Many of you who are involved with social media know that over the past few days, a painful conversation has been taking place about the white supremacy which is evident at the national UUA headquarters and indeed throughout our religious movement.
As leaders entrusted with the care of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF), we have been witnessing the conversation carefully and wondering what, if anything, we need to say. Ultimately, we feel the need to speak out to our members and friends, and particularly to the people of color who have joined the CLF as a last resort in Unitarian Universalism, after experiencing marginalization or being discounted in bricks and mortar congregations. We do not want you to feel marginalized or discounted at CLF, and yet we harbor no illusions that we are made of different DNA than other historic UU institutions.
And so we’ll say three things: First, we applaud the breaking of silences and the direct communication which is taking place now, particularly by people of color. We know that there is risk in breaking silence, and we see these voices as voices of love. We pray that this moment will provide opportunities and motivation for necessary changes to come in all of the institutions that make up our religious movement, including CLF.
Second, we understand that it is the responsibility of white Unitarian Universalists in all of our institutions to examine our practices and see their impact, to listen without getting stuck in defensiveness as people of color point out where we fail to be conscious in our work, and to keep moving towards justice, knowing that we will do all of this imperfectly.
Third, we witness and grieve the pain that people of color in our movement have carried historically and continue to carry because of the lack of consciousness and courage of white people. Religious institutions should be places of healing and transformation, not one more place to need healing from.
With deep awareness of our own imperfections as individuals and as a congregation, we vow to keep trying, keep listening, keep evolving.
Rev. Meg Riley
Senior Minister
Arif Mamdani
Incoming Board Chair
We are excited to launch a brand new website! All of the wonderful resources that were on the old site are still here, but now you can find and share them more easily. Plus, we think the design and graphics are much prettier and engaging. We have done a lot of work behind the scenes too, which will help us offer more resources and ways to be in community with each other.
As with any launch, we may have missed a few things and are still working on some areas. We ask for your patience and hope you’ll give us feedback—what you love about the site, broken pages you find, and suggestions for how we can make it even better.
This space is our building, our gathering place. May we grow in it together.
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Quest for Meaning is a program of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF).
As a Unitarian Universalist congregation with no geographical boundary, the CLF creates global spiritual community, rooted in profound love, which cultivates wonder, imagination, and the courage to act.