“We Christians, in fact – British and American – were the ones who decided that we couldn’t do to Indigenous people and kidnapped Africans what we were doing if they were indeed people made in the image of God. What we did is we threw away Imago Dei. We threw it away to justify what we’re doing… white supremacy was America’s original sin… “

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Many Unitarian Universalist congregations in the U.S. have voted to adopt the Eighth Principle which commits those congregations to “…actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.” American Unitarian Universalists like to point to our history as a liberal religion associated with the abolitionists in the early 19th century. At the same time, we need to be cautious about self-congratulatory rhetoric that ignores our historic complicity in the genocide, land theft and attempted erasure of Native peoples on this continent.

Acknowledging the contribution of our Calvinist religious ancestors to the genocide of Native peoples and the failure of Unitarians and Universalist ministers to speak out against the deportation of entire Native nations in the 19th century, might be a reasonable first step toward the work of repentance and repair that is long overdue.

Of course, the white supremacy culture that the Reverend Wallace refers to above as “America’s original sin” did not begin in the churches of colonial New England. The “just war theory” of 4th century bishop Augustine of Hippo and the “doctrine of discovery” promulgated by papal bulls of Pope Nicholas V in 1455 and Pope Alexander VI in 1493 laid the foundation for exploitation of native peoples by European settlers. Nevertheless, white supremacy and its associated violence were firmly planted on this continent at the Plymouth Plantation and the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 17th century. And our religious ancestors were there at the time.

Roots of Unitarian Universalism in New England

According to the Unitarian Universalist Association, the religious movement that evolved into both Unitarian and Universalist denominations in North America began with the Cambridge Platform of Church Discipline signed by English settlers in 1649.¹   This platform described a system of church self-governance, free from hierarchical control, that continues to guide congregational churches of New England (including UU congregations) to this day.  The Cambridge Platform affirms that the government should punish idolatry, blasphemy, heresy, and “the venting of corrupt and pernicious opinions”.  This position gave the colonial government an endorsement from the Standing Order of New England Clergy (see diagram below) to punish indigenous people who were generally viewed as “corrupt and pernicious”

Continue reading Repentance for “America’s Original Sin” →

Members of the UUSA participated in the UUA Common Read of On Repentance of Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World. One of the conclusions for many of us is that we need to learn more.

The following is a list of resources used in preparation of the short essay exploring the role of our religious ancestors in harms done to Native peoples in New England. You are invited/encouraged to send me additional resources that you think should be on this list. Please send your suggestions to johngerber123@gmail.com.

Continue reading An Exploration of the Harms Done by UUSA Religious Ancestors →

The following is an open letter to the Unitarian Universalist community of Amherst, MA. If this topic and challenge is of interest, you are invited to join us to discuss the book mentioned below. You can learn more and register on the UUSA web page.

The UUA Common Read this year is “On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World” by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg.  Discussing this thoughtful book is an excellent way for the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst to follow what we learned in last year’s Common Read of The Indigenous People’s History of the United States about the harms done to Native Americans by our settler colonialist ancestors.  Often referred to as “America’s original sin” the mistreatment of Indigenous Peoples deserves our special attention as a Unitarian Universalist congregation with a meetinghouse residing on land taken from Native Americans, in a town named after the “poster child of white supremacy” in the 18^th century, the Lord Baron General Amherst.

Continue reading Let’s talk about repentance and repair →

White people are told to make sure BIPOC voices are dominant in conversations and work to dismantle white supremacy culture.

I get that.

I also hear the voice of Reesma Menakem, the author of My Grandmother’s Hands. Here are a few remarks from him while being interviewed along with Robin DiAngelo, by Krista Tippets on a podcast titled Toward a Framework for Repair, aired July 9, 2020.

“…when white folks and allies say that they’re allies, and what can we do, and you think you’re being helpful; or what should I do now?, and you think you’re being helpful, there is such a brutality to your words that, many times, I can’t fool with white folks. I can’t be around you. I need you to leave me alone. I need you to not ask me what my opinion is of a Black man getting murdered with no regard.”

“…and they’re going to have to start really beginning to figure out how they build culture around abolishing white supremacy.

Anything other than that, for me, really is — and you’ve heard me say this before — really is performance art. It is not real. If you’re not going to be with other white bodies for three to 10 years, grinding on specifically about race and specifically about the things that show up when white bodies get together to build culture, then I can’t fool with you.

The idea that people can come up to me and ask me, what should I do?, when we have Google, is just crazy on its face.

… white folks have got to do this work themselves.”

NOTE: this is a powerful interview and it is worthwhile hearing these words in Reesma Menakem’s own voice. You can listen to the full interview here: On Being Podcast; July 9, 2020.

Or if you want to hear a few minutes of highlights from this interview, try this….

For more resources related to the UU Eighth Principle, see:

Dismantling Racism and other Oppressions

The following is personal exploration into the first few chapters of the text, Widening the Circle of Concern: Report of the UUA Commission on Institutional Change – June 2020.

This text is available free as a pdf. The following notes represent my own gleanings of statements that seemed important to me. Direct quotes from the text are indicated with quote markings. Other statements are adapted or paraphrased to make sense out of context.

Gleanings from the Preface

“Addressing the perennial problem of race in Unitarian Universalism is not broadly seen as a theological mandate.”

We need new definitions of multicultural competency for religious leaders (including lay leadership).

“Too few white people are engaged in intentional anti-oppression work.”

We need to articulate what a liberation theology could look like for UU’s.

Continue reading Gleanings from “Widening the Circle” →