"Welcome to the Plenary from hell," said Moderator Denny Davidoff as she gaveled a five-hour-plus Plenary session to order on a sunlit afternoon in Salt Lake City. The plenary, filled with business and reports, featured an energy break and a fifteen-minute recess, but by the end of the session, delegates and observers were in need of fresh air and a dinner break.
The session opened with a chalice lighting and the song, "For All That is Our Life," which led by Reid Swanson, member of the GA Planning Committee
The Board of Trustees Report was delivered by Vice-Moderator Jean Kapuscik, and was followed by the Report of the UUA Finance Committee, which was given by Ken Carpenter (outgoing chair, right) and Gini Courter (incoming chair).
Action on five Study/Action Issues for Social Justice was proposed, and each issue was supported by a two-minute address:
1. War on drugs: A Liberal Alternative
Presented by Frances Burford, First UU Church, Houston, TX
The war on drugs is selectively enforced, Burford said. African Americans and Hispanics are targeted as drug suspects unfairly; children are deprived of school programs so that money can be spent on prisons; there is no real education on drugs, she said. In spite of the $300 billion spent each year on war, drug use and drug deaths is increasing. We need to fund a study of alternatives, including legitimization of marijuana use, drug treatment on demand.
2. Waking Up to the Threat of Global Warming
Presented by Rev. Bill Clark, First Parish in Brewster, MA
We need to be attentive to the issue of global warming, which presents a documented risk to our civilization. Al Gore called global warning potentially the most dangerous calamity to the human community second only to nuclear war. "As UUs we have been in the forefront of awakening people to activity…it is to this action that we appeal," said Clark. Our planet is being threatened by what we are doing to the earth's atmosphere, a threat to the interdependent web of human existence of which we are a part. Awakening to the threat of global warming will help us improve the quality of life for all.
3. Responsible Consumption as a Moral Imperative (winner)
Presented by Gisela Bahr, Hopedale UU Community, Oxford, OH
The energy used by one American is equivalent to that used by higher numbers of people in other countries, said Bahr. Is it right for us to live the way we do? "We have one earth and it is becoming endangered," she said. It is up to us to change the way we use resources.
4. Improving the Quality of Life for Youth
Presented by Ann Robinson, UU Church of Loudon, Leesburg, VA
Nurturing future generations is our primary role, said Robinson. This is a study resolution which is urgently needed.
5. Advancing the Liberal Vision for Public Education
Presented by Barbara Bloomer, UU Fellowship of Grand Traverse, Traverse City, MI. Our youth are being challenged by the media in many forms, said Bloomer. The eroding of school support puts our nation at risk. "This is an issue that we can all participate in," said Bloomer. "We can all become active to support the local school system The far right is already there, and I believe that a unified effort of all UU members will make a difference in the delivery of quality education to young people. This is a call to action," said Bloomer, and our liberal views must be taken to the larger community.
More than thirty minutes of debate followed, with speakers lining up at five different microphones in the Salt Palace Ballroom queued up to advocate for each of the five proposed Study/Action Issues.
The Rev. Mike Young of the Honolulu, HI UU congregation spoke in favor of the Study/Action Issue around war on drugs, recounting his own experience as a subject in a psychedelic drug experiments years ago. He advocated for the responsible resumption of drug testing in the US.
The Youth Caucus advocated for the resolution on responsible consumption saying, in part, "As youth we are deeply concerned with the values of the society we are inheriting. We reject the self destructive paradigm and advocate for more responsible lifestyles…"
The Study/Action Issue on Improving Quality of Life for Youth was defended by a youth worker from New York City who works with incarcerated youth and who said that "services to youth are at a crisis level. Youth, especially, have been given short shrift. We need after-school tutoring, we need mentoring, he said. This proposal will improve the quality of life for our youth.
At the conclusion of the discussion period, a written ballot was issued to delegates to vote on the proposals, with the result that two proposed items, S-1, "War on Drugs: A Liberal Alternative", and S-3, "Responsible Consumption as a Moral Imperative," qualified for a run-off vote with 204 and 258 votes respectively. When Davidoff called for a runoff vote between the two, S-3, "Responsible Consumption as a Moral Imperative," was the clear winner.
UUA President's Report - John A. Buehrens
Includes Cynthia Breen's presentation on Our Whole Lives.
Report from Overseas - Kenneth T. MacLean
Buehrens introduced a short video saluting the UUA's retiring Special Assistant to the President for Interfaith and International Relations, Ken MacLean. Immediately following, MacLean offered his final report from Overseas.
MacLean said that traveling from Boston to Tokyo or the Khasi Hills in India can provoke the feeling that one is in a time warp, and also raises questions of what we share in common in our faith traditions with our brother and sister Unitarians and Univeralists overseas. "We have an understanding of their religious tradition in greater depth than we ever had before," said MacLean. "If we are helping to make people healthier and stronger, then that is a good enough use of our resources. The biggest question is: what does the rest of the world have to do with us? Do we have to be involved?
"I tell you: we are more involved than you know. We are helping support the IARF (International Association for Religious Freedom), through which we are involved in interfaith dialogue with many important groups, and we are also represented in the United Nations in the slow and painstaking work of what getting consensus around religious freedom really means. We are providing leadership to the world conference on religion and peace, the largest interfaith group in the world, and they are doing some remarkable work in Bosnia and Kosovo. …We are involved with Buddhist and Shinto groups, who hosted Denny and Jerry Davidoff and me this spring. Denny addressed 8,000 members of the Rhisso Kosei Kai on Buddha's birthday.
"We are involved through the Partner Church Council…with an expanding network of church to church relationships which began in Transylvania and which is spreading. A man said to me yesterday, 'I am a city person...I wanted to go to Budapest ..not that little village in Romania. I didn't know how that little village would change my life…'"
"I leave this responsibility," said MacLean, with mixed feelings. "Pride in what has been accomplished in five years, and a sense of incompleteness about what needs to be done. Perhaps we have some greater clarity of what needs to be done…and a better sense of what might be done. I dream of the day when our collaboration with the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists and the Partner Church Council will enable every Unitarian Universalist in North America to feel some particular connection to Unitarians or Universalists in some other part of the world. I dream of the day when our partnership with Buddhist and Shinto groups will spawn projects that combine our passion for justice with their passion for compassion. I dream of the day when we will pull together the resources to support a ministry that will work with our partners abroad and train ministers and others to work with those communities who are poor, to build their spiritual lives, along with the quality of their life, their education, their wellbeing. We don't know how to do that now, but we could learn. These people may be far away, but they are part of us. And every time we get involved, we are changed, and our lives have greater significance. Thank you for what you have added to my life," said MacLean.
Following rousing applause, MacLean introduced Ellen Campbell (right), Executive Director of the Canadian Unitarian Association, to give the Report from Canada. The Rev. Meg Riley (left), Director of the UUA's Washington Office for Faith in Action, followed with her report.
The Nominating Committee Report was given by Carolyn Lavender, who introduced an uncontested slate:
Board of Review –8 year terms: Silvio Nardoni, Sandra ShawBoard of Trustees –
6 year term: Paul Johnson4 year terms: Herman Boerma, Norma PoinsettCommission on Social Witness –4 year term: Barbara ChildPlanning Committee –4 year terms: Linda Friedman, Charlie King, Marc Loustau, Douglas Morgan StrongCommission on Appraisal –
2 year term: Ervin Barrios6 year terms: Joyce Gilbert, Janice Johnson, Earl HoltNominating Committee –6 year term: Joel High, James Kepler,Young Kim
4 year term: Jane Bramadat
Following the introduction of the slate, the Secretary of the Association (Carl Thitchener) cast one ballot for the slate.
Following a break, Moderator Davidoff called on Larry Ladd (left) to give the Report of the Financial Advisor.
A report on YRUU (Young Religious Unitarian Universalists) was given by Chris Trace (right), business manager for YRUU and a recent appointee to the Commission on Social Witness. Trace discussed the thirty years of youth work that had gone on within the Association, and noted that this gathering in Salt Lake marked the largest gathering of youth in the history of the YRUU and LRY movements at a General Assembly. He noted that along with the increase in youth attendance had come an increase in staff to support the Youth Caucus, with the paid staff now at 8 and the volunteer staff at 26. He announced a GA program called "working action," designed to make youth greater stakeholders within the General Assembly agenda. Trace also cited three priorities for YRUU: establishing effective communication channels in churches and districts, anti-racism efforts, and making anti-racism a priority for all levels of YRUU.
Action on Rules and Bylaw Amendments followed.
Rule G-4, 12.3 Report on Implementation of UUA Statements of Conscience Passed
Rule G.912.8 UUA Campaign Finances Disclosure Passed
Section 4.8 General Assembly Delegates 6:10
While the offering of information and several failed amendments followed, time for the plenary was exhausted, and this item was continued to the Sunday, June 27, Plenary session by Moderator Davidoff.
