Instigating diversity in the Unitarian Universalist Church

Hayley Richardson | Thu, Nov 29th, 2007 | Category: Commentary | Tags: hayley richardson, churches, uniterian church, universalist church, social activism, instigating diversity

In an attempt to weave a hint of the divine into my Philadelphia wanderings, I’ve been spending Sundays at the First Unitarian Church on Chestnut St. The church has a historical legacy of social activism, and I was drawn to their creative and non-dogmatic approaches towards the needs of the city. Best of all, they often sponsor events that apply the UU principles of tolerance and dignity to real life situations. I recently attended one such event—an anti-racism workshop for Unitarian congregations in the Philadelphia area.

Fitting that the workshop should take place in Mt. Airy, a leafy gem of a neighborhood that has consistently been ranked the most stable integrated community in the United States. In the 1950’s and 60’s, when the practice of blockbusting sent whites fleeing to the suburbs, activists convinced residents to stay and embrace the changing demographics. Mount Airy is now an “intentionally diverse community,” one which elucidates that residential integration is necessary for true democracy to take place.
At the heart of the anti-racism workshop was an exploration of how Unitarian Churches can become more welcoming to diversity. Absent from our discussion, however, was a clear explanation for why we were there, or why diversity was our goal. It seemed a privileged and somewhat selfish position for a majority-white congregation to announce the need to become more diverse. This privilege presents itself in the accompanying ability to dictate the terms of how diversity should happen. Yes, we can all agree that diversity is a positive thing, but why and how it will happen is another thing entirely. Another byproduct of this unchecked kind of discussion is essentializing. Over and over again, I heard that UU churches struggle because they “play white music,” or “are too hippie.” I believe it’s possible to allow for religious and cultural traditions without saying that one necessarily belongs to the other. Furthermore, the structure of the workshop, which explored racialized identities and lived experiences of racism, has its place, but sharing these personal stories with perfect strangers does not necessarily yield the most honest or forthcoming results.

As Mount Airty demonstrates, true diversity only succeeds when a relatively small and heterogeneous group decides to create a community where dialogue and participation are paramount and ongoing. There were certainly elements of this to the workshop, but a one-time event guided by unaddressed privilege and abstract principles seems an disservice to the very neighborhood it attempted to emulate.

• via the social web
• Discuss 0 comments so far
• Email this post to a friend
• Next post Previous post