Resolves of the Executive Council

Resolved, That the Executive Council hereby endorse the following resolution concerning "War and Violence" passed at the recent Lambeth Conference, and commend it to each of the members of this branch of the Anglican Communion:

1. Affirming again the statement of the Lambeth Conference of 1930 and 1968 (Resolution 8(a) that "war as a method of settling international disputes is incompatible with the teaching and example of our Lord Jesus Christ," the Conference expresses its deep grief at the great suffering being endured in many parts of the world because of violence and oppression. We further declare that the use of the modern technology of war is the most striking example of corporate sin and the prostitution of God's gifts.
   
2. We recognize that violence has many faces. There are some countries where the prevailing social order is so brutal, exploiting and poor for the sake of the privileged and trampling on people's human rights, that it must be termed "violent." There are others where a social order that appears relatively benevolent nevertheless exacts a high price in human misery from some sections of the population. There is the use of armed force by governments, employed or held in threat against other nations or even against their own citizens. There is the military action of victims of oppression who despair in achieving social justice by any other means. There is the mindless violence that erupts in some countries with what seems to be increasing frequency, to say nothing of organized crime and terrorism and the resorting to violence as a form of entertainment on films and television.
   
3. Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has already won the victory over all evil. He made evident that self-giving love, obedience to the way of the Cross, is the way to reconciliation in all relationships and conflicts. Therefore the use of violence is ultimately contradictory to the Gospel. Yet we acknowledge that Christians in the past have differed in their understanding of limits to the rightful use of force in human affairs, and that questions of national relationships and social justice are often complex ones. But in the face of the mounting incidence of violence today and its acceptance as a normal element in human affairs, we condemn the subjection, intimidation and manipulation of people by the use of violence and the threat of violence and call Christian people everywhere:
   

1. to re-examine as a matter of urgency their own attitude towards and their complicity with violence in its many forms;
2. to take with the utmost seriousness the questions which the teaching of Jesus places against violence in human relationships and the use of armed force by those who would follow him, and the example of redemptive love which the Cross holds before all people;
3. to engage themselves in non-violent action for justice and peace and to support others so engaged, recognizing that such action will be controversial and may be personally very costly;
4. to commit themselves to informed, disciplined prayer not only for all victims of violence, especially for those who suffer for their obedience to the Man of the Cross, but also for those who inflict violence on others;
5. to protest in whatever way possible the escalation of the sale of armaments of war by the producing nations to the developing and dependent nations, and to support with every effort all international proposals and conferences designed to place limitations on, or arrange reductions in, the armaments of war of the nations of the world.