Unitarian Universalist Issues – UUCJ Version

Good news for Unitarian Universalism: 95% of those who attended the special congregational meeting at the UU Church of Jacksonville, FL (UUCJ) on April 21, 2024, voted to reject the UUA’s rewrite of Article 2 of the UUA Bylaws. Of 84 members voting by secret ballot, 80 voted to reject the rewrite and 4 voted to accept. UUCJ has 139 members in total, so, even if all of those who didn’t attend voted for the proposed rewrite, it still would have been rejected.

How was this outcome achieved? In short, by extensive research spanning nearly a year and effective communication via five Town Halls between October 2023 and March 2024. The board-chartered Article II Review Task Force took leadership. This group was organized in response to what UUCJ delegates saw and witnessed at General Assembly 2023. The first and second versions of their board-approved charter are the first two links below.

The First Task Force Charter August 2023

The Second Task Force Charter February 2024

The first Town Hall on October 22, 2023, set the stage for open communication. The forty-five members present were invited to mill about the room and write on newsprint responding to two questions and a vote.

1. What tenets of Unitarian Universalism are important to you?
2. What information to you need to know about Article II and how would you like to have the information disseminated to you?
3. A third exercise allowed participants to vote their agreement with what was written on the newsprint sheets in response to the previous two questions. Each participant had 12 sticker-dots to place near the comments they favored.

Complete results are contained in the report linked below. If you have time to read only one of the items below, read this one.

First Town Hall Results – October 22, 2023