One member of the Sunday service committee in my UUA congregation in San Miguel de Allende told me that if Jews do not agree with the Solidarity With Palestine report from the UUA, then can just leave UU. I was eventually just cut off when it’s Minister Tom Rosiello stopped correspondence with me. Now it’s dead air with all members of the congregation.
"platforming different viewpoints, especially those that challenge UUA orthodoxy coming out of Boston, is somehow dangerous to the congregational community"
Seems like it would be dangerous, but not to the community. It would be dangerous to the leaders who want to control how things play out.
I get it that a new minister might want her views to be treated as better than everyone else's, but what do the congregants think? In my congregation, the congregants seem to be mostly science-friendly liberals who like to hear more than one side of a disagreement.
I can only speculate why they refuse to platform contrary and alternative viewpoints. I can guess, but can't read minds. I believe that the congregants at my congregation also like to hear more than one side of an argument.
If you're not sure what your fellow congregants think, what if you talked with them about it? I've had good luck talking to people at my church. If your fellow congregants want there to be one message (the minister's), then you're in one situation. If they want multiple perspectives, then you're in another.
If the minister says your views can't be in the pulpit or in e-news, the natural follow-up question is, "OK, then where _can_ my views be?" At my church, some of us ginned up a dialogue group where we talk about all sorts of stuff, including things that Boston doesn't want us to talk about.
I got access to the UU membership data. Here's how things look for Westside - Membership peaked at 233 in 2015. Fell to 149 in 2024. In 2025, three brave souls joined to bring the current membership total to 152. More startling is the drop in RE enrollment. That peaked in 2015 at 164, and has dropped precipitously to 25 in 2025.
"One congregational leader directly told me she felt that those who do not support the UUA should not belong to Westside."
Which is a variation on, or leads into, "If you don't like it, why don't you leave?"
Yep!
One member of the Sunday service committee in my UUA congregation in San Miguel de Allende told me that if Jews do not agree with the Solidarity With Palestine report from the UUA, then can just leave UU. I was eventually just cut off when it’s Minister Tom Rosiello stopped correspondence with me. Now it’s dead air with all members of the congregation.
"platforming different viewpoints, especially those that challenge UUA orthodoxy coming out of Boston, is somehow dangerous to the congregational community"
Seems like it would be dangerous, but not to the community. It would be dangerous to the leaders who want to control how things play out.
I get it that a new minister might want her views to be treated as better than everyone else's, but what do the congregants think? In my congregation, the congregants seem to be mostly science-friendly liberals who like to hear more than one side of a disagreement.
I can only speculate why they refuse to platform contrary and alternative viewpoints. I can guess, but can't read minds. I believe that the congregants at my congregation also like to hear more than one side of an argument.
If you're not sure what your fellow congregants think, what if you talked with them about it? I've had good luck talking to people at my church. If your fellow congregants want there to be one message (the minister's), then you're in one situation. If they want multiple perspectives, then you're in another.
If the minister says your views can't be in the pulpit or in e-news, the natural follow-up question is, "OK, then where _can_ my views be?" At my church, some of us ginned up a dialogue group where we talk about all sorts of stuff, including things that Boston doesn't want us to talk about.
I got access to the UU membership data. Here's how things look for Westside - Membership peaked at 233 in 2015. Fell to 149 in 2024. In 2025, three brave souls joined to bring the current membership total to 152. More startling is the drop in RE enrollment. That peaked in 2015 at 164, and has dropped precipitously to 25 in 2025.