Unitarian Universalism Ignores Sexual Misconduct Committed By Its Religious Leaders

But don't take my word for it U*Us. . .

Take the word of Unitarian Universalist minister Rev. Daniel Harper, as posted to this comparatively recent post on his Yet Another Unitarian Universalist blog.

 

 

There are two huge issues that Unitarian Universalism as a whole mostly ignored in 2023.

First, sexual misconduct by religious leaders (both ministers and lay leaders) stayed on the back burner for most Unitarian Universalists. 

To prove my point, go read the UUA’s “Misconduct Complaint Process.” Imagine you have been sexually abused by a Unitarian Universalist clergyperson. You search for “how to report UU clery sexual abuse” and this is the webpage you land on. The webpage starts out: “Professional Misconduct contains a top level information on the Office of Ethics and Safety. This is a more detailed narrative of how a complaint works through the UUA.” There is nothing here that says you will be respected, valued, or believed. There is no link to a survivor’s support group, or a third party who will help you through the process.

We do better dealing with racism than dealing with sexual abuse by religious leaders. And that’s a really low bar.

Rev. Harper goes on to write -

Second, Unitarian Universalism is way behind the curve on the seismic changes happening in child and youth safety right now. Just in the past five years, we’ve seen U.S. society developing much higher expectations for the standard of care for legal minors. Legislation like California AB506, requiring fingerprinting and training for all volunteers working with legal minors, seems likely to be enacted in the near future in every state. In another legislative development, Vermont, Maryland, and Maine now have no statute of limitations for child sexual abuse — other states are likely to follow their lead — which will also raise the standard of care. Outside of the legislative arena, I heard from one social worker who reports that some parents are no longer comfortable with their children going on sleepovers; the feelings behind this cultural shift are now spilling over into all children and youth programming.