Study/Action Issues & Process
Beginning Friday, November 13, congregations will have the opportunity to participate in a number of social witness decisions.
- Submit comments on the Draft CSAI "Ethical Eating" (preview the comment form (PDF)) (closes March 1, 2010)
- Vote in the Congregational Poll (closed as of February 1, 2010)
- Submit comments on the Draft SOC "Peacemaking" (closed as of February 1, 2010)
For more information, please see:
Results of the 2010 Congregational Poll
Draft Statement of Conscience
Item One: For a Draft Statement of Conscience (SOC) to appear on the 2010 General Assembly Final Agenda, our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) bylaws require a minimum of 25% of certified congregations to participate in the ballot vote on whether the Draft SOC should be placed on the Final Agenda.
After voting closed, the tally was:
- “Yes” vote: 38.2%
- “No” vote: 0.8%
- “Abstain” vote: 34.8%
- Did not vote: 26.2%
Seventy-three percent of certified congregations participated in the Congregational Poll this year.
Congregational Study/Action Issues
Item Two: For any proposed Congregational Study/Action Issues (CSAIs) to appear on the General Assembly 2010 ballot, our UUA bylaws require a quorum of 25% of certified congregations to vote “Yes” for the five proposed CSAIs they think are the most important.
In ranked order by vote are the six proposed CSAIs after the close of the Congregational Poll. The top five will be going on the General Assembly 2010 agenda; one will be selected at GA to be the 2010-2014 Congregational Study/Action Issue.
- Energy, Peace, and Justice: 33.3%
- National Economic Reform: A Moral Imperative: 31.1%
- Immigration as a Moral Issue: 30.6%
- Ending Slavery: 28.7%
- Revitalizing American Democracy: 24.5%
- Nuclear Disarmament: 17.9%
About the Social Witness Process
The Fifth Principle of Unitarian Universalism affirms and promotes the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process. In keeping with this, the way in which our denomination arrives at consensus on various social issues is by a democratically agreed upon process called the Social Witness Process, named as such because we bear witness to social inequity.
The Social Witness Process is facilitated by the Commission on Social Witness. It currently generates two types of consensus statements, Statements of Conscience, which result from study and action on a selected issue, and Actions of Immediate Witness. For more information, see the Social Witness Process page.
For more information contact socialwitness @ uua.org.
Last updated on Thursday, February 4, 2010.
