Our Changing Principles
We’ve gone from six to seven to a proposal for an 8th
In 1985, our movement adopted the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism that we are all familiar with. Since then, a sixth source was added in 1995 and proposals were made, in both Canada and in the U.S., to improve the 1985 wording. Both were rejected.
It is basic to Unitarian Universalism that any statement of what we believe is provisional. We are open to new understandings. We keep learning and thus keep refining our statements of the principles. And circumstances change in ways that sometimes need to be recognized in our principles.
So that 1985 statement remains open to revision. And it in turn was the result of a push for change that came primarily from people who felt marginalized in our religious movement.
Our faith, Unitarian Universalism, exists as a result of the merger in 1961 of the American Unitarian Association, of which our congregation was a member, and the Universalist Church of America.
As part of defining this new denomination, the association’s bylaws included a statement of six principles. But the bylaws also said that the principles could be amended, by a two-thirds vote at the UUA’s annual General Assembly.
Today, the UUA bylaws require that the principles be reviewed at least every 15 years to ensure they continue to reflect who we are and what we are committed to.
When the Canadian Unitarian Council became largely independent of the UUA in 2002, it adopted the UUA principles (with Canadian spellings and a French version). But the 2003 annual meeting created a Statement of Principles Task Force to study whether the statement adequately expressed what Canadian Unitarians held in common at that time. After several years of discussion and consultation, a new set of principles was proposed but not adopted.