This list of relevant reading material was published over several years, presented chronologically.
Some of these entries are links to articles that can be found online; some provide links to books on Amazon; in some cases, permission was granted by the authors to share the books, or excerpts from them, in PDF form. The PDFs were provided by the authors.
Why Anti-Racism Will Fail, Rev Dr Thandeka (1999 GA talk)
Rev. Dr Thandeka, an African American UU Minister and Author, was prescient. She wrote the UUA Adult RE Curriculum What Moves Us: Unitarian Universalist Theology. Thandeka gave this talk at General Assembly in 1999. A version of this lecture is also a paper on the Meadville Lombard site: https://files.meadville.edu/files/resources/thandeka-why-anti-racism-will-fail-447.pdf
The Anti-Racism Trainings, David Reich (2011)
David Reich is a former editor of UU World. This “novel” of events at a liberal religion (with headquarters over looking Boston Common) is a thinly disguised memoir (which he admits in his epilogue) of real events at UU headquarters in Boston. He doesn’t name the UUA or UU World but it obvious that is what he writes about. This can be purchased in the Kindle edition on Amazon for a few dollars.
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, Greg Lukianoff, Jonathan Haidt, 2018
There is no discussion of UUism in Coddling of the American Mind, but an excellent review of the growth of the idea of “Safetyism” (the idea that contrary ideas cause harm) in the generation entering college around 2014 and beyond. His fundamental argument: “Prepare the Child for the Road, not the Road for the Child.” One of the arguments is that what challenges you does not make you weaker, it makes you stronger, and the we need these challenges to be able to grow and survive. In many ways, Todd Eklof’s first essay in The Gadfly papers is a translation of the arguments in this book to UUism. Those who objected to Todd’s book, were taking a safetyist position, claiming it caused harm.
The Gadfly Papers: Three Inconvenient Essays by One Pesky Minister, Rev Todd Eklof (2019)
200 copies of the The Gadfly Papers was distributed (without permission from the UUA) by Rev Eklof at General Assembly in 2019. (a PDF is here — with permission of the author)
Within 24 hours, Rev Eklof was banished from GA, and 300 ministers had violated their Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association (UUMA) professional ethics (to not speak negatively of a colleague in public) by the signing the White Ministers Letter condemning Todd and the book. They could not all have read it before signing, the letter cited no specifics in this condemnation. Subsequently 200 additional ministers signed on (having been told not to bother to read the book).
Todd’s treatment by the UU Ministers Association, led a number ministers to resign from the UUMA.
The Self Confessed “White Supremacy Culture”: The Emergence of an Illiberal Left in Unitarian Universalism, Anne Schnieder, Phd, Retired political science professor and Dean, College of Public Programs, Arizona State University (2019)
This is available for $5.00 on Amazon. Anne Schiedner has provided her introduction in PDF form here.
(Dis)Continuing Racial Inequality: Essays on Race in the U.S., Anne Schnieder, Phd, Retired political science professor and Dean, College of Public Programs, Arizona State University (2019).
This is available for $10 on Amazon. Anne Schiedner has provided her introduction in PDF form here.
Don’t Label Me: How to Do Diversity Without Inflaming the Culture Wars (Irshad Manji, 2019)
Irshad Manji is founder of the award-winning Moral Courage Project at the University of Southern California. The core emphasis of this book is on how to have a constructive conversation with someone who does not hold the same opinions you do. Irshad’s writing style is informal, but that informality perhaps makes her more relatable. Her suggestions are pragmatic and personally challenging. For instance, she would say that if your focus is on “winning” the conversation, you will almost always fail.
Used to be UU, Frank Casper and Jay Kiskel (2021)
Subtitled “The Systematic Attack on UU Liberalism” Used to Be UU describes the events leading up to after after the Gadfly Papers distribution of at GA in 2019. The authors have provided two excerpts which can be found here
The Gadfly Affair: A 21st Century Heretic’s Excommunication from America’s Most Liberal Religion, Rev Todd Eklof (2021)
Available on Amazon, The Gadfly Affair provides the detailed documentation of the back and forth the lead to the removal of Todd Eklof from fellowship with the UUA.
The UU Inquisition, James Anderson (2021)
Anderson, in this piece writing under the pseudonym “Veritas Curat”, provides an interpretation of the culture war behavior of UU leadership since the Gadfly Papers was distributed. It covers the report of the Commission on Institutional Change (COIC), the resignation of UUA president Peter Morales in 2017, and the UUA’s handling of Todd Eklof. Note: some of the original reference links in this document are no longer available.
Search, Michelle Huneven (2022)
Search is an NPR Best Book of 2022. Described as a Novel, it is really a memoir. The particulars of the UU leadership characters, are close enough to real life that they can be identified if you know the the people. The UUA was not happy about this book. It tells the story of a UU church’s search for a new minister. And in the end the church’s significant loss of membership (and their contributions) resulting from the calling of a minister who was being pushed by youth members of the search team. It reads almost like a thriller. The lessons are clear. This is a MUST read for any UU search team.
Against Illiberalism, David Cycleback, 2022
From an Amazon review ” This book examines recent illiberal trends in traditionally liberal American institutions. It focuses on Unitarian Universalism, a historically liberal church whose national leadership has adopted an extreme, authoritarian version of anti-racism as a “theological mandate,” causing strife and division. From an Amazon review: ” This book examines recent illiberal trends in traditionally liberal American institutions. It focuses on Unitarian Universalism, a historically liberal church whose national leadership has adopted an extreme, authoritarian version of anti-racism as a “theological mandate,” causing strife and division.”
Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody, Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsey (2022)
Cynical Theories is another book along the lines of The Coddling of the American Mind. It is not about UUism, per se, but criticisms leveled apply to the UUA. Like Coddling, it challenges the notion that differences of opinion “cause harm” and it challenges the notion that science and reason are tools of oppression, suggesting that radical activist “scholarship” could be doing more harm to marginalized communities than good.
Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America, John McWhorter (2022)
John McWhorter is a Columbia University Linguistics Professor and regular columnist at the New York Times. In Woke Racism, John comes up with the name for the left wing ideologues we are dealing with in the UUA: “The Elect.” This name, is descriptive and has not be tainted (yet) by conservative ideologues like the word “woke” has. Part of McWhorter’s argument is that current approach actually provides excuses for failure, and demeans children of color. There are several paragraphs in the book that specifically discuss the UUA.
The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World (Andrew Doyle, 2022)
Andrew Doyle is a writer, broadcaster and satirist whose commentary on political and cultural issues is regularly published in the British national press. He gives a clear and comprehensive explanation of the beliefs and practices of what he calls “a new censorial and identity-obsessed brand of social justice”. This is not an academic treatise – Doyle is calling it as he sees it, using language we all understand. He supplies many examples of the excesses of this movement in Great Britain. It is thought provoking to read that this is not just an American phenomenon.
How the Unitarian Universalist Association is an Illiberal Democracy, David Cycleback (2023)
Where are the 7 Principles? 