United Church Social Policy Positions

WHEREAS the development and buildup of conventional and nuclear armaments continues unabated, threatening our hope for a future, and placing the fate of the earth in serious jeopardy; and

WHEREAS the church has a prophetic role based on our Judaeo-Christian heritage to resist evil, and to call people to a vision of peace with justice; and

WHEREAS it is our belief that it is the duty of the church to bring hope and peace to the world, and looking forward to a new century, to sponsor a gift to the peoples of the world of a world free of nuclear weapons; and

WHEREAS our Prime Minister has made the promotion of peace a primary objective in his personal agenda as leader of our country and we believe the government could be doing much more in moral and financial support of peace work in Canada; and

WHEREAS a meeting is in preparation between President Reagan and President Gorbachev which hopefully will mark a beginning towards lasting world peace.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

This General Council:

1. URGE the congregations of the United Church to make discussion of the peace issue a priority in prayer and study, calling on resources available in our church and through Project Ploughshares.
2. REQUEST, in writing, the government to increase its efforts toward peace and disarmament including:
   1. financial support to peace work;
   2. support of a nuclear freeze by the super powers; and
   3. declaring as an objective in the conduct of its foreign policy the elimination of nuclear weapons from the world by the year 2000;
3. USE its contacts with other churches of Canada and the world to encourage similar petitions to their respective governments.
4. REQUEST Prime Minister Mulroney to impress on the two aforementioned leaders, Reagan and Gorbachev, that it is vital to world peace that they sign an agreement during their meeting which states that neither nation will ever initiate a first-strike nuclear attack.
5. Furthermore, IMPLORE the members of this 31st General Council to accept personal responsibility to communicate to their congregations and their government representatives the urgency of this concern on behalf of those now living and future inhabitants of this our planet Earth.

General Council: 31st General Council, 1986

Record of Proceedings Page Ref. 1986 ROP, pp. 145–46.