I spent a week in your lovely city for the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly. At that gathering, a local UU minister, the Rev. Todd Eklof, handed out a tract he wrote calling out issues he sees in our faith and association. His words aren’t merely controversial, as he says, but are harmful to many people in our faith. He claims to be helping us by pointing things out, but when asked to meet with leaders (or with just about anyone) he wasn’t interested. We support free speech, but we also expect those who use it to stand by their words; don’t start an argument you aren’t prepared to engage in. If and when Rev. Eklof is ready to engage in serious dialogue, his colleagues in ministry and at the UUA are ready.

Moreover, I’m dismayed at this newspaper, which printed a story about a “controversy,” as the headline states (“UU minister in Spokane stirs controversy for calling church too politically correct,” June 25), without bothering to speak to anyone but Rev. Eklof. Members of the UUA board and staff were still in Spokane on Monday and easily could have been reached. As a former newspaper journalist myself, this strikes me as either lazy or poor journalism, and likely both.

The Rev. Christian Schmidt

Pinole, Calif.