Episcopal Press and News
Social Justice Issues Are Universal
Episcopal News Service. August 6, 1997 [97-1910]
Jan Nunley, Communications Officer for the Diocese of Rhode Island
(ENS) Social justice issues frequently divide the church along liberal and conservative lines. But sometimes, concerns raised at General Convention find advocates across the political spectrum.
The plight of persecuted Christians is one such issue. At a rally outside the Philadelphia Convention Center that focused on persecution of Christians in Sudan and China, deputies and bishops alike heard stories of horror -- and heroism.
Sudanese Episcopalian Atilio John described a typical raid in which "Christian children are kidnapped off the streets... the men are killed, young boys are taken into slavery and young girls are sold into concubinage."
Crosses on doorways mark private, unregistered, "illegal" churches in Wezzhou, Zhejiang Province, the most heavily Christian city in China, according to David Aikman, former senior editor of Time and an Episcopal layman who spent 22 years reporting from China.
A resolution was adopted declaring solidarity with persecuted Christians and directs several church bodies to respond with aid, diplomacy, and prayer to the needs of Christians worldwide.
But another deleted references to human rights abuses in Chinese-occupied Tibet, a concession to concerns about "China-bashing" expressed by the "post-denominational" China Christian Council, the official representative of Christians in China.
The elimination of racism in the church and society is another issue that had almost universal backing. Deputies and bishops voted to:
- direct Executive Council to monitor diocesan progress on anti-racism efforts and report back to General Convention;
- adopt a domestic missionary outreach to ethnic minorities;
- direct the Standing Commission on the Church in Small Communities and the Church in Metropolitan Areas and the JPIC Anti-Racism Working group to collaborate on anti-racism work;
- urge that the resources of the church be used to inform church members of the "racially biased nature of the judicial and penal system in the United States";
- confess anti-Semitism;
- restore ethnic desk commissions; and
- create a Racism Resource Center for the church.
The convention also voted to declare 1997-2007 a "Decade of Remembrance, Recognition, and Reconciliation" for and with Native Peoples and called on the church to support initiatives like the Crazy Horse Defense Project, which opposes commercial exploitation of Native Americans and their symbols.
Two resolutions were passed urging the church to give greater responsibility to dioceses and provinces to sustain and develop ministries among migrant and seasonal farm workers and to advocate programs for refugees and immigrants.
With an eye toward Washington, the convention declared "the effects of 'welfare reform,' especially as they have impact on the lives of women and children, should be a priority in diocesan mission outreach planning and action." Congregations were also challenged to establish faith-based ministries to the poor.
Even the mayor of Philadelphia, Edward G. Rendell -- whose appearance interrupted the bishop's discussion of the resolution to approve the Concordat of Agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America -- reminded the church to go beyond "wrestling with your internal issues" and remember the poor in America.
He talked about "two pictures of America." One is that of a booming stock market, widespread prosperity, a Congress talking about how to cut taxes, not how to increase them, and the reported drop in the rate of joblessness.
But, Rendell said, there is another picture in America, "of people who have never been able to find that recovery" of the good life that others have found. "Both pictures are accurate," he said, "and the gap between them is only going to grow wider."
Thousands of people will get off welfare, he said, but many thousands also will not find jobs to replace welfare support and so will have no monetary resources. Even now, he said, "there are four million kids whose parents work for a living" but who cannot afford health coverage.
"There is unprecedented wealth in this country, and we ought to shift our focus onto people who haven't benefited from economic recovery," he said.
"This church has always stood for social justice," Rendell told the bishops. "Join us (mayors of U.S. cities) in sounding the wake-up call for this country. We are all God's creatures."
In other social justice concerns, the convention passed measures:
- urging Congress to increase restrictions on the sale, ownership and use of firearms, and to require imported hand guns to comply with the safety and quality standards of domestic hand guns.
- supporting the rights of women fleeing the practice of female genital mutilation;
- calling on the church to adopt practical, environmentally sound and energy-efficient lifestyle behaviors;
- supporting the goal of total nuclear disarmament, noting "with appreciation and pleasure the progress that has been made toward this goal";
- establishing a working group on science, technology and faith, with provision for a 12-member ad hoc Delegation to the Ecumenical Roundtable on Science, Technology, and the Church;
- directing the presiding bishop and president of House of Deputies to form a group to study "the theological and ethical implication of end-of-life issues," including euthanasia and assisted suicide;
- continuing the church's successful Jubilee Ministries program and suggesting that Jubilee internships and practicums be made available to seminarians; and
- commending the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Committee and others for convening the National Episcopal Justice Summit earlier this year, and funding, at $1.5 million for the triennium, a grants program "to adequately support" the several ministries of Justice, Peace and Integrity in Creation.