Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Congregational stands on social justice issues

Michael Ohlrogge, in a submission to the UU-Leaders mailing list, writes

Hi All, I'll start off by saying that I see myself very much as a revitalizer and a reformer of Unitarian Universalism. Yes, we do have a number of very good things going for us as a religion. We also though have a lot of challenges and struggles. There are lots of facts and figures I could cite to back this up, but I think the fact that percentage of Americans who are UUs has shrunk every year for the past twenty years is indication enough. Now, I'm far from being alone in identifying as a UU reformer - I'm sure many others on this list see themselves as such also, which is great. Oftentimes, in UU reform endeavors, there are strong tendencies to search outside the religion for ideas and solutions other groups have come up with. This is certainly good to an extent, but I think that it's also essential to look within the movement and identify the strengths that we do have, that are special to us as UUs, and to do the most we can to lift those up and capitalize on them. One of those strengths that I think we do have is that UUs as a whole tend to have a fairly strong political and social consciousness, and quite frequently at least, our values do seem quite good. This relates to congregational stands on social justice issues in that I wonder if such stands are always the best way to capitalize upon this UU strength of moral conscience. I think these stands can be, but only if they are tied to real action and furthermore, are seen as a necessary support for that real action. Voting to become a Welcoming Congregation can often be one such example, where the congregation not only states a position, but ideally also makes a commitment to take part in a continuous process of learning, stretching, and exploring that involves everyone in the community. Other times though, I think the results of a congregational vote on a social justice issue can be less beneficial. There is danger that, by being able to tell themselves that their congregation has voted and taken a stand on some noble issue, UUs may sometimes feel that their moral conscience has been satisfied. This is very bad in my opinion, because it has just served to nullify one of UUs' greatest strengths, their moral consciences, without actually doing anything beneficial for the faith or for the world. This can be like firing our guns into the air - it makes a big noise, but ultimately doesn't do much other than expend our limited supplies of ammunition. Thus, if your congregation really is going to come together as a whole with the vast majority of your members taking active steps to, for example, lobby local businesses to provide health care to their employees, and you feel that having a congregational vote to support this endeavor will help bolster the resolve and dedication of all those members in their work, then in such a case, I think a congregational stand can be great. (by the way, for a great example of what a congregation can come together to do, research up a little on Martin Luther King's "Operation Breadbasket", his "Where do we go from here?" speech has an inspirational introduction to the effort). If this isn't going to be the case though, if the vote will simply serve to affirm the work of the dozen people on your church's social justice committee, I would strongly urge against taking such a vote. In such a case, the vote itself won't do much productive and at the very least, with the time and energy that it took to bring all those people together to have the vote, all of those people could have instead come together for an all church event (of equal length) to actually go out and effect some real change. This would be a much better way to capitalize on (rather than squander, placate, or shortchange) a key strength of UUs, and I bet that when all is said and done, a congregation will feel a lot better about having participated in real action rather than in an abstract and ultimately hollow resolution. In faith, -Michael Ohlrogge

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 2:37 PM