Rev. Laurel Hallman For UUA President Website And Blog Changes

Rev. Laurel Hallman, the minister of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas Texas, has had a new and improved web site and blog designed to promote her candidacy for UUA President. Rev. Hallman`s original Elect Laurel Hallman Unitarian Universalist Association President website was at the URL: www.laurelhallman.com but her new Laurel Hallman for UUA President website is at the URL:

http://www.hallmanforuuapresident.com

The original Elect Laurel Hallman website has been deleted and the URL redirects to her new web site but a Google cached version of Rev. Laurel Hallman`s original web site may still be viewed here. Cache it will U*Us can. . . This cached web page will eventually disappear into the gigantic cyberspace "memory hole" of extinct web sites. Click the following link to go to a Google cache version of the biography page of Rev. Laurel Hallman`s original Elect Laurel Hallman website.

In an open letter to U*Us on her new and improved 2009 UUA election web site Rev. Laurel Hallman says:

I am running because I believe the very future of Unitarian Universalism hinges on our ability to claim who we are as faithful individuals in covenanted congregations in our time. As UUA President, I will lead our members and our Association out of our isolation, to build stronger connections within our congregations and in our communities.

I believe that our Unitarian Universalist congregations exist to:

--remind us how we can live in right relationship with the holy, with our deepest selves and with one another. I believe that the UUA must model these relationships as we use our resources to benefit our congregations, and in the intentional living of our highest values.

--call us from self-absorbed isolation. I believe Unitarian Universalism is called to reclaim the democratic process and civil dialogue as spiritual disciplines, in the company of companion faith traditions. Humbled by the complexity of human relationships and challenged by the possibility of their redeeming power, I believe we must embody the change we imagine, inside and outside our congregations.

end quote

I can`t help but notice that Rev. Laurel Hallman believes that Unitarian*Universalists and the Unitarian*Universalist Association of Congregations need to be led out of isolation and even self-absorbed isolation. Dare I add that much of the isolation of Unitarian*Universalists and the UUA is self-imposed? Dare I say that isolation is the chosen fate of some individual Unitarian*Universalists, Unitarian*Universalist congregations, and even the UUA? If I combine Rev. Laurel Hallman`s description of Unitarian*Universalism with the words of the only other known candidate for President of the Unitarian*Universalist Association of Congregations Rev. Peter Morales, Unitarian*Universalism becomes a self-absorbed isolated tiny fringe religion. I can think of a four letter word that sums up those words quite nicely. . .

Could it be that Rev. Laurel Hallman believes that Unitarian*Universalism is called to reclaim the democratic process and civil dialogue as spiritual disciplines, because she recognizes that Unitarian*Universalism has either moved away from or seriously degraded both the democratic process and civil dialogue? How can U*Us reclaim something that they pretend to already have? I well remember how the Executive Director of the Canadian Unitarian Council Mary Bennett gushed about how "Democracy is coming to the CUC!" just a few short years ago. . . Gee I wonder where democracy was in the Canadian Unitarian Council, to say nothing of the Unitarian*Universalist Association of Congregations and any number of individual Unitarian*Universalist churches. . . prior to 2004? Following the example of CUC Executive Director Mary Bennett I guess that I will simply quote the lyrics of the song `The Future` by Canadian poet, singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen -

"It's coming from the feel that it ain't exactly real, or it's real, but it ain't exactly there."

I dare say that the so-called "democracy" of the Canadian Unitarian Council aka the CUC, the Unitarian*Universalist Association aka the UUA, and no shortage of Unitarian*Universalist congregations still ain't exactly real and still ain't exactly there. . .

I certainly hope that Rev. Laurel Hallman will embody the change she imagines in her human relations with me and other victims of U*U injustices, abuses and hypocrisy. I will certainly give her the opportunity to do so regardless of whether or not she is elected as the next President of the UUA at the 2009 UUA GA.

Comments