“What holds a community together when its members do not share the same beliefs? Can a religious organization offer moral purpose and belonging without requiring agreement on theology, politics, or the meaning of a good life? These questions were central to Helen Pluckrose’s keynote at the 2026 North American Unitarian Association Summit. Known for her criticism of postmodernism and the Critical Social Justice movement, Pluckrose offered a message that extends beyond contemporary political controversies: we should define ourselves by what we stand for, not simply by what we oppose.
Her alternative is liberal humanism—a framework grounded in individual liberty, reason, evidence, pluralism, and our shared humanity. This vision has particular relevance for liberal religious communities seeking to bring together people who may disagree profoundly about religion, politics, moral decisions and ethics.”
Find a detailed summary of the key points of my talk and the full transcript here.
A few readers were surprised to learn that I had been welcomed to speak to a Unitarian group. Some had been involved with Unitarians themselves and become disillusioned with the community, finding it to have been deeply influenced by the Critical Social Justice Movement and to have become identitarian and illiberal. NAUA is fully aware of this problem and has formed, in part, to address it. From their website.
The North American Unitarian Association was born in 2022 with a mission to defend, promote and nourish the traditional Unitarian principles of freedom, reason, and tolerance. … The NAUA was conceived much earlier than 2022. It was formed first in the minds and hearts of Unitarians who witnessed the displacement of liberal ideas, ideals and practices by an emergent post-modern theology and ideology.
Traditional support for “free and responsible search for truth” was supplanted by an expansion of the idea of “harm” to include emotional harm, engendering feelings of isolation, lack of affirmation and other verbal and non-violent behaviours that were deemed to be “out of covenant”
Within the Unitarian Universalist denomination, a campaign and culture to censure […} dissenting views also developed.
The NAUA continues to grow in both individual and congregational numbers -providing an ongoing voice and community for those attracted to liberal ideas of freedom, reason and tolerance. In addition, a task force is at work to articulate and promote a set of guiding principles for individual and organizational application.
The NAUA remains committed to championing noncreedal religious thinking and organization, celebrating individual difference of opinion and welcoming free debate and discussion. It also continues to work to educate and promote individual and organization efforts at creating and sustaining a more just and caring society.
You can read NAUA’s full account of this problem and response to it here.
I remain resolutely non-religious myself but am always eager to support fellow liberals in every religious community! It was a delight to speak to the members of NAUA.
For religion I would offer that shared first principles are important, which can certainly include the list of ideals found in liberal humanism listed in this article. Politics and other issues may be downstream from those, but they are less set in stone and subject to honest negotiation and dialogue.