Public Education, Religious Liberty, and the Separation of Church and State 1982 General Resolution

WHEREAS, the constitutional principles of religious liberty, and the separation of church and state that safeguard liberty, and the ideal of a pluralistic society are under increasing attack in the Congress of the United States, in state legislatures, and in some sectors of the communications media by a combination of sectarian and special interests;

BE IT RESOLVED: That the 1982 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association reaffirms its support for these principles and urges the Board of Trustees and President of the Association, member societies, and Unitarian Universalists in the United States to:

  1. Defend the democratic, pluralistic public school, opposing all forms of direct and indirect public aid to support sectarian private schools, such as tuition tax credits or vouchers;
  2. Uphold religious neutrality in public education, oppose all government mandated or sponsored prayers, devotional observances, and religious indoctrination in public schools; and oppose efforts to compromise the integrity of public school teaching by the introduction of sectarian religious doctrines, such as "scientific creationism," and by exclusion of educational material on sectarian grounds;
  3. Uphold the principle of judicial review, and oppose all efforts to deny the federal courts jurisdiction over school prayer, abortion rights, or other church-state disputes;
  4. Uphold the principle enunciated by the United States Supreme Court that all levels of government must remain respectfully neutral with regard to all religions;
  5. Uphold the constitutional privacy right of every woman, acknowledged by the Supreme Court in 1973 Roe vs. Wade and other rulings, to plan the number and spacing of her children and to terminate a problem pregnancy in collaboration with her physician, opposing all efforts through legislation or constitutional amendment to restrict that right or to impose by law a "theology of fetal personhood"; and
  6. Support all efforts to preserve and strengthen church-state separation.