Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations are the ends that we affirm and promote in the second UU principle.
The end we covenant to affirm in the 8th Principle is more expansive and all-encompassing: “diverse, multicultural Beloved Community.” What might that look like?
The phrase “beloved community” was coined by philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce and popularized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. King’s Beloved Community philosophy centered on the belief that racism, and all forms of discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice, will one day be replaced by “an all-inclusive spirit [of] . . . love and trust.”
The core value of the quest for Dr. King’s Beloved Community is agape love which he described as an “overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless and creative . . . the love of God operating in the human heart.”
The UU 8th Principle Project describes Beloved Community as people of diverse backgrounds and identities coming together “in an interdependent relationship of love, mutual respect, and care” seeking “to realize justice within the community and in the broader world.”
The 8th Principle holds that building Beloved Community is integral to our collective and individual journeys toward spiritual wholeness. So may it be.