UU Social Justice Network

Social Justice Issues Survey Findings

During February, 2003 several Unitarian Universalist Churches in Southeast Michigan surveyed their congregations to learn which social justice issues were considered to be most important. They were asked to rank their top three issues from a list of 21 issues. These issues were identified by members of the UU Social Justice Network. A total of 540 surveys were obtained from eight churches. It is planned that these survey findings will provide a basis for consensus on issue action by members of the new Southeast Michigan UU Social Justice Network.  Findings for each church (which has been adequately surveyed) can be used to identify future social justice action priorities for those congregations.

Surveys by UU Church:
Ann Arbor 209 (wow!) Farmington 100
Birmingham 77 Grosse Pointe 0
Brighton 27 Northwest 44
Detroit (part Racial Justice Coalition) 65 Paint Creek 8
Emerson 10     

Issue rankings were weighted so that a #1 (top issue priority) got three points; a #2 (second highest priority) got two points; and a #3 issue priority got 1 point.  Several surveys were declared to be invalid since they did not indicate three issue priorities. These surveys were not be included in survey findings. Based on the above weighting system, the issues were ranked as follows within the eight churches:

ISSUE SCORES ISSUE SCORES
War on Iraq 338 Youth 56
Environment 273 War on Drugs 48
Civil Liberties 236 Death Penalty 43
Poverty 231 Aging 39
Universal Health Care 180 Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender 35
Abortion/Reproductive Rights 176 Election Reform 32
Racial Justice 128 Justice for Palestinians 28
Education Reform 111 Prison Reform 19
Conflict Resolution 89 Others 8
Globalization 72 Work Place Justice 6
Campaign Finance Reform 64 Gender/Sexuality 5

 

TOP ISSUES LISTED BY CONGREGATIONS

Ann Arbor:
Civil Liberties - 91
War in Iraq - 83
Poverty - 83
Abortion/Reproductive Rights - 61
Environment - 56.

Detroit:(surveys from UU Racial Justice Coalition included several from Detroit)
War on Iraq - 64
Civil Liberties - 45
Poverty - 41
Universal Health Care - 40

Northwest:
War on Iraq - 46
Civil Liberties - 31
Environment - 29
Universal Health Care - 21
Abortion/Reproductive Rights - 18

 

Birmingham:
War on Iraq - 90
Poverty - 58
Environment - 48
Racial Justice - 39
Education Reform - 32

 Emerson:
Civil Liberties - 10
Education Reform - 7
Globalization - 6
Aging - 6
Universal Health Care - 3		 Paint Creek:
Environment - 10
Abortion/Reproductive Rights - 9
Civil Liberties - 7
Poverty - 7

Brighton:
Environment - 31
Poverty - 18
War on Iraq - 17
Abortion/Reproductive Rights - 13
Education Reform - 13
Universal Health Care - 13

Farmington:
Environment - 94
War on Iraq - 92
Civil Liberties - 70
Universal Health Care - 63
Abortion/ Reproductive Rights - 52