NCC Disagrees with Reagan Policies
Episcopal News Service. May 21, 1981 [81162]
Philadelphia -- The Governing Board of the National Council of Churches has issued a message to the churches expressing its "fundamental disagreement" with the Reagan administration's "vision of who we are and where we are going."
Citing opposition to the new administration's social spending cutbacks, energy policy, military spending hikes, environmental stance and foreign policy, the board warned that such moves "threaten the vision of America as the model and embodiment of a just and humane society."
Meeting twice yearly, the board is made up of delegates from 32 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox church bodies whose combined membership tops 40 million.
At its May 13-15 gathering here, the group also passed statements on U.S. immigration policy, military and economic aid to El Salvador and Guatemala, the nuclear arms race and the assassination attempt on the Pope.
The church leaders' message on the direction of national policy, which passed by a wide margin, marked the first time since its founding in 1950 that the council has issued such a broad evaluation of a new administration's policies.
Several members of the Episcopal Church delegation voted against the message.
"In the new administration's philosophy," the board said, "the nation confronts a cross-roads choice between alternative visions of the meaning and purpose of America."
"In (the Reagan) vision of America the fittest survive and prosper, and there is little room for public purpose since it interferes with private gain. Compassion is a weakness in the competitive struggle of each against all, and charity is the voluntary option of individuals."
In contrast, the message said, the National Council of Churches identifies with an "alternative vision" that "has deep roots in religious faith and biblical images of divine intent and human possibility."
"The precious possession of pilgrims and padres," this "was a vision of creating in the New World a new model of human community -- the New Jerusalem -- free from the oppression and misery that entrenched power and privilege perpetuated in the Old World they had fled."
The Reagan budget's "sweeping changes are proposed to meet an economic emergency purportedly created by runaway government spending and unbearable tax burdens -- in this wealthiest of nations that now collects a smaller portion of its wealth in taxes and spends a smaller percentage of it for public purposes than any European democracy!
"To remedy this alleged condition, however, the Reagan philosophy requires not a cut in government spending so much as a massive transfer of public money from people assistance to military procurement -- the most massive such shift in peacetime history."
In mid-session when news of the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II was received, the board paused for prayers and later sent a message to the Vatican, the U. S. Catholic Conference and Philadelphia's Cardinal Krol.
"Because irrational action motivated by an evil impulse has the power to grasp us in horror," the church leaders said, "we are appalled by the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II today in Rome."
The message offered prayers for a full recovery, as well as "an end to violence and the ever increasing manufacture and distribution of instruments of human destruction." At the invitation of the board, Cardinal John Krol led a prayer for the Pope to open the meeting's final session.
In its new policy statement on immigration, refugees and migrants, the church council outlined the basic stance that will guide its work on such issues, including the refugee resettlement efforts of its Church World Service agency.
The statement urged a number of changes in American immigration law, including permanent residence status for illegal immigrants who have been in the U. S. for a "reasonable period of time," the precise number of years to be set by Congress.
It also backed legislation to extend full human and labor rights to foreign migrants and temporary workers, including collective bargaining and occupational health and safety protection.
In a resolution passed unanimously, the Governing Board reiterated its stand -- first taken last year -- against military aid to El Salvador.
Such aid, the board charged, "has served to increase the level of violence and the violation of human rights, and is a deterrent to a negotiated settlement of the present conflict."
The resolution urged President Reagan "to promote early negotiations between the contending parties in El Salvador, in a secure and peaceful manner, with full respect for the views and participation of all concerned."
"Included in these efforts," it added, "should be the establishment of clear and just conditions to continued economic aid," including "a substantial and good faith commitment to a political solution" by the junta; "prompt cessation of wanton acts of violence by elements of the Salvadoran national security forces;" and free elections for a constitutional assembly in 1982.
In similar fashion, the board passed an "epistle" to the churches authored by a recent NCC delegation to Guatemala, warning against the planned resumption of military aid to Guatemala. Such aid was cut off by the Carter administration because of human rights violations.
The board's resolution on nuclear weapons urged both the U. S. and the Soviet Union to adopt an immediate "mutual freeze on all further testing production and deployment of weapons and aircraft designed primarily to deliver nuclear weapons. "
On domestic affairs, the church leaders noted that the Senate has established a new Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism and the House is considering a resolution creating an Internal Security Committee.
"The proposed charge is reminiscent of that given in the fifties to the former Committee on Un-American Activities," their resolution said, "a committee which was properly disbanded after a history of abuse...." The board resolved to oppose any congressional investigations that might stigmatize individuals on the basis of unsupported accusations, force citizens to testify concerning their personal beliefs, or function as "legislative courts to determine the guilt or innocence of individuals."
In other actions the board --
- approved a first reading of proposed changes in its constitution;
- sent a message to the mayor of Atlanta offering comfort and support for the people of his city, and presented a painting inspired by the city's ordeal to the Atlanta council of churches;
- criticized the government's deportation and exclusion of refugees from El Salvador and Haiti;
- urged the U.S. government to pursue diplomatic solutions to the conflict in Lebanon that assure the nation's "independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity;"
- called on the Reagan administration to honor previous agreements and work toward a completed treaty on the law of the sea;
- sent a message to Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov expressing gratitude for his human rights work, as well as a message to President Leonid Brezhnev urging freedom for Sakharov and other "prisoners of conscience;"
- sent a message to President Reagan asking him to grant permanent residence status to seven Soviet citizens who have been seeking asylum in the U. S. embassy in Moscow for three years;
- pledged to sponsor a symposium on Native American Indian concerns;
- supported the idea of a worldwide ecumenical gathering to celebrate the year 2000 of our Lord Jesus Christ;
- and commended the NCC Commission on Stewardship for 60 years of sustained ecumenical work.
The board heard from a variety of speakers during the three-day meeting, including a delegation from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Guatemalan religious leader and human rights activist Julia Esquivel, and a panel on Native American concerns.