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UUA President-Elect Peter Morales addressed the General Assembly for the first time during an election celebration Saturday night at the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association. A transcription of his remarks follows:
Mercifully, the election is over. [Laughter] Laurel and I joked—but there was much seriousness to it— the carbon footprint would have been less if we just took turns going to the forums, because we could deliver each other's stump speeches and answer any questions that came up on the campaign trail. [Laughter] And truly we spent, for some time, much more time with one another than we did with our families and loved ones. I thank her very much, and her supporters, who were spirited and gave, and may that be a source of strength for us all. [Applause]
My remarks are going to be brief tonight because I'm too delirious to be coherent for any length of time. [Laughter]
I believe firmly that religion is much more about what we love than about what we think. And all of us—all of us—love the same things: We love compassion, freedom, stewardship of the earth, religious community, spiritual depth—and therefore we have one religion.
In the nature of a campaign we try to highlight the differences, but the truth is that what unites us is so, so very much more important than anything that is dividing us.
We have a big challenge. I talked about it and put out a very ambitious kind of agenda. It's going to take all of us, all of us. This campaign is about and has been about taking our movement and realizing its potential, and that will happen when the commitment and the idealism and the energy of all of us, in over a thousand congregations, is unleashed. So it is time that we let our people go. [Applause]
The challenges are enormous—and we can do this. We are smart enough, and committed enough. We can make a tremendous difference. We can grow this faith, and be a far more powerful voice for all of those things that we care about.
So tonight I ask you to rededicate yourselves to this faith that we all love, and hand in hand—as I'm fond of saying, mano y mano—let us go forward together. Thank you very much. [Applause]