How Rev. Dr. Tracey Robinson-Harris Rededicates Herself To Waging Peace In 2007. . .
RobinE...@gmail.com
Rev. Dr. Tracey Robinson-Harris, Director of the Unitarian Universalist
Association's department of Congregational Services, regarding my
formal complaint against Rev. Victoria Weinstein that arises from the
insulting and defamatory language, and other injurious unbecoming
conduct, of Rev. Weinstein on her pseudonymous Peacebang blog. In order
to properly understand this string U*Us, or anyone else who may be
interested in learning about UUA institutional stonewalling and denial,
would do well to read it from the bottom up. . . I dare say that Rev.
Tracey Robinson-Harris' obviously negligent, and effectively complicit,
response to my complaint about Rev. Victoria Weinstein's obviously
unbecoming conduct on her pseudonymous Peacebang blog does a serious
disservice to not only historic New England Unitarian Universalist
congregations, but all UUA congregations.
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 16:13:10 -0500 (EST)
From: "Robin Edgar" <robine...@yahoo.ca> Add to Address Book
Subject: RE: The UUA and MFC are acting in bad faith once again. . .
To: "Tracey Robinson-Harris" <trob...@uua.org>, bmi...@uua.org
CC: "Bill Sinkford" <bsin...@uua.org>, "William Sinkford"
<wsin...@uua.org>
Woden's Day January 3rd, 2007
Dear Rev. Dr. Tracey Robinson-Harris,
I have been given absolutely minimal information about the basis for
your decision which I can only assume represents the decision of not
only the UUA's Department of Congregational Services, but also the
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations as a whole. Your
response is completely unsatisfactory, not only in terms of the
negligent and effectively complicit refusal to hold Rev. Victoria
Weinstein, of First Parish Unitarian Church of Norwell, in any way
accountable for her unbecoming conduct that includes deeply insulting
and outright defamatory libelous attacks on me and various other people
on her Peacebang blog, but also in terms of your failure and refusal to
answer my perfectly reasonable questions about that highly questionable
decision.
My questions arose out of the fact that the information that you
provided about the basis for that decision was absolutely minimal and
didn't really say amything meaningful at all. I will not waste any more
time with you as it is abundantly obvious that the UUA is intent on
playing it's standard game of institutional stonewalling and denial
with respect to clergy misconduct, to say nothing of other internal U*U
injustices and abuses.
Since you are clearly not part of the solution you are part of the
problem and your evidently negligent and effectively complicit response
to my serious complaint about Rev. Victoria Weinstein's obviously
unbecoming conduct will be dealt with accordingly. I read with interest
UUA President Rev. William G. Sinkford's 2006 Holiday Message which
called upon U*Us to "commit ourselves to the spiritual practice of
waging peace-in our hearts, at home, in our congregations and
communities, and in our world. . . Let us rededicate ourselves to
waging peace."
http://www.uua.org/president/061213_holiday.html
It would appear that you, the UUA, and U*Us more generally, to say
nothing of UUA President Rev. Bill Sinkford himself are not off to a
very good start in that regard.
Sincerely,
Robin Edgar
Tracey Robinson-Harris <trob...@uua.org> wrote:
Dear Robin,
You have been informed of the decision regarding your complaint and
given information about the basis for our decision.
I will not be providing any further information in this matter.
Tracey
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robin Edgar [mailto:robine...@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 6:03 PM
To: Tracey Robinson-Harris; Beth Miller
Cc: William Sinkford ; wsin...@uua.org; Leslie Staples
Subject: Re: The UUA and MFC are acting in bad faith once again. . .
Dear Tracey,
I would appreciate a timely response to the email that I sent you on
December 20th by the end of this week. I expect you to provide truthful
and accurate answers to all of the reasonable questions that I posed in
it.
Thank you,
Robin Edgar
Robin Edgar <robine...@yahoo.ca> wrote:
Dear Tracey,
Please forgive me for saying so but I believe that far from being "in
faith" you are acting in considerable bad faith in response to my
complaint against Rev. Victoria Weinstein. I expect you to provide
direct answers to all of the direct and pertinent questions that I
posed to you in my previous email dated Wednesday, December 13, 2006
2:49 PM.
Herewith my point-by-point response to your most recent email message -
: In a situation such as the one you describe, we would strongly
recommend that the concerns be addressed by direct communication with
the minister involved, as you have already done. I understand that you
were disappointed in the response you received.
Yes, I did directly communicate with Rev. Victoria Weinstein as per
your recommendation and I was indeed disappointed by her response which
is precisely why I brought Rev. Victoria Weinstein's unbecoming conduct
to your attention. I expect the UUA and it's department of ministry to
hold Rev. Victoria Weinstein accountable for her unbecoming conduct
that includes, but is not limited to, injuriously defaming me on her
Peacebang blog.
: It is the case that in this situation the minister's blog is
anonymous ( though you were able to identify the individual) and that
she is free to express her opinions and to do so outside of her
professional role as a minister serving a congregation.
I put it to you that the UUMA Guidelines clearly state that a U*U
minister needs to be mindful of his or her words and actions that are
"outside of their professional role as a minister serving a
congregation" and deemed to be part of their "private life" thus, even
if what you say above was true, Rev. Victoria Weinstein should face
some form of accountability for her insulting and defamatory language
towards me and other people. The fact of the matter however is that
Rev. Victoria Weinstein clearly identifies herself as "a small town
pastor serving an historic New England Unitarian Universalist
congregation" in her blog profile which is posted at the top of every
single blog post on her pseudonymous Peacebang blog.
That means that this post -
http://peacebang.blogspot.com/2006/03/state-senator-bill-napolis-fantasy.html
and other Peacebang blog posts that contain insulting and defamatory
language, or otherwise display conduct unbecoming of a minister, are
not in fact "outside of" Rev. Victoria Weinstein's "professional role
as a minister" even though her real name and the U*U congregation that
she is serving are not identified. I put it to you that, precisely
because she hides behind the "mask" of anonymity or pseudonymity and
does not identify which "historic New England Unitarian Universalist
congregation" she is actually serving, Rev. Victoria Weinstein's
insulting and defamatory blog posts reflect badly on ALL historic New
England Unitarian Universalist congregations. . . N'est-ce pas Tracey?
: After a close review of your complaint and the rules which guide the
Ministerial Fellowship Committee in their work, the decision was made
that this complaint is not appropriate for the MFC to adjudicate.
Then I guess that means that MFC rules, as they are currently
formulated and expressed, allow U*U ministers to insult and defame
people on their blogs with complete impunity. No accountability
whatsoever. How is it possible that it is "not appropriate" for the
Ministerial Fellowship Committee to hold a U*U minister accountable for
publicly spouting insulting and defamatory language directed at me and
other people, including the clergy of other denominations and U.S.
Senators, and other conduct that the vast majority of the American
public would agree is quite unbecoming of a minister? Would you please
be so kind as to send me a copy of these MFC rules or direct me to
where they are posted to the internet so that I may examine them, point
out the obvious flaws in these rules that allow U*U ministers to insult
and defame people with complete impunity, and make recommendations for
changes that would ensure that U*U ministers will in future face some
genuine accountability for insulting and defaming people?
: The guidelines that you reference are those of the UU Ministers
Association and not the Ministerial Fellowship Committee. These are
separate bodies, each with their own procedures and rules.
Then it would appear that there is a glaring lack of harmony between
the UUMA Guidelines and the rules of the Ministerial Fellowship
Committee. How is this possible Tracey? Why is this so? Why has this
situation not already been addressed and corrected? Please be so kind
as to inform me how I may go about holding Rev. Victoria Weinstein
accountable to both letter and the spirit of the UUMA Guidelines or the
conduct of ministry which make it abundantly clear that her insulting
and defamatory language towards me and other people is anything but
becoming conduct of a U*U minister.
: I know that you wished for a different outcome in this matter.
Be assured that in the coming days, weeks, months, and possibly even
years the UUA and the greater U*U religious community will wish that
there had been a different outcome in this matter. . .
: Our original decision remains unchanged.
And just what is *our* original decision Tracey? I don't believe that
that decision has been very clearly expressed yet. I expect you to
detail exactly what that decision is and how it was arrived at. I also
expect you to provide clear answers to each and every one of the very
pertinent questions that I have asked in this email and in the previous
emails that I have sent you that remain unanswered.
:There will be no further UUA review or action on this complaint.
If that is the position of the UUA I will consider the UUA to be acting
in bad faith in response to legitimate grievances arising from
insulting and defamatory language and other unbecoming conduct by a U*U
minister. I will consider the UUA to not only be negligent in its
response to my legitimate grievances but effectively complicit in the
insulting and defamatory unbecoming conduct of U*U ministers that it
abjectly fails and even obstinately refuses to hold accountable for
their demeaning and abusive clergy misconduct. I will govern myself
accordingly.
Sincerely,
Robin Edgar
Tracey Robinson-Harris <trob...@uua.org> wrote:
Dear Robin,
In a situation such as the one you describe, we would strongly
recommend that the concerns be addressed by direct communication with
the minister involved, as you have already done. I understand that you
were disappointed in the response you received.
It is the case that in this situation the minister's blog is
anonymous ( though you were able to identify the individual) and that
she is free to express her opinions and to do so outside of her
professional role as a minister serving a congregation.
After a close review of your complaint and the rules which guide the
Ministerial Fellowship Committee in their work, the decision was made
that this complaint is not appropriate for the MFC to adjudicate. The
guidelines that you reference are those of the UU Ministers Association
and not the Ministerial Fellowship Committee. These are separate
bodies, each with their own procedures and rules.
I know that you wished for a different outcome in this matter. Our
original decision remains unchanged. There will be no further UUA
review or action on this complaint.
In faith,
Tracey Robinson-Harris
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robin Edgar [mailto:robine...@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 2:49 PM
To: Tracey Robinson-Harris
Subject: RE: Complaint Procedures For Unbecoming Conduct
Hi Tracey,
As I stated in my initial complaint, Rev. Victoria Weinstein's
language, as exhibited on her Peacebang blog, is not only insulting and
defamatory towards myself but insults and defames other people or is
otherwise quite offensive. Her conduct on her blog would seem to
violate several clauses of the UUMA Guidelines for the conduct of
ministry. You might want to review them again -
http://uuma.org/documents/guidelines.html
Regardless of whether or not I or other people may be able to bring a
civil suit against Rev. Weinstein for defamation or libel I would hope
that the UUA would have procedures in place for disciplining ministers
for such obviously unbecoming conduct. You seem to be suggesting that
your "thorough review" of my complaint against Rev. Victoria Weinstein
found no misconduct or "unbecoming conduct" worth acting upon and that
you consider her behavior described in my complaint to be "within the
guidelines" of the UUMA. Is this so or am I misinterpreting your
response to my complaint?
I would like to know exactly what the conclusions of the "thorough
review" of my complaints against Rev. Weinstein are.
What is your assessment of Rev. Weinstein's behaviour as described in
my complaint?
Is it considered to be becoming of a U*U minister?
Is it within the letter and the spirit of the UUMA Guidelines for the
conduct of ministry?
What documents or records, if any, arose out of my complaint?
Is there a written report of the "thorough review" that you can provide
to me for scrutiny?
On what grounds do you claim that the issues that I raise in my
complaint against Rev. Victoria Weinsten are not appropriate for the
MFC to adjudicate?
Please provide clear and forthright answers to all of the above
questions.
Thank you,
Robin Edgar
Tracey Robinson-Harris <trob...@uua.org> wrote:
Robin,
Given the rules of the MFC and the nature of the issues you raise, it
is not appropriate for the MFC to adjudicate.
If you feel that you have been defamed or libeled and wish redress that
would be a matter for civil court action.
Tracey
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robin Edgar [mailto:robine...@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 12:36 PM
To: Tracey Robinson-Harris
Subject: RE: Complaint Procedures For Unbecoming Conduct
Hi Tracey,
Could you please elaborate on what you mean here?
Can you please tell me what the conclusions of the thorough review of
my complaint against Rev. Victoria Weinstein are?
Thank-you,
Robin Edgar
Tracey Robinson-Harris <trob...@uua.org> wrote:
Robin,
A thorough review of your complaint against the Rev. Victoria Weinstein
has been completed. This complaint will not be forwarded to the
Ministerial Fellowship Committee.
Tracey Robinson-Harris
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robin Edgar [mailto:robine...@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 4:43 PM
To: Tracey Robinson-Harris
Subject: RE: Complaint Procedures For Unbecoming Conduct
Hi Tracey,
I would appreciate it if you could provide a brief progress report and
let me know where things stand. I noticed that Rev. Weinstein has
deleted some older problematic posts from her Peacebang blog although
it appears that she has left others intact including those that I
specifically pointed out.
Thank you,
Robin Edgar
Tracey Robinson-Harris <trob...@uua.org> wrote:
Robin,
I am currently out of the office and will not be back in Boston til Nov
20th. I will review your complaint and get back to you as soon as
possible.
Tracey
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robin Edgar
Sent: Fri 11/10/2006 3:58 PM
To: Tracey Robinson-Harris
Subject: RE: Complaint Procedures For Unbecoming Conduct
November 10, 2006
Dear Rev. Tracey Robinson-Harris,
I read the document that you provided as an attachment and it seems to
me that, at least initially, email communications will be sufficient.
Please notify me if at any time you require hard copy sent to you by
registered mail. I may send you a letter by registered mail in any case
but for now I will initiate the complaint process using email
communications.
The minister that I am bringing the complaint against is Rev. Victoria
Weinstein of First Parish Church (Unitarian) in Norwell ,
Massachusetts . My complaint against her arises from what I consider to
be unbecoming conduct in terms of written material that she has posted
to her pseudonymous Peacebang blog. Some of that material constituted
an insulting and defamatory attack on me, based purely on hearsay, that
I only became aware of about six months after she first posted it. I am
however also concerned with other posts on her Peacebang blog that
insult and defame other people in a manner that I believe most people
would consider to be unbecoming any minister U*U or otherwise.
It should be understood that although Rev. Victoria Weinstein's
Peacebang blog is pseudonymous she none-the-less describes herself with
these words in her personal profile that appears at the top of each
page -
PeaceBang is the much sassier and brassier alter ego of a perfectly
well-behaved, gracious and affectionate small-town pastor of a lovely
New England Unitarian congregation.
It is thus clear that Rev. Victoria Weinstein represents herself as a
Unitarian minister in a small town somewhere in New England . Various
posts on her blog make it clear that she is in the Boston area. From my
perspective any insulting and defamatory language, or otherwise
unbecoming conduct, exhibited on her Peacebang blog thus tarnishes the
image of Unitarian*Universalism over a broad area since few people know
exactly which U*U minister Peacebang is.
Perhaps the most egregious example of unbecoming conduct that I have
seen on her Peacebang blog is a post that attacks a U.S. Senator who no
doubt deserved some strong criticism but Rev. Victoria Weinstein's
strident insulting and defamatory attack on the senator in question
does not reflect well on her, the profession of ministry U*U or
otherwise, or the U*U community as a whole.
You may read that insulting and defamatory attack on a senator here -
http://peacebang.blogspot.com/2006/03/state-senator-bill-napolis-fantasy.html
Here are some pertinent excerpts:
"First of all, you crazy asshat, how does sodomy fit into your scenario
about unwanted pregnancy?"
"Here's my sodomy fantasy: South Dakota State Senator Bill Napoli
anally impaled on the Statue of Liberty's torch."
It seems that in a follow-up comment to the original post Rev. Victoria
Weinstein even incites telephone harassment of the senator by providing
his home phone number and suggesting that people call him up -
Sen. William Napoli, Republican, Rapid City ,
businessman, 341-2370 (home), 348-7373 (work).
CALL HIM UP!
Most recently Rev. Victoria Weinstein stridently attacked Catholics
over the issue of clergy sexual misconduct without making the slightest
mention of the fact that the U*U religious community has its own
serious problems with clergy sexual misconduct. When I posted comments
that pointed out her own "community denial" she deleted almost all of
them in what I consider to be acts of church censorship and suppression
of legitimate criticism and dissent. Only after I challenged her did
she make any mention whatsoever of U*U clergy sexual misconduct in
follow-up comments.
http://peacebang.blogspot.com/2006/10/violating-privacy-of-mind-and-body.html
Rev. Victoria Weinstein's hyped up attack on Catholics came at a time
when one of her own parishioners was just convicted of raping a
neighbour's daughter and his own daughter. I thus consider Rev.
Weinstein's strident scapegoating of Catholics over the issue of sexual
abuse to be remarkably hypocritical unbecoming conduct. If she wanted
to discuss sexual abuse, including the rape of minors, without
referring to the situation in her own parish she could have and should
have used previous instances of U*U clergy sexual abuse that much more
closely resembled the situation in her own church, most notably the
Rev. Mack Mitchell rape case that much more closely resembles what
happened in her own parish than the alleged fondling of Mark Foley by a
Catholic priest.
Rev. Weinstein's insulting and defamatory attack on me of late July
2005 almost pales in comparison to her attack on Senator Napoli but it
is serious enough in its own right, especially since it further
circulated and reinforced previous slanderous rumours about me spread
by U*Us, including that of Rev. Ray Drennan of the Unitarian Church of
Montreal who suggested that I was suffering from a serious mentally
illness, specifically psychosis, in November of 1996. Quite regrettably
the UUA and its Ministerial Fellowship Committee badly mishandled my
formal complaint against Rev. Ray Drennan by effectively condoning his
injurious and untrue attack on me and my religious beliefs and
practices. Had the MFC done its job properly Rev. Victoria Weinstein
might never have defamed me on her blog.
In December of 2005 I discovered that in a follow-up comment to one of
her blog posts Rev. Victoria Weinstein had characterized me as a
"hostile" and "crazy" person who she did not have a "crucifix big
enough to ward off" thus suggesting that I was some kind of evil
vampire. When I quite reasonably and politely confronted her about this
online libel she initially refused to do anything about it at all. I
suggested that the best thing that she could do to set a good example
was to leave the libelous comment intact on her blog but post a
retraction and formal written apology that clearly acknowledged the
wrongfulness and harmfulness of her libelous attack on me as a
follow-up comment in the same thread. Rev. Victoria Weinstein refused
to do the right thing, as suggested by me, and instead simply deleted
the offending post against my own express wishes that it remain visible
as an object lesson with an appropriate retraction and apology
attached. The thread may be viewed here -
http://peacebang.blogspot.com/2005/07/obesity-steakhouse.html
As far as I am concerned Rev. Victoria Weinstein's self-censorship of
her libelous personal attack on me was motivated more out of a desire
to protect herself from any accountability by hiding the evidence of
her online libel than an attempt to reduce any harm done to me as a
result of her insulting and defamatory language. Had Rev. Weinstein
desired to reduce the damage that she had done to me by spreading
libelous malicious gossip about me on her Peacebang blog she could have
and would have posted the retraction and apology that I had requested
from her. To date she has obstinately refused to apologize to me even
in private communications. I do believe that a public apology posted on
her blog is in order in terms of her libelous personal attack on me. As
far as any other unbecoming conduct that does not directly affect me
goes I leave it up to you to browse through her blog and determine for
yourself what posts may be considered to be unbecoming a minister.
I will leave this matter in your hands and those of other UUA officials
who may have a role to play in responsibly dealing with this complaint
about unbecoming conduct on the part of Rev. Victoria Weinstein. I look
forward to receiving some genuine restorative justice in response to my
serious complaint. Likewise I expect the UUA to deal responsibly with
Rev. Victoria Weinstein's unbecoming conduct that does not directly
affect me. I stand ready to answer any questions that you or anyone
else from the UUA may have.
I look forward to seeing how the Unitarian Universalist Association
currently handles complaints about non-sexual clergy misconduct that
involve slanderous and libelous personal attacks on people by U*U
ministers because, in the not so distant past, the UUA and its
Ministerial Fellowship Committee have abjectly failed to responsibly
handle such unbecoming conduct complaints. In fact the UUA and MFC have
even effectively condoned and endorsed such insulting and defamatory
personal attacks perpetrated by U*U clergy by claiming that they are
"within the appropriate guidelines of ministerial leadership." I hope
that things have significantly improved since then.
Sincerely,
Robin Edgar
Tracey Robinson-Harris <trob...@uua.org> wrote:
Robin,
The attached document outlines the process. PLease take a look at this
information and then let me know if you have questions.
Tracey
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robin Edgar
Sent: Tue 11/7/2006 3:29 PM
To: trob...@uua.org
Subject: Complaint Procedures For Unbecoming Conduct
Dear
Beth Miller has informed me that you are the correct UUA official to
contact about filing a clergy misconduct complaint against a U*U
minister.
It is my intention to bring a complaint for unethical conduct
unbecoming a minister against a U*U minster in the coming days.
I would appreciate it if you could inform me of what the current
procedures are for bringing such a complaint against a U*U minister
are.
Is it possible for all written communications to be conducted using
email or will it be necessary to send a hard copy letter by
conventional mail in the form of a registered letter?
Thank you,
Robin Edgar