By-laws are not usually very interesting, really. The UUA has 15 Articles of by-laws, the second of which is where the theological guidance of the non-profit resides. This article is supposed to be reviewed every 15 years. A failed attempt at a small change in 2009, means there has not been changes since 1985 until 2020, when the Board of the UUA charged the Article II Study Commission with making revisions.
For the next two years, the Study Commission sought input from UUs and actually received about 10,000 inputs. They made a report to the Board and in 2023 the revisions were brought to the General Assembly (GA) for a preliminary vote. After passing with about 90%, more discussion and more opposition to these changes were stirred.
Here at ESUC, the 8th Principle Ministry Team took on supporting the revisions after we passed the 8th Principle in 2021 at our a congregational meeting. We continued that work at a lower level of action after the preliminary passage, expecting passage by the 2024 GA. Those opposed worked to get a “no” vote, which would have put any revisions on hold for the next two years, and maintained the 1985 language we are all familiar with, citing the 7 Principles and the Sources. On June 23, the GA vote was counted and the revisions have passed with 80.2% of the vote. These immediately become active for the Board of the UUA and will be next revised in 15 years, according to the by-laws.
You can find a great deal of information at uua.org (searching for “Article 2”) about the four years process and the final results. A description of the legal ramifications of Article II changes can be found here.
The 8th Principle Ministry Team merged with Beloved Conversations Among last year and became a Board Committee entitled Building Beloved Community Committee, or BBCC to insiders. Any of the members – Carrie Bowman, Paul Buehrns, Grace Colton, Maury Edwards, Ryam Hill, Caroline Haessley, Marcy Langrock, Mike Radow, and staff liaison Nicole Duff – can answer questions. There will be further discussion about Article II for the whole congregation, now in the planning.
You can read more about everything that happened at General Assembly here.