Opposite Side of the Street Parking (aka the Independent Affiliate Issue)

Hello Dear Readers.

I love "The Golden Girls". And since this post is about the Independent Affiliate issue, I thought I would use a scene from that show to help me illustrate my point.

Picture this: Dorothy and Sophia have just finished singing the first verse and chorus of "I Got You Babe" and Rose stops playing the piano abruptly.

Dorothy: Rose...what's the matter? There's another verse......
Rose: I'm sorry, but this song always takes me back to St. Olaf in the 60s. And the controversial issue that nearly tore the town apart.
Dorothy: What Rose....Vietnam?...Civil Rights?...Campus unrest?...
Rose: Opposite side of the street parking. Nobody could understand the concept. I mean because no matter what side of the street you park on there's always an opposite side.

As somebody who's been active denominationally for almost as long as I've been in it, I feel like one of the people of St. Olaf. In getting rid of all but 4 of the Independent Affiliates, has the board done anything but create opposite side of the street parking for IAs?

Have you seen the letter that many of the IAs received when they were told that they no longer belonged? I have. And let me tell you that it takes convoluted logic to a new level.

One of the suggestions that the board has is that similar, but different, IAs should form a council that could go back to the board and seek IA status. Isn't that just like UUs? Hey, let's form a committee of the committee of the committee. What exactly would this new council do except ferment dissension among the groups that form said council (because we all know that somebody is going to feel left out)? What benefits would this new council give to the IAs that form it?

Part of the reason IAs formed in the first place was that there was some need that grew out of the people of the congregations that the board says the UUA is there to serve. Doesn't it stand to reason that since IAs are a grassroots effort, that they inherently serve those same congregations that the UUA does? Is the board on a different planet than the rest of us?

My friends who are leaders in some of the IAs tell me that some of the IAs are going to be sending letters of protest to the board. I encourage you, if you are so inclined, to do the same.