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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WHEREAS the use of illicit drugs continues to be a serious problem of epidemic proportions among our youth; and WHEREAS marijuana and the other cannabis products are the major entry drugs into the drug culture and drug dependence;
The National Energy Sub—Unit and the church have a wider mandate in approaching energy and environmental concerns. It derives from the unlimited sovereignty of God over creation, and our human vocation of stewardship within that creation.
The General Council called on the governments of Canada (provincial and federal) to enact immediately legislation banning all alcohol advertising through the media; and, further, to challenge the members of the church to examine their own use of alcoholic beverages. Keywords: Alcohol, Liquor, Advertising
As Amended by the Executive Council of the General Council, November 1989. Preamble As Christians we wish to affirm: The sanctity of human life, born or unborn. That life is much more that physical existence.
WHEREAS we are concerned about the effect of alcohol on unborn babies, specifically: -a complex of growth deficiencies, -physical malformation, -mental retardation known as the fetal alcohol syndrome;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The United Church of Canada through the 28th General Council call on the government of Canada and/or provincial governments to take the following actions: 1. REPLACE the Canadian Atomic Energy Control Act with legislation reflective of present conditions and attitudes; in particular having provision for public access to information, mandatory public hearings (with funding to enable meaningful public participation in such hearings), as well as having provision for a radical change in status and accountability of the nuclear regulatory body (Atomic Energy Control Board).
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the General Council 1. URGE all levels of the church to give top priority to minimizing consumption of available energy resources; 2. CALL on provincial and federal governments of Canada for policies and funds to support an accelerating program to develop new energy resources which are consistent with a just, participatory and sustainable society; 3. SUPPORT the government’s application of nuclear safeguard policies, and Canada’s role in limiting proliferation of nuclear weapons; 4. ASSIST the conferences and presbyteries to implement programs of dialogue and education on nuclear energy in the context of all energy sources, in order to prepare our church members to participate in evolving decision—making processes for a more just society.
Theological Approach Dependency God through incarnation in Jesus Christ has affirmed that in our humanity we should “have life and have it abundantly”-that we are created in God’s image. Nurtured by Christ’s spirit and strengthened by God’s means of grace, we are given confidence to cope with the complexities of living. In this way we develop a healthy dependency upon our own inner resources and also upon loving and supportive human relationships. When confidence in God, others and ourselves is seriously eroded we tend to become susceptible to pressures and substances that interfere with the development of our wholeness.
THAT the United Church of Canada discourage the use of tobacco products by promoting awareness as to the health risks through creative use of educational materials available from other sources.
Statement of Goals 1. To Awaken the United Church: a) to the extent and the depth of the environmental crisis (helping people to "live into" the tensions involved in facing up to the crisis); b) to alternatives open to us in dealing with given environmental problems; c) to sense that we can share with other concerned people a desire to undertake responsible action in these matters in the name of our shared humanity and common destiny; d) to explore the grounding we have in the biblical heritage, and to explore its treasury of insights and perspectives in relation to care for the environment; e) to face the possibility that within our traditional understandings of man’s role in creation, we may find misunderstandings and ambiguities which we must now repudiate.
