I strongly support our congregation’s adoption of the proposed 8th Principle. As UUs, we are called to side with love, be inclusive, and work for justice (among other things). Related to this, we all have the basic human desire to be loved, listened to, treated fairly, and accepted for who we are. Adopting the 8th Principle would be a public statement that the members of our congregation are committed to learning to accept others and love our way into Beloved Community, as well as to help heal injustice in the world. Some of us worry how in the heck this can possibly happen, based on the rather different ways the pressure for change has been received and perceived within our congregation and beyond. I understand this seems daunting, yet in my heart I know that the future is unlikely to exactly mirror the past. Everything evolves over time, and we need to have FAITH (as the people of faith that we are) that together we can define what our Beloved Community will be like and how we will get there. We need to begin by supporting what many BIPOC members of our denomination have said is important to them: adopting the 8th Principle as written.