Imagine what our faith would look like if we upheld and centered the history, the perspectives, the voices, and the leadership of Black Unitarian Universalists…
The Promise and the Practice of Our Faith campaign is our opportunity to take the lead as a faith denomination in addressing our history of upholding white supremacy.
The UUA launched The Promise and the Practice of Our Faith following the General Assembly in New Orleans in June 2017. It is a historic commitment to address our denomination’s history of upholding white supremacy, and all Unitarian Universalists are invited to be part of it through:
- Holding at least one worship service around the campaign’s themes, and
- Financial support (each congregation is asked to pledge the equivalent of $10 per member), and
- Making a long-term commitment to dismantling white supremacy, racism and oppression within our congregations, our Association, and beyond.
Background: In October 2016 the UUA Board of Trustees made a bold $5.3 million commitment to black leaders in Unitarian Universalism to support ministry to black-identified Unitarian Universalists. The Board’s decision reflects an understanding that Unitarian Universalism has benefited from the system of white supremacy that advantages white people and white institutions. In the late 1960s, Unitarian Universalism was asked to take steps to address the silencing and marginalization of Black Unitarian Universalists. Though there was an initial affirmation of this commitment at the time, the commitment went unfulfilled and the promise was broken. (More about that broken promise here: www.uuworld.org/articles/empowerment-tragedy )