A covenant is not a promise, but is a “bond” or an “agreement” between two or more parties.  The individual congregations are the parties to the covenants in the UUA bylaws; these covenants are described as “congregation to congregation” in the Values and Covenants preamble.  Covenants within a particular congregation and amongst individual members are also allowed, within limits, as explained in the section on Freedom of Belief.

Unitarian Universalism is a covenantal religion, meaning that covenants take the place of dogma or creed. Our UU covenants place a high value on relationships, shared values, and community commitments. The covenantal approach encourages us to explore our beliefs while fostering a sense of belonging and shared responsibility within our community.  The covenants do not specify when and how we exercise any particular action; such action is a function of our individual conscience.

Quote from the Article II Study Commission:

”Unitarian Universalism is a covenantal, not a creedal, Faith. There is no belief requirement, or creed, that you have to say to join us in community, even though there are beliefs that we would consider to be outside the boundaries of our faith. Our covenants amongst congregations and within congregations, are the way in which we practice our religion together, and they are aspirational descriptions of how we want to be in the world.”