Civil Liberties
As early as 1920, Unitarians Roger Baldwin and John Haynes Holmes were among the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union. Beginning in 1963, the General Assembly has repeatedly called for government protection of civil liberties. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, general resolutions were made on Freedom of Thought, Speech and Assembly, Freedom of Dissent and Police Repression. The UUA General Assembly called repeatedly for privacy for individual citizens and church organizations. General Resolutions passed in the 1980s targeted specific legislation as well as the FBI and CIA. The Sanctuary Movement was commended by the 1985 General Assembly.The 2002 passage of Civil Liberties as the Study/Action Issue for 2002-2004 calls attention to recent domestic increases in “homeland security” and the heightening of the government’s “war on terrorism” and “war on drugs."
The Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly has a long history of speaking out on the issue of civil liberties. Thus, the 2002 Study/Action process concerning civil liberties is not about creating a new statement out of a vacuum of neutrality, but rather it is about updating our policy given current circumstances.
Academic Freedom
1962 General Resolution
Civil Liberties
1963 General Resolution
Acts of Terrorism
1964 General Resolution
Freedom of Thought, Speech and Assembly
1965 General Resolution
Human Rights Conventions
1965 General Resolution
Freedom of Dissent
1968 General Resolution
Campus Freedom and Responsibility
1969 General Resolution
Against Censorship in Public Schools
1988 General Resolution
The Refugee Internment Camp at Harlingen, Texas
1989 Resolution of Immediate of Witness
The Civil Rights Act of 1990
1990 Resolution of Immediate of Witness
Rights of Privacy and Free Speech
1991 Resolution of Immediate of Witness
Work to Change Discriminatory Policies of Boy Scouts of America
1999 Action of Immediate Witness
Civil Liberties
2004 Statement of Conscience
Torture
2004 Responsive Resolution
United States-Sponsored Torture Must End
2005 Action of Immediate Witness
Support Immigrant Justice
2006 Action of Immediate Witness
Last updated on Tuesday, December 5, 2006.
