(RNS) — Unitarian Universalists are sometimes best described by what they are not: They are undogmatic, anti-hierarchical and do not have any spiritual litmus tests.

Pagans, atheists and Christ-followers alike are welcome among the tradition’s approximately 1,027 congregations, which meet on Sundays but in many places shy from worship of any specific deity. Instead, liturgies invoke values such as unity, love and justice.

Though these principles have long been cornerstones of UUs, as they refer to themselves, questions on how to enact those principles — as on how to define their non-credal faith — can be thorny, even if the UUs end up finding remarkable consensus at a time when many denominations are riven by discord.

At this year’s General Assembly, which met both online and in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, last week, more than 86% of the delegates at the meeting voted to continue the work of revising the covenant that binds UU congregations. Nearly everyone — 95.5% — agreed to make the Rev. Sofía Betancourt the first openly queer person and first woman of color to serve as president.

But divisions were visible at the meeting. A fossil fuel divestment resolution put forward by a young, queer, multiracial collective, who represent an influx of younger and non-white members, was voted down by roughly 68% of delegates.

Along with UUA leadership, the youth movement has also brought with it a more outspoken commitment to anti-racism, an issue that has caused upset for several years. In 2017, Unitarian Universalist Association President Peter Morales resigned in response to controversy over racial disparities in UUA hiring practices. Three years later, a commission published a report called Widening the Circle of Concern, which declared anti-racism to be at the heart of the UU faith tradition.

While most UUs embraced the report, some members felt the emphasis on race was itself divisive. “I feel incredible sadness that they have managed to take a goal that all UUs embrace — anti-racism — and make it divisive by basing it on post-modern critical race theory, in which you divide people always into the oppressed or the oppressor,” said Patricia Mohr, who is a member of a UU congregation in South Carolina and attended the meeting in Pittsburgh.

The Rev. Clyde Grubbs, center, crosses the stage as a religious professional completing service, greeted by Rev. Leslie Takahashi, President of UU Ministers Association, during the UUA General Assembly, Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photo © 2023 Nancy Pierce/UUA

In her final president’s report, Susan Frederick-Gray called out “small uncompromising groups” that oppose the anti-racism efforts, which she said had seen “overwhelming support” from “the vast majority of UUs.”

Carey McDonald, executive vice president of the UUA, described a movement away from “people who historically have been wealthier, whiter, more privileged, more educated” toward a focus on Black people, Indigenous people and people of color.

“I think that for some people, for many people, that is uncomfortable, change is uncomfortable,” he said.

The proposal to revise the covenant clause of the denomination’s bylaws, known as Article II, also includes a new commitment “to dismantle racism and all forms of systemic oppression,” while stressing congregations’ interdependence and accountability.

Members of a group called “Saving The Seven Principles,” which wishes to preserve the current version of Article II, see these changes as a move away from traditional enlightenment values such as free speech, personal freedom and individualism.

Others see the proposed changes as a continuation of the UUA’s longstanding commitment to racial justice and as a much-needed change.   

“Rather than emphasizing (that) you can believe whatever you want to believe,” said the Rev. Terasa Cooley, “it’s really emphasizing that the whole is greater than the parts — that I’m not here as part of this community just to exercise my own agenda, but to do something collectively that can have greater impact on the world and on the community.” 

Michele David, a UU of Haitian descent, said that at times in her 31 years as a UU she’s wanted to leave the faith because she hasn’t felt truly part of it. The new proposal, she said, is “the first time I feel seen in the bylaws.”

The Rev. Michael Tino, left, and JeKaren Olaoya participate in a Liberation, Incarceration, and Our Faith: Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) worship service during the UUA General Assembly, Friday, June 23, 2023, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photo © 2023 Nancy Pierce/UUA

During the debate at General Assembly, some delegates opposed the resolution, not out of resistance to the UUA’s anti-racism work, but because the existing version has been central to their faith formation. Adopted in 1985, the existing principles have long hung in the vestibules of congregations and been memorized by children using familiar mnemonics.

In the end, delegates supported moving forward with the Article II revision process by a wide margin. A final version of Article II will be voted on at next year’s General Assembly, where it will require a two-thirds vote to be adopted.

The young activists behind the fossil fuel resolution, meanwhile, were disappointed by the vote, but perhaps more so by responses from some members criticizing the resolution’s tactics.

“It’s another way to say, we are not ready to imagine with you, not ready to take your hand and go with you into the mystery and wonder,” said Dandelion Prinsloo, one of the advocates behind the resolution, before the vote was taken.

The UU common endowment fund has already fully divested from stocks in Carbon Underground 200 companies (the top 200 coal and oil/gas reserve owners). This weekend’s resolution called the fund to withdraw at least $14 million currently invested in fossil fuel infrastructure — companies that build oil fields and construct pipelines, as well as banks that fund the fossil fuel industry.

It also asked that the general fund pay the value of securities invested in the fossil fuel industry in the form of reparations to Indigenous tribes and descendants of enslaved Black and brown people.

The Rev. Kate Walker lights the chalice during the UUA General Assembly Opening Celebration on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photo © 2023 Nancy Pierce/UUA

Before the General Assembly, the UUA board issued a statement opposing the resolution on the grounds that its rigidity “would present nearly insurmountable obstacles” for the common endowment fund and, if passed, “would lead to UUA staff layoffs, legal challenges, and major losses in the assets we protect.” 

A heated discussion on the resolution ended in a demonstration at General Assembly, during which roughly 20 of the resolution’s advocates flocked to the front of the room, held signs saying “Divest Now” and “Fossil Free Future” and shouted a prayer “for bravery in the face of disinformation, manipulation and fear.”

Kathy Mulvey, head of the UUA’s investment committee, said that while the committee shares the young people’s commitment to climate justice, the committee disagrees on tactics, particularly because the reparations would “take from the stream the UUA draws on to fund our mission, and have practical implications in terms of budget, staffing and capacity,” she said.

But as many mainline Christian churches are suffering a long demographic decline, a spirited collective of young activists is a good problem to have. The Rev. John Buehrens, a onetime UUA president, told RNS he was unsurprised by the intensity of some discussions at General Assembly. Not only are UUs deeply passionate about their values, they are also critical thinkers, he said, who can at times be hypercritical about themselves.

While UUs always can and must do better, he added; they shouldn’t feel defeated. At a time when many religious groups are splintering or dying out, “Unitarian Universalists are doing pretty darn well,” he said.