This Library contains documents from all recent United Church governance meetings, including General Council and its Executive. It will also soon include “Our Beliefs Explained” official policy documents dating back several decades. If you can't find something you think should be included, contact gcbusiness@united-church.ca.
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The United Church of Canada looks at the recent legal developments in regards to Medical Assistance in Dying with considerable interest. We are not opposed in principle to the legislation allowing assistance in dying and to such assistance being the informed, free choice of terminally ill patients. There are occasions where unrelenting suffering and what we know about the effect of pain on the human body can make Medical Assistance in Dying a preferable option. However, we urge a cautious approach by legislators and medical professionals implementing these laws, as well as by individuals, families and communities of faith who are considering making use of this new legislative option. To this end, we advocate community-focused and theologically robust discernment on a case-by-case basis that also ensures the protection and care of those potentially made vulnerable by this new law and others like it.
That the Executive of the General Council: 1. receive the report of the Theology and Inter-Church Inter-Faith Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying 2. adopt the report as an official statement of the United Church on the subject of Medical Assistance in Dying.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel used to tell the story that when God, the Holy One, gets up in the morning, God gathers the angels of heaven around and asks this simple question: "Where does my creation need mending today?" And then Rabbi Heschel would continue, "Theology consists of worrying about what God worries about when God gets up in the morning."
In winter 2003, twelve persons named by The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and The United Church of Canada (UCC) met in Vancouver to consider their new mandate to explore the relationship between our two churches. It was clear to us from the outset that we were not commissioned to prepare plans for a new “church union,” a successor to the failed project of the 1970s. What we should make our task was initially less obvious.
The 36th General Council (1997) authorized this document for study in The United Church of Canada. People of the United Church responded thoughtfully and prayerfully to the study document and the proposed policy statement. The final policy statement encompasses that response and seeks to be a faithful expression of our understanding of United Church–Jewish relations. It was overwhelmingly and enthusiastically approved at the 38th General Council in 2003.
In the face of the recent upsurge of attacks against Jewish people and property in Canada and around the world, The United Church of Canada reiterates its absolute condemnation of all acts of antisemitism. Antisemitism is an attack on the dignity and worth of people. Such acts and attitudes attempt to obliterate the truth that all people are made in the image of God. Keywords: Israel, Palestine, occupied, territories, peace, antisemitism, settlements
The issue here is the moral issue of loving our neighbour as ourselves, recognizing our common humanity; education in the history of religions is needed by any responsible person in our society, in order to combat the ignorance that feeds racism, prejudice and bigotry. This petition is not advocating any particular theology of religion or a missiology of any kind. It is simply recognizing that knowledge of other religious traditions is necessary for peace and reconciliation in the world. WHEREAS our Canadian society is becoming increasingly pluralistic and multicultural, with people of many different religious traditions living in close proximity; and WHEREAS racism is at least partly a product of ignorance about the different cultural orientation of other people; and WHEREAS a knowledge of the religious traditions of the major participants is an essential element in understanding world affairs; and
