Members of our Board of Trustees unanimously adopted the following public statement regarding our commitments in these times at their March meeting. The statement was circulated by email to church members and friends on April 29 and was published the same day on the editorial page of The Columbia Missourian. View a video version of the statement.

A Statement from the UUCC Board of Trustees

As we witness cruel, destructive, and divisive acts by our Federal and State governments, we, the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia, Missouri, are moved to speak out.

Love is the foundation of our faith. Courageous love calls us to care for each other as neighbors and to oppose attempts to diminish or demonize any among us. Courageous love binds us together. It compels us to speak and to act on one another’s behalf.

Silence, when someone in our community is threatened or harmed, is itself a threat and a harm. Silence when neighbors suffer is not what love looks like.

And so, in the spirit of courageous love:

• We reaffirm our commitment as a Sanctuary Congregation, to practice embodied solidarity and spiritual accompaniment with our beloved immigrant neighbors.
• We reaffirm our commitment to celebrate all queer and trans identities as sacred expressions of wholeness and love and to care well for our queer and trans members, friends, and neighbors.
• We reaffirm our core belief that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not slogans, but pathways to creating the beloved community, holy expressions of difference and the sacredness of human worth.
• We reaffirm our commitment to ensure that those of us with disabilities are fully supported and included in our communities.
• We resolve to cultivate ever-widening networks of communal care and mutual aid to help alleviate the financial distress and economic harms caused by the policy violence of our State and Federal governments.

As we resource the work of our congregation, we will continue to prioritize programs and efforts that support our targeted neighbors.

We will work alongside others in our community to deepen and to embolden these commitments to collective care. We invite people of conscience to join us.

– Ruth Milledge, president; Kim Wade, president-elect; Ryan Carter, secretary; Fred Young, treasurer; Andrea Baka; Luke Daily; Taylor Gill; Iyesatu Kamara-Bush; Roger Nettleton; and the Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon, Minister.