John Hurley, the Director of Communications at the UUA, came bursting in to the Webworkers’ room this morning and said, Look at this!” He was holding a copy of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel open to an article about General Assembly. The headline read: “3,000 clergy gather for national assembly.”

Oops. Actually, we have 3,000 total people here, probably less than a quarter of whom are ordained clergy; there are probably a thousand Unitarian Universalist clergy all told. And, as John gleefully pointed out, the first person interviewed in the article was a 17 year old, whom one would think would appear unlikely to be an ordained minister. This article provided some much-needed entertainment for a bunch of weary Webworkers.

The headline got corrected in the online edition, but the 17 year old is still called “clergy”:

Fort Lauderdale – As a Unitarian Universalist, Nick Allen embraces racial diversity and social justice — both in society and within his religion.

“We believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, so clearly that calls on us to address issues of racism,” said Allen, 17, a high school senior from St. Paul, Minn. Allen helped run an anti-racism seminar for teenagers at a gathering of the predominantly white Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly on Saturday. “One of the goals is to ask ‘why are we so white? And why aren’t we more diverse?'”

Allen was among 3,000 clergy this week who mulled these and other weighty religious, social and cultural issues at the Broward Convention Center. Some attended worship services, while others participated in workshops on topics ranging from protecting civil liberties to forming grass roots organizations. The event began Wednesday and runs through today.

Aside from that error, it’s a pretty good article, and you can read it here.