"Rev. Jack Taylor was both the lead minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign and the Executive Director at the Channing-Murray Foundation from 1964-1968. During these years, the U.S. civil rights movement and the Vietnam war stirred turmoil and drew Rev. Taylor to focus much of his attention on the students drawn to Channing-Murray. 

In addition to preaching at Channing-Murray, Rev. Taylor held meetings with activists and counseled students. He also wrote letters in support of young men applying for Conscientious Objector classification with the Selective Service System. Several of those letters contained similar statements about the rights of individuals to hold their own convictions and his support of the moral integrity of those claims of conviction. Regarding one young member of our church, Rev. Taylor wrote, “There can be no question regarding [his] sincerity. He is not the kind of person who is motivated by unworthy qualities or other men’s rationalizations. He is ‘his own man’ and not dependent upon the opinions or actions or others.” 

In the letters to the Selective Service System, Taylor goes on to say, “Although the Unitarian Universalist Church is not considered a ‘peace church’ in the historical sense of that term, it should be noted that this denomination has a tradition of supporting the individual’s right to follow the dictates of his own conscience. For us, this is the highest form of religious discipleship.”

One of the young members of UUCUC who benefited from Rev. Taylor’s letter was accepted as a Conscientious Objector and assigned to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. He did his alternative service at Channing-Murray, serving as unpaid building manager and janitor, manager of the Red Herring Coffeehouse, and “enforcer” of the policies and regulations of Channing-Murray.