[Fuusmchat] A one candidate election?

[Nancy Luthy]

Would you feel better if Karen Binkley and you circulated the statement?  I
think my reputation is negatively connected with the Chris Kellar situation.
Karen will be home from Fl next week and I know she would be "on board."
Nancy

On Tue, Feb 14, 2023 at 10:16 AM Ted Goertzel via fuusmchat <
fuusmchat at fuusm.org> wrote:

> Nancy,
>
> I think it might make sense if we, you and I, circulated a statement.  I
> don't want this to be perceived as part of the division the church had over
> handling Chris's resignation.  If you and I both circulated something,
> perhaps it would be taken more seriously.
>
> Ted
>
> On Tue, Feb 14, 2023 at 10:12 AM Nancy Luthy via fuusmchat <
> fuusmchat at fuusm.org> wrote:
>
>> Ted.  I agree.
>> Perhaps you would like to draft a document expressing these concerns that
>> members could sign, if in agreement.
>> I know Rev. Kat is reluctant to send a statement from her, because it is
>> interpreted to represent the entire congregation.
>> Nancy
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 14, 2023 at 10:06 AM Ted Goertzel via fuusmchat <
>> fuusmchat at fuusm.org> wrote:
>>
>>> The Unitarian Universalist Association is about to elect a new
>>> President, but we only get one candidate to vote for. This seems somehow
>>> undemocratic and un-American, There is, or was, a group in the UUA that
>>> opposed the current emphasis on anti-racism as the theme to revive the
>>> movement, but they seem to have given up. I think they made some good
>>> points. The UU movement may have a niche as America's "woke" church, but it
>>> won't attract young families, and probably not many black members. I
>>> suspect we will remain one of the most white denominations in the country.
>>> We need to focus on attracting young families and rebuilding religious
>>> education, but the UUA doesn't seem to prioritize that.  The enrollment
>>> trends in RE <https://www.uua.org/data/demographics/uua-statistics>are
>>> very discouraging nationwide, as well as here.  I tried to get membership
>>> trends by race, which they collect from us, but haven't been able to. I
>>> suspect they would be embarrassing for a church that has prioritized
>>> diversity in its rhetoric.
>>>     If you are curious about the thinking of the more conservative,
>>> traditionalist group in the UUA, I can recommend the essay "Where We
>>> Are Headed
>>> <https://trulyopenmindsandhearts.blog/2017/11/21/where-are-we-headed/>,"
>>> by Rev. Kate Braestrup.  It is from 2017 when that group was still hopeful,
>>> there isn't any current material on her blog.  She may be part of the group
>>> of UU ministers who quit the UU Minister's A
>>> <https://fifthprincipleproject.org/2020/09/16/we-quit-uu-ministers-resign-from-uuma/>ssociation
>>> in protest over the purging of Rev Todd Elkoff of Spokane because of a book
>>> he tried to distribute at the UUA a few years ago.  I suspect this year's
>>> UUA will be free of dissenting voices.
>>>
>>> I don't think the traditionalist group has a solution to the UUA's
>>> membership problems either, and it doesn't do any harm for us to examine
>>> our unintentional racial biases. But I think it would be healthier if we
>>> actually had a debate about the direction of the denomination rather than
>>> just rallying about the Dear Leader like North Koreans.
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