General Assembly 2007 preview

General Assembly 2007 preview

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From the Summer issue of UU World:
Congregational leaders and representatives of other UU organizations will gather in Portland, Oregon, for the annual General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations June 20 through 24. On the schedule:

  • Congregations will report on their responses to last year’s resolution on racism and classism (see “ The Future We Hope To See” in UU World's Summer issue, page 33). GA will mark the tenth anniversary of the resolution that committed the UUA to becoming an antiracist organization.

  • GA will also observe the thirty-fifth anniversary of Beacon Press’s publication of the Pentagon Papers. Key figures in that event will reunite to discuss its ongoing relevance. “Democracy Now!” host Amy Goodman will moderate a discussion with Daniel Ellsberg and former Senator Mike Gravel, who made the Vietnam War papers public, former UUA President Robert N. West, who supported Beacon’s decision to publish despite FBI challenges and a court injunction, and current UUA President William G. Sinkford.

  • Major presentations will feature Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, on peacemaking; author Kathleen Norris on a “vocabulary of faith”; the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance and the Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State on strengthening religious liberty.

  • GA will focus this year on clarifying the Association’s mission, asking, “In today’s complex world, what is our mission as a faith community?” Using a democratic decision-making method called “Open Space Technology,” GA-goers will meet in small groups to discuss the question and will propose top answers for a vote by delegates at Sunday’s plenary session. The General Assembly conversations about the UUA’s mission coincide with the Commission on Appraisal’s review of the UUA’s Principles, Sources, and Purposes, which was announced last year.

  • Candidates for elected positions are all running unopposed this year, and will be elected by acclamation. See page 51 of the Summer issue for candidate profiles. (We ll post a link when they re online.)

  • Keep up with General Assembly news and events. Read uuworld.org’s daily GA news blog at www.uuworld.org/news/ga and event coverage at www.uua.org.

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