Where We Stand

Our radical spirituality calls us to take a stand on the big questions and challenges facing our world. Here you can find our positions, statements and actions.

We make collective decisions at our Annual Meetings and you can read about the resolutions we have passed here. You can also read ‘Where We Stand: Resolutions of the General Assembly Annual Meetings
on Social Responsibility and Faith and Public Issues’, showing the issues that our community has stood up for since 1929.

climate change

We are committed to tackling climate change and many Unitarians are active in movements to persuade communities, governments and businesses to change our ways. As long ago as 1994, we passed a resolution that “current human behaviour is endangering that environment in a manner that is unique in the whole history of the planet” and recognising that “present patterns of trade and consumption are damaging to under-privileged and poor sectors and countries and that sustainability and equity
must go together as we strive to create a fairer world in which the needs of all are met.”

lgbtqia+ equality

We have long been campaigners for LGBTQIA+ equality and were leaders in the struggle for equal marriage, which was legalised in England, Scotland and Wales in 2014 and Northern Ireland in 2020. Our churches, chapels and meeting houses were among the very first to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies, having offered same-sex blessings for several decades.

RACISM

We recognise the worth and dignity of all people, and one of our objectives as a movement is “the service of humanity”. We support human equality and oppose racism. We stand for the values of tolerance and inclusivity.

Statement: Responding to current Black Lives Matter protests (June 2020)

ASSISTED DYING

Recognising the worth and dignity of all people and their freedom to believe as their consciences dictate, we believe that any individual who faces an intolerable existence because of a debilitating and/or incurable physical condition should have the right to seek support for the termination of their life in a painless and dignified manner. We believe that legislation should respect their choice and allow them compassionate assistance in achieving such a death without fear of the prosecution of anyone involved. Our General Assembly passed a motion on this issue in 2013 and since then many Unitarians have been active in campaigns around assisted dying.