Hong Kong Liberal Religious Forum

Peter Morales Elected Eighth President of UUA
June 27, 2009
www.uua.org/pressroom/pressreleases/144259.shtml

Morales campaigned on a promise to make Unitarian Universalism "the religion for our time." After learning of his victory, Morales explained his mission: "I want to grow our faith and reach all those people looking for a non-dogmatic, liberal religious community. I look forward to working with partners in many progressive and justice-seeking religious groups. There are tremendous issues that we'll be facing in the coming years and we're going to need one another."

Morales reiterated his commitment to reach out to a wider spectrum of seekers. He said, "The breadth of our message is very appealing, but we need to become more culturally diverse in our forms of expression in order to reach the millions of people who share our theology and values."



Peter Morales' campaign website:
www.moralesforuuapresident.org

Platform: Introduction

Unitarian Universalism should be much more than the tiny, fringe religion that it is today. The need for liberal religion has never been greater. Hundreds of thousands of Americans long for spiritual depth, religious community and a place where they can work with others to create a better world.

Sadly, we have not responded effectively to the great longing for liberal spiritual community. Our movement is about the same size that it was when the Unitarians and the Universalists merged nearly 50 years ago. In the meantime, the American population has grown by 68 percent.

The opportunity for our faith is breathtaking. We could be the religion for our time. We can touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of seekers. We can be a more powerful force for compassion, justice, peace and environmental stewardship. However, we cannot seize the opportunity before us unless we are willing to make significant changes. We are not talking about minor adjustments. We need to change our religious culture. We need to become more welcoming, more relevant in the lives of our people, and more involved in the great moral issues of our time.

If we are to seize the opportunity before us, we must focus our energies in three primary areas: growth of our movement, prophetic social action, and the creation of a new ministry for a new century.