UNITARIANS TACKLE DRUG ISSUE

Delegates to Winnipeg conference to discuss alternatives to prohibition

CANADIAN Unitarians will meet in Winnipeg next weekend to discuss a
resolution on alternatives to drug prohibition when the Canadian
Unitarian Council convenes its annual general meeting.

The meeting takes place May 16 to 19 at the Delta Winnipeg Hotel and
at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Winnipeg, 603 Wellington
Cres. at Academy Road.

As a longtime advocate of same-sex marriages, the CUC will also
formulate a response to a Parliamentary committee report on the topic,
to be released on Thursday.

CUC president Mark Morrison-Reed who, with his wife, Donna, has been
co-minister of the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto for the
past 14 years, says while same-sex marriages are a "well-trodden"
subject for his organization, a resolution addressing alternatives to
drug prohibition is in its first stages.

The CUC states that it "urges the federal government" to remove
marijuana from the Narcotics Control Act and provide for its control
through food and drug regulations. However, Morrison-Reed said he is
not yet in a position to comment.

"The will of the gathering has not been met yet," says Morrison-Reed.
"When I take a stand on an issue you'll find we have a series of
resolutions and we have a consensus we've built over a number of
years. At this moment, while we are in the process of building a
consensus, it is not yet built." In the case of same-sex marriages,
Morrison-Reed says Unitarians have held a position since the mid-1970s
based on equity of treatment and equal rights for lesbians and gays,
including allowing for openly gay ministers in the Unitarian church.

"Since the mid-1980s, we endorsed and encouraged all our ministers to
do services of union (marriage)" for same-sex couples, says
Morrison-Reed.

"People will say it's about gender and I'll say it's about love and
commitment and two people willing to make that love and commitment.
And the understanding that they are going to support one another and
live together is the foundation.

"Some people would say it's about God's law and I would say it's
actually about God's love. That this is an act of love based in love
and it needs to be respected as a manifestation of two people's
hearts," says Morrison-Reed.

He contends that by not recognizing same-sex marriages, governments
are impinging on his and other groups' religious freedoms.

"No one is saying that any church has to perform these. But they are
saying that we cannot. We're ready to do these services -- as is MCC
(Mennonite Central Committee) and even some of the United church.
We're the ones whose right to perform same-sex marriages is actually
impinged upon. The government won't recognize these marriages that
we've been doing for over 15 years now." Up to 400 people are expected
to attend the conference with representation from the U.S.-based
Unitarian Universalist Association and delegates from the British
Unitarian Association.

The CUC is an association of 44 congregations across Canada, including
Winnipeg, with about 5,200 members. But, says Morrison-Reed,
Statistics Canada puts the number of Canadian Unitarians at about
15,000. "These are people who know about us and identify with us and
feel like Unitarians but don't necessarily attend our churches," he
says.

Morrison-Reed says national membership is growing at two to three per
cent annually. He attributes the attraction of the Unitarian church to
its openness to alternative religious paths.

"It's not that we disregard tradition but that we put the emphasis on
the individual's quest and supporting that quest and people nowadays
actually find that liberating," he says.

"We are more able to speak to contemporary situations and I think that
we've been quite good at drawing lesbians and gays, obviously, because
of our position, and I think we've had success at drawing both
interracial and inter-religious couples that are looking for a home,"
says Morrison-Reed.

The CUC's newest congregations are in Durham region, just east of
Toronto and in Fredericton, N.B.