UUA President Bill Sinkford aka Rev. Dr. William G. Sinkford Will Find The Following "Electronic Communication" In His Email InBox When He Checks It
Re: When Will *You* And Other UUA Leaders Stand On The Side Of Love For ALL Victims Of Clergy Misconduct
Friday, January 30, 2009 6:10 PM
From: "Robin Edgar" robinedgar59@yahoo.ca
To: "William Sinkford" wsinkford@uua.org, "Bill Sinkford" bsinkford@uua.org
Cc: bmiller@uua.org, congservices@uua.org, "Tracey Robinson-Harris" trobinson@uua.org
You asked for it. You got it. . .
http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/2009/01/is-uua-president-bill-sinkford-refusing.html
The next time I send you an important "electronic communication" please be so kind as to provide an acknowledgment of receipt at minimum. . .
Adios my friends,
Robin Edgar
aka
The Emerson Avenger
--- On Thu, 1/15/09, Robin Edgar robinedgar59@yahoo.ca wrote:
From: Robin Edgar robinedgar59@yahoo.ca
Subject: When Will *You* And Other UUA Leaders Stand On The Side Of Love For ALL Victims Of Clergy Misconduct
To: "William Sinkford" wsinkford@uua.org, "Bill Sinkford" bsinkford@uua.org
Cc: bmiller@uua.org, congservices@uua.org, "Tracey Robinson-Harris" trobinson@uua.org
Received: Thursday, January 15, 2009, 4:16 PM
Dear President Sinkford,
Please forgive me for being "less than diplomatic" in the following "electronic communication". I asked a good number of U*Us to help me draft a more diplomatic version of this communication both indirectly in a public blog post -
http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/2009/01/open-letter-to-uua-president-bill.html
and directly via email and other messaging methods. Apparently nobody wants me to be more diplomatic than the original 'Open Letter' as it is posted on the internet so I will let it stand on the side of love for any and all victims of clergy misconduct perpetrated by U*U ministers and perpetuated by the UUA, its very aptly named Ministerial Fellowship Committee, implicated "Less Than Safe" U*U congregations and, often by other individual U*Us. Herewith the "rough draft" of my open letter to you as published on The Emerson Avenger blog on Woden's Day January 7th, 2009. I will be sharing it, along with a good number of my other "obviously deep concerns", as widely as possible within the U*U World and real world.
Dear President Sinkford,
I read with interest your 2008 Holiday message pastoral letter titled 'Choosing Love This Holiday Season'. In it you say that now, as much as ever, it is critical that we affirm the primacy of love and hope. It is my hope that you will affirm the primacy of love and provide some tangible hope for any and all victims of U*U clergy misconduct by taking steps to ensure that the UUA actually lives up to its apparently forgotten pledge to bend towards justice for victims of clergy misconduct.
You know as well as I do that there are a number of people whose complaints about clergy misconduct, including complaints about clergy sexual misconduct, have never been satisfactorily redressed by the UUA and/or its Ministerial Fellowship Committee. There are a number of victims of clergy misconduct, such as myself just for one, whose clergy misconduct complaints have never been redressed in the slightest manner by the UUA because they were quite arbitrarily dismissed and rejected by UUA administrators and/or the MFC at the outset. Other victims complaints have been addressed by the UUA but in a manner that did not provide satisfactory redress to the victims. On the one hand the UUA talks about providing restorative justice for *all* victims/survivors of clergy misconduct but on the other hand there is documentary evidence suggesting that the UUA has done little or nothing to provide any restorative justice to victims/survivors and has even backed away from, or failed to implement, recommended measures for providing various forms of restorative justice.
How can you go all the way to South Africa, to ostensibly learn about its rather questionable model of truth and reconciliation that allowed serious crimes to go unpunished and created impunity for serious human rights abusers, yet be apparently unready, unwilling, and possibly even unable to move towards responsibly acknowledging the truth about U*U clergy misconduct and seeking genuine reconciliation with all victims of clergy misconduct perpetrated by U*U ministers by providing some real and tangible restorative justice to them? How can you say "we create warm sanctuaries" knowing full well that the UUA allows some unsafe U*U congregations to coldly turn their backs on victims/survivors of clergy misconduct?
You, the UUA, the Ministerial Fellowship Committee and implicated unsafe U*U congregations, have an opportunity to shine the light of truth on U*U clergy misconduct of all kinds, and shine the light of compassion on all victims of all forms of clergy misconduct. When will you and the UUA actually take this opportunity to serve the long term larger good of the U*U religious community? I call upon you, the UUA, and the Ministerial Fellowship Committee to not only find ways to choose love for all victims of clergy misconduct but to tangibly show love and compassion for all victims/survivors of U*U clergy misconduct before this year's UUA GA in Salt Lake City.
February 14th, 2009, will mark the thirteenth anniversary of my initial clergy misconduct complaint against Rev. Ray Drennan of the Unitarian Church of Montreal which was unjustly, inequitably, and far from compassionately rejected by the UUA and MFC in the spring of 2006. I, the Unitarian Church of Montreal, the UUA, and the greater U*U religious community are still dealing with the consequences of the UUA's negligent and effectively complicit response to my legitimate grievances, serious grievances that you yourself once described as my "obviously deep concerns". You and the UUA dropped the ball when I gave you opportunities to correct the UUA's past mistakes. I am still waiting for you and the UUA to respond to my deep concerns in a manner that actually lives up to U*U principles that affirm justice, equity and compassion in human relations. You have yet to live up to your own personal religious rhetoric about "waging peace" and "standing on the side of love" in your less than right relations with me. I have given you several opportunities to put into practice what you preach and you have done nothing. Need I remind you what Edmund Burke is reputed to have said about good people who do nothing? Allow me to use disillusioned U*U deacon David G. Markham's words instead -
"As I learned in the 60s, a person is either a part of the solution or a part of the problem. People who "cop out" are often part of the problem in that it leaves the status quo intact."
You, the UUA, and its all too aptly named Ministerial Fellowship Committee have repeatedly chosen to "cop out" and have thus left the status quo, to say nothing of the evil. . . intact. Worse than that, as a result of your negligence the conflict not only remains unresolved but has been escalated and aggravated. The status quo today is actually worse that the status quo when I invited you to wage peace with me following your 2007 Holiday Message calling upon U*Us to engage in waging peace in 2008, this is in turn worse than the status quo in 2006 when I invited you to examine your conscience and bend towards justice. Where might the U*U World be today if you had taken steps to ensure that my obviously deep concerns were responsibly addressed and redressed back in 2002 when I first officially shared my concerns with you? How much longer will you and the UUA continue to choose "love" as in choosing to do absolutely nothing to responsibly redress my serious grievances in accordance with U*U principles and ideals President Sinkford?
I think that February 14th of this year is an appropriate symbolic deadline for me to set for you to actually choose love as in "concern for the well-being of others" and to begin waging peace with me and other victims of U*U clergy misconduct. If by February 14th I come to the regrettable final conclusion that you are still unready, unwilling, or indeed somehow unable to sincerely "choose love" and begin genuinely "waging peace" with me and other victims of U*U clergy misconduct I will share my obviously deep concerns with UUA Presidential candidates Rev. Laurel Hallman and Rev. Peter Morales and see if they are any better at living up to U*U principles and your religious rhetoric than you are.
Sincerely,
Robin Edgar
Friday, January 30, 2009 6:10 PM
From: "Robin Edgar" robinedgar59@yahoo.ca
To: "William Sinkford" wsinkford@uua.org, "Bill Sinkford" bsinkford@uua.org
Cc: bmiller@uua.org, congservices@uua.org, "Tracey Robinson-Harris" trobinson@uua.org
You asked for it. You got it. . .
http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/2009/01/is-uua-president-bill-sinkford-refusing.html
The next time I send you an important "electronic communication" please be so kind as to provide an acknowledgment of receipt at minimum. . .
Adios my friends,
Robin Edgar
aka
The Emerson Avenger
--- On Thu, 1/15/09, Robin Edgar robinedgar59@yahoo.ca wrote:
From: Robin Edgar robinedgar59@yahoo.ca
Subject: When Will *You* And Other UUA Leaders Stand On The Side Of Love For ALL Victims Of Clergy Misconduct
To: "William Sinkford" wsinkford@uua.org, "Bill Sinkford" bsinkford@uua.org
Cc: bmiller@uua.org, congservices@uua.org, "Tracey Robinson-Harris" trobinson@uua.org
Received: Thursday, January 15, 2009, 4:16 PM
Dear President Sinkford,
Please forgive me for being "less than diplomatic" in the following "electronic communication". I asked a good number of U*Us to help me draft a more diplomatic version of this communication both indirectly in a public blog post -
http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/2009/01/open-letter-to-uua-president-bill.html
and directly via email and other messaging methods. Apparently nobody wants me to be more diplomatic than the original 'Open Letter' as it is posted on the internet so I will let it stand on the side of love for any and all victims of clergy misconduct perpetrated by U*U ministers and perpetuated by the UUA, its very aptly named Ministerial Fellowship Committee, implicated "Less Than Safe" U*U congregations and, often by other individual U*Us. Herewith the "rough draft" of my open letter to you as published on The Emerson Avenger blog on Woden's Day January 7th, 2009. I will be sharing it, along with a good number of my other "obviously deep concerns", as widely as possible within the U*U World and real world.
Dear President Sinkford,
I read with interest your 2008 Holiday message pastoral letter titled 'Choosing Love This Holiday Season'. In it you say that now, as much as ever, it is critical that we affirm the primacy of love and hope. It is my hope that you will affirm the primacy of love and provide some tangible hope for any and all victims of U*U clergy misconduct by taking steps to ensure that the UUA actually lives up to its apparently forgotten pledge to bend towards justice for victims of clergy misconduct.
You know as well as I do that there are a number of people whose complaints about clergy misconduct, including complaints about clergy sexual misconduct, have never been satisfactorily redressed by the UUA and/or its Ministerial Fellowship Committee. There are a number of victims of clergy misconduct, such as myself just for one, whose clergy misconduct complaints have never been redressed in the slightest manner by the UUA because they were quite arbitrarily dismissed and rejected by UUA administrators and/or the MFC at the outset. Other victims complaints have been addressed by the UUA but in a manner that did not provide satisfactory redress to the victims. On the one hand the UUA talks about providing restorative justice for *all* victims/survivors of clergy misconduct but on the other hand there is documentary evidence suggesting that the UUA has done little or nothing to provide any restorative justice to victims/survivors and has even backed away from, or failed to implement, recommended measures for providing various forms of restorative justice.
How can you go all the way to South Africa, to ostensibly learn about its rather questionable model of truth and reconciliation that allowed serious crimes to go unpunished and created impunity for serious human rights abusers, yet be apparently unready, unwilling, and possibly even unable to move towards responsibly acknowledging the truth about U*U clergy misconduct and seeking genuine reconciliation with all victims of clergy misconduct perpetrated by U*U ministers by providing some real and tangible restorative justice to them? How can you say "we create warm sanctuaries" knowing full well that the UUA allows some unsafe U*U congregations to coldly turn their backs on victims/survivors of clergy misconduct?
You, the UUA, the Ministerial Fellowship Committee and implicated unsafe U*U congregations, have an opportunity to shine the light of truth on U*U clergy misconduct of all kinds, and shine the light of compassion on all victims of all forms of clergy misconduct. When will you and the UUA actually take this opportunity to serve the long term larger good of the U*U religious community? I call upon you, the UUA, and the Ministerial Fellowship Committee to not only find ways to choose love for all victims of clergy misconduct but to tangibly show love and compassion for all victims/survivors of U*U clergy misconduct before this year's UUA GA in Salt Lake City.
February 14th, 2009, will mark the thirteenth anniversary of my initial clergy misconduct complaint against Rev. Ray Drennan of the Unitarian Church of Montreal which was unjustly, inequitably, and far from compassionately rejected by the UUA and MFC in the spring of 2006. I, the Unitarian Church of Montreal, the UUA, and the greater U*U religious community are still dealing with the consequences of the UUA's negligent and effectively complicit response to my legitimate grievances, serious grievances that you yourself once described as my "obviously deep concerns". You and the UUA dropped the ball when I gave you opportunities to correct the UUA's past mistakes. I am still waiting for you and the UUA to respond to my deep concerns in a manner that actually lives up to U*U principles that affirm justice, equity and compassion in human relations. You have yet to live up to your own personal religious rhetoric about "waging peace" and "standing on the side of love" in your less than right relations with me. I have given you several opportunities to put into practice what you preach and you have done nothing. Need I remind you what Edmund Burke is reputed to have said about good people who do nothing? Allow me to use disillusioned U*U deacon David G. Markham's words instead -
"As I learned in the 60s, a person is either a part of the solution or a part of the problem. People who "cop out" are often part of the problem in that it leaves the status quo intact."
You, the UUA, and its all too aptly named Ministerial Fellowship Committee have repeatedly chosen to "cop out" and have thus left the status quo, to say nothing of the evil. . . intact. Worse than that, as a result of your negligence the conflict not only remains unresolved but has been escalated and aggravated. The status quo today is actually worse that the status quo when I invited you to wage peace with me following your 2007 Holiday Message calling upon U*Us to engage in waging peace in 2008, this is in turn worse than the status quo in 2006 when I invited you to examine your conscience and bend towards justice. Where might the U*U World be today if you had taken steps to ensure that my obviously deep concerns were responsibly addressed and redressed back in 2002 when I first officially shared my concerns with you? How much longer will you and the UUA continue to choose "love" as in choosing to do absolutely nothing to responsibly redress my serious grievances in accordance with U*U principles and ideals President Sinkford?
I think that February 14th of this year is an appropriate symbolic deadline for me to set for you to actually choose love as in "concern for the well-being of others" and to begin waging peace with me and other victims of U*U clergy misconduct. If by February 14th I come to the regrettable final conclusion that you are still unready, unwilling, or indeed somehow unable to sincerely "choose love" and begin genuinely "waging peace" with me and other victims of U*U clergy misconduct I will share my obviously deep concerns with UUA Presidential candidates Rev. Laurel Hallman and Rev. Peter Morales and see if they are any better at living up to U*U principles and your religious rhetoric than you are.
Sincerely,
Robin Edgar
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