Boston, Mass. (October 23, 2024) – UU World’s Autumn 2024 issue – now available online and at newsstands — focuses on the seeds of sustainable change that are taking place within Unitarian Universalism and beyond. As the magazine’s executive editor, Kristen Cox Roby, writes, “there is much to be said of seeds in the fall and wintertime, seasons often perceived as periods of dormancy and decline. Even as fall brings a chill to the air, even as winter paints the land in stark hues, the work of preparation is underway.”
The edition provides extensive coverage of the historic vote to approve new language on Shared Values and Covenant that are now a part of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s (UUA) bylaws, which took place at the UUA’s General Assembly in June. The vote was the culmination of a multiyear effort, in accordance with the UUA’s bylaws, to review and revise its core religious beliefs and values.
“We are in a time when these reminders of the possibilities of life feel ever more vital to showing up in our fullness and our values day to day,” writes the Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, the UUA’s president. “Our interdependence matters. Our pluralism invites us to embrace our differences and commonalities with love, curiosity, and respect. The love at the center of our faith holds us even in the face of the unimaginable. It is a love that abides.”
The issue also examines two major current concerns of the UUA — climate justice and strengthening democracy. Rachel Myslivy, the UUA’s Climate Justice Strategist, is interviewed about the UU Climate Justice Revival that began in September and the Green Sanctuary program. Additionally, the UUA’s first-ever Democracy Strategist, Nora Rasman, discusses this year’s UU the Vote initiative and the long-term work of creating a sustainable democracy.
UU World staff writer Elaine McArdle reports on the status of the first Miyawaki Forest in the northeastern United States, a tiny forest located in the urban environment of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The effort to create this tiny forest – which address climate change by sequestering carbon, providing much-needed shade, improving air and water quality, among other benefits – is led by Unitarian Universalist Beck Mordini, who is the executive director of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate (Bio4Climate).
[Addressing climate change] “is a place for us to practice our UU values and respect each other and the web of life,” Mordini says in the UU World article. “What I get to bring to this organization and this conversation is that humans can be a positive part of the web of life, we don’t have to choose to be destructive. By studying the fullness of these systems, we learn how to play a role that is positive.”
The issue also looks at ways that Unitarian Universalists are helping migrant and refugee families, including a feature on the UUA’s decision this past Spring to work in partnership with Boston-area community organizations to open up its headquarters to unhoused families. Additionally, the magazine focuses on how three UU congregations in Minnesota worked together to bring to the United States three Ukrainian families fleeing from the war in that country.
UU World recently announced that it will launch a twice-a-month newsletter, called WayFinder.
UU World celebrates liberal religion and the people it inspires. The magazine descends from a long line of Unitarian and Universalist publications going back two centuries: Universalist Magazine was founded in 1819 and the Unitarian Christian Register in 1821.
//End
About the UUA:
The UUA is the central organization for the Unitarian Universalist (UU) religious movement in the United States. Our faith is diverse and inclusive and the UUA’s 1000+ member congregations are committed to shared values and principles that hold closely the worth and dignity of each person as sacred, the need for justice and compassion, the right of conscience, and respect for the interdependent nature of all existence.