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We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.

Eighth Principle of Unitarian Universalism

The 8th principle of Unitarian Universalism affirms that racism and oppression are the antithesis of Beloved Community, and any serious attempt at cultivating beloved community for all life must be proactively antiracist and work for the liberation of all who are oppressed in our world. 

When someone says “I am not racist,” it always raises a red flag in my mind, but when they say things like “racism is a thing of the past” or “the United States is not a racist country,” then the alarms go off full blast, and the Shakespeare inspired words come to mind: “The [racist] doth protest too much, methinks.”

The demonstrable evidence of racism in our past and present is so vast and irrefutable that any claims that “we are not a racist society” would be laughable if their acceptance were not so widespread and their implications not so dangerous and deadly.

In a racist society, simply being “not racist” doesn’t really move the needle towards being a less racist society. As expressed in the wisdom of Ibram X Kendi, the only way to make significant progress against systemic racism in society is for enough persons to become antiracist and actively oppose and dismantle the systems that perpetuate racism. This is why so many racists who publicly claim to be “not racist” are so desperate to oppose any significant efforts to be antiracist.

Active and systemic racism will never be defeated by the passive stance of simply “not being racist.” Active and systemic racism will only be diminished by antiracism that directly and actively opposes the systems of racism in our society.

It is not a coincidence that the historically most blatantly racist states and communities are the ones most proactively attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. It is not a coincidence that the states and communities most opposed to the oft cited and almost never understood critical race theory are those states and communities with a blatantly racist past. It is not a coincidence that the states and communities that claim to be the most anti-woke are also the states and communities that are historically the most blatantly racist. It is not a coincidence that the states and communities with the most blatantly racist histories want to limit the teaching of black history and downplay the horrific evils of slavery. In their work against antiracism, their racism is once again on full display and set in bold relief for the world to see. Being antiracist means recognizing that not teaching about the history of racism in the United States and not actively seeking to overcome it is immoral.

Racism cloaked behind the claim of not being racist has been on full display in the white backlash against the Black Lives Matter movement. Nothing screams “I am a racist” louder than persons who say they are “not racist” responding to the cry that Black Lives Matter with the words “all lives matter.” And this racism is amplified, not somehow diminished, when white persons who claim to be “not racist” amplify the voices of the very few black persons who agree with them, as if finding a black person who says “all lives matter” in response to Black Lives Matter makes it less racist for white persons who do so.

One of the most insidious and dangerous forms of racism being expressed in the United States today is White Christian Nationalism. Religious nationalism in all of its forms is often simply a thinly disguised racism that provides religious justification for the othering of and discrimination against persons of different ethnicities and religions.

In the United States, white nationalism is cloaking itself in a warped version of Christianity in ways that are very similar to how Nazism cloaked itself in a warped version of Christianity in Germany in the 1930s, and in doing so it is promoting what Jim Wallis refers to as The False White Gospel in his forthcoming book by the same title.

At its core, Christian nationalism is neither Christian in that it completely ignores the teachings of Jesus of love and justice for the oppressed and the most vulnerable that are portrayed in the gospels, nor is it patriotic as it diminishes the values of free and equal democratic participation by all persons and does not respect the rights of persons who orient themselves to religion in different ways – values that have led so many to seek refuge in this land. At its core, Christian nationalism is racist, and it is the enemy of the vision of beloved community.

The 8th Principle of Unitarian Universalism recognizes that it will take much more than the passive stance of being “not racist” to address the systemic evils of racism and White Christian Nationalism. It will take nothing less than a full and sacrificial commitment to the work of antiracism for the sake of beloved community. This is our sacred task. May we work together to make it so.