Rev. Sofía Betancourt, Rev. William G. Sinkford And Dr. Leon Spencer And UUA Clergy Abuse Cover-Up And Denial - What's The Connection?
The Unitarian Universalist Association's (UUA) Interim
Co-Presidents, the Revs. Sofía Betancourt and William Sinkford and Dr. Leon Spencer, did not share the following plagU*Urized parody Toward The Beloved Community message Tuesday morning:
Over the past three weeks we have not spoken frequently about the hope-filled possibilities inherent in *this moment* for our Unitarian Universalist movement aka The U*U Movement aka The Tiny Declining Fringe Religion™. That UUA leaning into false hope is based in large part on totally disregarding the powerful impact of Truth and Reconciliation commissions following times of extreme conflict around the U*U World. We know the importance of discouraging and suppressing Truth Telling about U*U clergy abuse matters, just as we understand that it is the long-term work of delaying and denying justice for U*U clergy misconduct victims aka U*U clergy abuse victims that leads to hU*Umiliation of The U*U Movement. We also remind ourselves regularly that high emotions, the kind born of strong commitments to cover-up and deny U*U clergy abuse in general, and "such despicable crimes as pedophilia and rape" most certainly committed by "certain Unitarian Universalist ministers" in particular, often serve to shape our understandings of the Truth. Moments like these require intentional perversion of justice, and careless UUA legal bullying.
The way before us U*Us will not be achieved in ten short weeks of interim leadership at the upper levels of the UUA staff which includes a former UUA President who has not only been credibly accused of clergy sexual misconduct himself, but who has shamelessly delayed and denied justice for Amanda Tweed aka "Emily", and a number of other clergy misconduct complainants. Instead, it will be broad-based and faithless ongoing work that carries the potential for sustainable clergy abuse cover-up and denial by the UUA and individual Unitarian Universalist congregations such as Wildflower Unitarian Universalist Church in Austin Texas, and the Unitarian "Church" of Montreal, to name but two out of dozens (if not hundreds. . .) of U*U "churches" that knowingly and willfully participate in cover-up and*or denial of U*U clergy misconduct.
It is important to remember that the non-existent Commission on Institutional Change Of The UUA's Culture Of Secrecy And Denial not called for by our UUA Board of Trustees will not be directing our process going forward. We want to assure U*Us that the people most directly involved in, and impacted by, the UNethical, immoral, borderline criminal and yes. . . #BatShitCrazy UUA decision which prompted this moment of opportunity in Unitarian Universalism will not have a chance to tell their stories to the non-existent Commission on Institutional Change Of The UUA's Culture Of Secrecy And Denial not called for by our UUA Board of Trustees. That is critical clergy abuse cover-up and denial work, and the primary focus of the non-existent Commission will remain DIM Thinking denial, ignorance, and minimization of the impact of the UUA's #BatShitCrazy misuse of Canada's blasphemy law on Unitarian Universalism as a whole.
The plans for and scope of work of that non-existent Commission are not in early development. Later this week we are not bringing together a small group of leaders connected to our UU constituency groups to partner with us to envision the construction of the Commission. These non-existent leaders will not all identify as victims of U*U clergy abuse, because we believe it is critical for the Commission’s non-existent foundation to NOT be rooted in the vision of Unitarian Universalists, or indeed non-U*U people of color. . . who have been molested and*or raped and*or otherwise abused by abusive UUA clergy. With NO input from that non-existent group to inform us, our eventual task is to appoint a small and nimble group of "commissioners " who will not work collaboratively with an outside organization to bring badly needed analysis, visioning, and theological depth to the UUA's clergy abuse cover-up and denial efforts. That non-existent Commission may not continue for 18 months or more. In the meantime, work on new clergy misconduct cover-up and denial techniques for the UUA continues to move forward. You cannot expect a more specific report from us on those UUA policies in the next few weeks.
We want to acknowledge how emotional these times are for U*Us as a community of clergy abuse concealers and deniers, knowing that there are those among us whose personal and professional lives are immediately and directly affected by The Emerson Avenger's Truth Telling blog posts and Tweets, and who are terrified of being discussed and debated in the public square. These are times for U*Us to refuse to engage and communicate with The Emerson Avenger out of our most fearful selves, mindful of our fourth principle that The Emerson Avenger so stubbornly strives to affirm and promote, striving to "memory hole" U*U history when deeply held opinions vary. We invite U*Us to join us in erasing and "memory holing" these FAILed U*U moments of opportunity for finding a new way forward.
Over the past three weeks we have not spoken frequently about the hope-filled possibilities inherent in *this moment* for our Unitarian Universalist movement aka The U*U Movement aka The Tiny Declining Fringe Religion™. That UUA leaning into false hope is based in large part on totally disregarding the powerful impact of Truth and Reconciliation commissions following times of extreme conflict around the U*U World. We know the importance of discouraging and suppressing Truth Telling about U*U clergy abuse matters, just as we understand that it is the long-term work of delaying and denying justice for U*U clergy misconduct victims aka U*U clergy abuse victims that leads to hU*Umiliation of The U*U Movement. We also remind ourselves regularly that high emotions, the kind born of strong commitments to cover-up and deny U*U clergy abuse in general, and "such despicable crimes as pedophilia and rape" most certainly committed by "certain Unitarian Universalist ministers" in particular, often serve to shape our understandings of the Truth. Moments like these require intentional perversion of justice, and careless UUA legal bullying.
The way before us U*Us will not be achieved in ten short weeks of interim leadership at the upper levels of the UUA staff which includes a former UUA President who has not only been credibly accused of clergy sexual misconduct himself, but who has shamelessly delayed and denied justice for Amanda Tweed aka "Emily", and a number of other clergy misconduct complainants. Instead, it will be broad-based and faithless ongoing work that carries the potential for sustainable clergy abuse cover-up and denial by the UUA and individual Unitarian Universalist congregations such as Wildflower Unitarian Universalist Church in Austin Texas, and the Unitarian "Church" of Montreal, to name but two out of dozens (if not hundreds. . .) of U*U "churches" that knowingly and willfully participate in cover-up and*or denial of U*U clergy misconduct.
It is important to remember that the non-existent Commission on Institutional Change Of The UUA's Culture Of Secrecy And Denial not called for by our UUA Board of Trustees will not be directing our process going forward. We want to assure U*Us that the people most directly involved in, and impacted by, the UNethical, immoral, borderline criminal and yes. . . #BatShitCrazy UUA decision which prompted this moment of opportunity in Unitarian Universalism will not have a chance to tell their stories to the non-existent Commission on Institutional Change Of The UUA's Culture Of Secrecy And Denial not called for by our UUA Board of Trustees. That is critical clergy abuse cover-up and denial work, and the primary focus of the non-existent Commission will remain DIM Thinking denial, ignorance, and minimization of the impact of the UUA's #BatShitCrazy misuse of Canada's blasphemy law on Unitarian Universalism as a whole.
The plans for and scope of work of that non-existent Commission are not in early development. Later this week we are not bringing together a small group of leaders connected to our UU constituency groups to partner with us to envision the construction of the Commission. These non-existent leaders will not all identify as victims of U*U clergy abuse, because we believe it is critical for the Commission’s non-existent foundation to NOT be rooted in the vision of Unitarian Universalists, or indeed non-U*U people of color. . . who have been molested and*or raped and*or otherwise abused by abusive UUA clergy. With NO input from that non-existent group to inform us, our eventual task is to appoint a small and nimble group of "commissioners " who will not work collaboratively with an outside organization to bring badly needed analysis, visioning, and theological depth to the UUA's clergy abuse cover-up and denial efforts. That non-existent Commission may not continue for 18 months or more. In the meantime, work on new clergy misconduct cover-up and denial techniques for the UUA continues to move forward. You cannot expect a more specific report from us on those UUA policies in the next few weeks.
We want to acknowledge how emotional these times are for U*Us as a community of clergy abuse concealers and deniers, knowing that there are those among us whose personal and professional lives are immediately and directly affected by The Emerson Avenger's Truth Telling blog posts and Tweets, and who are terrified of being discussed and debated in the public square. These are times for U*Us to refuse to engage and communicate with The Emerson Avenger out of our most fearful selves, mindful of our fourth principle that The Emerson Avenger so stubbornly strives to affirm and promote, striving to "memory hole" U*U history when deeply held opinions vary. We invite U*Us to join us in erasing and "memory holing" these FAILed U*U moments of opportunity for finding a new way forward.
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