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 29th General Council, August 1982, agreed to: 1. Acknowledge its lack of persistence of behalf of Japanese Canadians injured through internment; 2. Urge the government of Canada to make speedy restitution and honourable compensation to Japanese Canadians so injured, that justice may be done and be seen to be done, and that this wound in our Canadian life may be healed; and
WHEREAS the recent rash of killing of police officers has resulted in renewed calls for the return of capital punishment in Canada; and WHEREAS we sympathize deeply with the hurt of families and colleagues of the victims of such crime; and WHEREAS we believe that the taking of another life is not a faithful way to respond to that hurt; and WHEREAS we believe that such taking of human life by the state as punishment has a brutalizing effect on society; and
WHEREAS the right to self-determination of the Central American people is threatened by US policy in the region; and WHEREAS the increasing militarization of the region threatens to plunge Central America into a regional war: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
WHEREAS the more than 200,000 Guatemalan refugees living in camps in southern Mexico suffer from a severe lack of material assistance; and WHEREAS there has been very little publicity on this situation and very little international relief for the Guatemalan refugee camps:
WHEREAS the statement of the Minister of Multiculturalism which expresses “regret” over Japanese Canadian injury due to internment and confiscation is inadequate and does not acknowledge wrongdoing; and WHEREAS the recent act of the Minister of Multiculturalism to establish a fund for victims of racism in Canada does not address the specific need for compensation to Japanese Canadians; and
WHEREAS General Council in 1982, acting on petitions from several conferences, including Hamilton, identified acid rain as a major issue for attention by the church; and The United Church of Canada sponsored a major international consultation on acid rain in January 1984, bringing together representatives of 25 religious bodies from Canada and the United States, and issuing a statement which included specific recommendations for action
The fighting in Afghanistan has continued for more than four years; and the citizens of Afghanistan and its refugees, as well as the citizens of countries receiving refugees, continue to suffer from the war in Afghanistan; and Soviet troops remain in Afghanistan, despite the condemnation of the United Nations, various governments of the world, and non-governmental organizations, including the United Church of Canada;
Biblical calls to address injustice, inhumanity and racism compel us to reach out to oppressed sisters and brothers in South Africa, and call us to confront systems of repression and evil. Keywords: South Africa, Racism, Discrimination, Racial Justice, Globalization, Ethical, Investment, Economic, Community Development
At its meeting in Ottawa in August 1982 the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), of which The United Church of Canada is a member, declared apartheid to be a heresy, and suspended from the privileges of membership in WARC the two Dutch Reformed churches, declaring them to be “oppressive and in error,” an action which has since been confirmed by many of its members, including the Black Reformed Methodist and Anglican churches in South Africa;
Faith Base Jesus called persons into freedom from coercion and enslavement, and through the cross and resurrection delivers us from evil powers. The Bible tells us to be discerning of false prophets and doctrines. Preying on the human spirit, mind control is based on fear and guilt.
