The Commission on Social Witness has released the first draft of the statement of Conscience on Escalating Inequality. One-quarter of UU congregations need to approve putting the statement on the June, 2017 General Assembly agenda. They do this by indicating their approval in the official congregational poll that is due to the UUA by 5pm PST on Feb 1. As a result of both congregational comments and comments made at GA, the final version of the statement could change somewhat.
Access to the congregational poll is password-protected and generally controlled by the minister / church administrator in each congregation. There is no set method for deciding on congregational approval — vote by the board? vote at a congregational discussion? after a church-wide ballot? If you hold a meeting to review the statement, you should let your church administrator know before February 1st if a majority of folks at the meeting approve putting the statement on the GA agenda.
There is also a comment form each congregation can fill out on the statement and e-mail to the UUA Commission on Social Witness. Each congregation should only submit one set of comments, but there’s no control on who submits this form. It can be found here. This form, too, needs to be submitted by Feb 1. The statement and a timetable for its approval can be found here.
