The Acts of Convention

House of Deputies

Original Text of Resolution:

(D021)

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That this 68th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States, is committed, during the 1986-1988 triennium, to raising the awareness of Episcopalians about violence and anti-violence; to examining the effects of violence within ourselves and our institutions; and to sharing strategies which enable Christian people to support and develop programs that confront the issues of violence and open the way for anti-violent behavior, and be it further

Resolved, That the Presiding Bishop and the Executive Council, utilizing its staff and other Episcopal Church resources, engage new alliances within existing structures in an intensive examination of the violence endemic in our church and our society, and the institutions of both, developing understandings and strategies of anti-violence that can be communicated to the dioceses and the church at large through workshops, curricula, general publications, and other audio-visual means; and be it further

Resolved, That the dioceses of the church provide and promote programs at each internal level that will raise Episcopalians' consciousness of violence in their lives and in the institutions of church and society, at the same time equipping them with understandings and strategies of anti-violence that will permit them to change attitudes and behaviors grounded in the many forms of violence; poverty, racism, human and national relationships, drug dependency, ecological insults, ageism, crime, domestic brutality and other forms of destructive behavior; and be it further

Resolved, That the dioceses be instructed to report to the Executive Council, no later than February of 1988, their experiences with such consciousness raising and educational programs, remarking especially on the usefulness of information and material on violence and anti-violence developed at the Executive Council's direction, and making recommendations for the future.

Proposed Committee Amendment:

In the first Resolved clause:

line four, delete the word "anti-violence" and insert the words "measures to oppose violence;"

line seven, delete the word "anti-violent" and add the words "actively opposing violent."

In the second Resolved clause:

line [four], delete the word "anti-violence" and insert the words "actively opposing violence."

In the third Resolved clause:

line four, delete the word "anti-violence" and insert the words "actively opposing violence."

In the fourth Resolved clause:

line four, delete the word "anti-violence" and insert the words "the active opposition to."

Deputy Considine of Northern Indiana moved an amendment.

Proposed Amendment:

At the end of the third Resolved clause:

add the words "including abortion and application of the death penalty" after the words "destructive behavior."

Motion defeated

Considine amendment defeated

A vote was taken on D021 as amended by the Committee.

Motion carried

Resolution adopted

(Communicated to the House of Bishops in HD Message #141)