our Fifth Principle of the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process is found in the combination of the Justice value and, understandably, in the Freedom of Belief section of Article II.

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PRINCIPLES 5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. . . .

(The Right of Conscience also appears in the later section, “C-2.5 Freedom of Belief.”)

VALUES JUSTICE: We work to be diverse multicultural Beloved Communities where all thrive. We covenant to dismantle racism and all forms of systemic oppression. We support the use of inclusive democratic processes to make decisions within our congregations, our Association, and society at large.

The Sixth Principle of “The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all” is the one most missing in the Values. Only really justice remains, in the Justice section and embedded in many other places.*

EDITOR’S NOTE: For the record, the editor disagrees slightly on this. Is not the value of INTERDEPENDENCE: nurtured, sustainable relationships of care and respect, mutuality and justice, the groundwork on which peace and even any real world community must be built? Only the editor’s opinion.

The Seventh Principle of respect for the interdependent web of all existence is of course very present in the Interdependence value, and made even stronger.

PRINCIPLES 7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part

VALUES INTERDEPENDENCE: We honor the sacred interdependent web of all existence. With reverence for the great web of life and with humility, we acknowledge our place in it. We covenant to protect Earth and all beings from exploitation. We will create and nurture sustainable relationships of care and respect, mutuality and justice. We will work to repair harm and damaged relationships.

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And the proposed Eighth Principle is very much present in the Justice value, which retains many of its words and phrases.

PRINCIPLES PROPOSED 8th PRINCIPLE: Journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.

VALUES JUSTICE: We Work to be diverse multicultural Beloved Communities where all thrive. We covenant to dismantle racism and all forms of systemic oppression. We support the use of inclusive democratic processes to make decisions within our congregations, our Association, and society at large.

It’s worth noting at this point that the Article II process is not finished. We have four possible amendments being presented at General Assembly, with the option that they can be included if they pass the vote. While the bar is high, it’s a definite possibility to include these. And three of the four have elements that are about inclusion of the Principles into the values. Those three are:

· The Wheeler Equity Amendment – This amendment is really mostly about beautifying the language of the Equity value. But it also deliberately brings in the Compassion of the second Principle, which was not as much present with the only mention being “compassionately” in the Generosity Value.

PROPOSED EQUITY VALUE AMENDMENT (Wheeler)

CHANGE FROM: We declare that every person has the right to flourish with inherent dignity and worthiness.

TO: We declare that every person is inherently worthy and has the right to flourish with dignity, love, and compassion.

· The Goekkler Peace Value Amendment – The Principle most missing from the Values is the sixth. This amendment would insert an additional value of Peace which adds the Sixth Principle.

PROPOSED PEACE VALUE AMENDMENT (Goekler)

PEACE. We dedicate ourselves to peaceful conflict resolution at all levels.

We covenant to promote a peaceful world community with liberty and human rights for all. Whenever and wherever possible we will support nonviolent means to achieve peace.

· The Neill Reason Value Amendment – While the four principles of the free and responsible search for truth and meaning is already present in the Values, this would add it a second time (albeit without the free and responsible part) as an additional value of Reason, bringing in some language from the Sources as well of being informed by the results of science.

PROPOSED REASON VALUE AMENDMENT (Neill)

REASON. We search for truth and meaning, informed by reason, evidence, and the results of science, motivated by wonder, curiosity, and compassion.

We covenant to listen to and respect the views of others, and to remain open to new ideas.

When I did this analysis of where the Principles are in the Values, I realized that of course this Proposal doesn’t get rid of our Principles.

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.
Proposed 8th Principle: Journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.

Rather, the proposed Article II is transforming them into a new form for a new age. It takes them, fleshes them out, delves into their meaning, and in many cases makes them stronger.

One way the Values make the Principles stronger is through covenant, which reveals another problem with the Principles. Many people complain that “the Principles have become a creed.” I have always felt that was overstating it, perhaps because I loved the Principles and didn’t personally treat them as creedal. But what I have certainly seen is that the preamble to the principles that says we as congregations covenant of “affirm and promote” the Principles, the fact that the Principles are a covenant and not a creed does get overlooked. And over the years people have started using the Principles as the answer to “What do Unitarian Universalists believe?” This is problematic in that it both treats the Principles as a creed, and it responds to the question at hand as if we are a creedal religion. It’s harder to not have a quick answer at hand, but the answer should be something along the lines of “We’re not creedal — we’re covenantal. Asking what UUs believe is the wrong question. If you want to know what Unitarian Universalists are, look at our deeds, not creeds.”

The Values address this issue by emphasizing covenant, and even by their wordiness. We can’t rattle off the whole text of the values like a creed. And from the covenants each Value gives, it’s clear the Values are not creed, but rather a covenant. With each Value having it’s own statement of covenant, of what we mean by this — how we act as a people — it’s clear it’s not about belief.

Thinking about my own congregation’s commitment to the environment, covenanting to “affirm and promote” respect for the interdependent web of life is no longer enough in this 11th hour of climate change. I want to be part of a religion that urges me to create and nurture sustainability, to protect the Earth from exploitation, to work to repair the harm to the earth. That’s way more Unitarian Universalist in the way we live it now, and says a lot more to the visitor about our relationship to environmentalism than saying we “affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web”!

All of this is to say that as we do value inclusive democratic processes as a part of our faith, and our non-creedal nature, and the fact that our faith is a living tradition that doesn’t stand but moves. So this is a decision point for our faith where we decide who we want to be and how we want our foundational documents to reflect that. We can vote no on this and stay with what we’ve got, and maybe amend it in other ways in the future, but we also have an opportunity to embrace a particular path to the future. Whether we vote for them or not, I believe these Values do a good job of taking our Principles and examining them, growing and deepening them, and then also adding some more thoughts from other places that I think are really foundational to our faith. Being able to see Earl Morse Wilbur, James Luther Adams, Martin Luther King, Jr., Octavia Butler and more in these Values is an incredible work of love and justice drawing from various earlier statements about who we are and who we have been, and pointing a way forward.

To close, I return to the word in the center of the graphic, the word that shapes all the Values that follow it: Love. For me, Love has aways truly been at the center of our faith, whether or not it was in the Principles directly. Whether or not we make the choice to take this path forward, I hope Love remains at our center throughout this process and beyond it.

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