How should our congregation and its members relate to the UUA and its mission? Come hang out with the 4th Principle Dialogue Group as we discuss proposed changes to the UUA’s bylaws, changes that would affect governance of the UUA, congregational polity, and individual UUs’ connection to the UUA leadership. Article II has already been rewritten; these changes would revise the rest of the bylaws. The new bylaws are scheduled for their first vote at General Assembly in June, 2025.

The values embedded in the proposed changes are:

• Interdependence over individualism
• Trusting leadership over fear of authority
• Ending the centering of white culture
• Freedom to act over risk avoidance
• Strategy, objectives, and plans over monitoring and oversight
• Clarity and simplicity over complexity
• Decisions located organizationally based on importance to mission

Feel free to read the Bylaws Renewal Team Update from September 13, 2024. In case you’d like some background, this proposal is in line with Rev Frederic Muir’s lecture from 2012, From iChurch to Beloved Community. As for what “white culture” means in this context, here’s a one-page explainer from the National Museum of African American History & Culture. Homework not required. 

Please note that there will be no session December 26. Our next session will be on January 9, topic TBD.

The 4th Principle Dialogue Group promotes the “free & responsible search for truth & meaning,” pursuing the congregational goal of Connected Community. We get to know each other and connect to each other through meaningful, open-hearted dialogue. Drop-ins welcome. Homework not required. See more in UU Connect.