This project was initiated by the National Ethical Action Committee of the American Ethical Union at the start of 1999. Its purpose is to offer anyone access to the complete texts of all Resolutions passed by the AEU, starting in 1948. This site now has nearly 240 files containing the available texts of AEU Resolutions from the years 1948 through September 2004 (and a file referring to the one resolution text known to be missing).

Note: The resolutions on this site do not include some which refer only to internal policies of the AEU.

To find official AEU positions on a topic or issue, enter one or more words in the box below and click on "Find!" for a clickable list of all the Resolutions that contain them (or use the text-only links below the box). For a complete list of all the Resolutions, click on "Site Map."

The Freefind search engine has greatly expanded its capabilities. The following explanation is copied from the "Search tips" link shown near the top of each results page you will see on their site:

Search technology by FreeFind

By default the search engine tries to locate pages which have exact matches for all of the words entered in your search query. If that fails, it then tries to locate pages which contain any words in your search query. If that happens a short message is displayed at the top of the search results indicating this has been done.

In addition, there are several ways to modify the default search behavior.

• 1. phrase search
  The search engine supports three types of phrase search.
  • * To match an exact phrase, use quotes around the phrase
    • Example: "free search engine"
  • * To match a near (within a couple of words) phrase, use square brackets [around the words]
    • Example: [free search engine]
  • * To match a far (within several words) phrase, use braces { around the words }
    • Example: {free search engine}
• 2. + and - qualifiers
  • If you prepend a word with + that word is required to be on the page.
  • If you prepend a word with - that word is required to not be on the page.
    • Example: +always -never
• 3. * wildcard
  • If a query word ends with a * all words on a page which start the same way as that query word will match.
    • Example: gift*
• 4. ? wildcard
  • If a query word contains a ? any character will match that position.
    • Example: b?g
• 5. boolean search
  • You can use the following boolean operators in your search: AND, OR, NOT. These operators MUST be in capital letters.
    • Example: (contact AND us) OR (about AND us)
  
  
• All of these techniques can be combined: +alway* -ne??r*
  
  
  

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  BACKGROUND

  There are several different kinds of sources for these texts. 47 of them are resolutions contained in the document "Whereas ...", which covers the years 1948 through 1962. 43 texts come from the document "Where We Stand," which covers the years 1948-69.
  

  • A dozen or so of these are duplicated in both documents. Although in one case the website editor has put both versions on a single file, searching out and consolidating the remaining duplicates, which do not always look the same in both documents, is incomplete. If you come across such a duplication, please email the editor the file names at the address below.

  Most of the remaining texts are from memoranda distributed to the Societies and Fellowships by the AEU Office, in most cases following the Assembly at which they were adopted. A few were adopted by the National Leaders Council the AEU Board, or the AEU Executive Committee.

  Since these files were scanned from the original paper documents, the titles and texts are usually exactly what appeared there. In fact, there was some effort to make the files here look like the originals. (Some titles are abbreviated, and some apparent typographical errors in the originals are noted. If you see any other typos which might represent failures to properly edit the scanned files, please email the editor.)

  Nov 2, 2004

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  Back to National Ethical Action Comittee Main Page
  
  Please email Dick Reichart [rbreichart(at)earthlink(dot)net] with any questions, comments or suggestions

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  Copyright 2001 American Ethical Union.
  Single copies of material on this website may be reproduced for
  non-commercial purposes only. All other rights reserved.