Churches' Commitment to Human Rights Underlined by NCC Governing Board
Diocesan Press Service. March 31, 1975 [75124]
CHICAGO, Ill. -- The 295-member Governing Board of the National Council of Churches (NCC) reinforced the Council's standing policies on social issues by adopting resolutions on equal rights for women and homosexuals.
Declaring that the civil rights of homosexual persons must be protected, the Board called on member churches to initiate theological studies on the effects of discrimination on homosexual persons.
The Board recorded its support for the equal rights amendment and firmed up previous Council statements on equal employment opportunities for women and minorities by balling for Equal Employment Opportunities disclosures by the denominations.
A delegation of 19 of the Soviet Union's top church officials attended the Board meeting as part of a current three-week visit to the United States. The Board heard a report of theological discussions they held at Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey with American church leaders.
In the four-day meeting, first of two held annually, the Board decided to enlarge the Council's cooperative efforts to bring more food to the world's hungry people.
In discussions, the American church leaders laid the groundwork for a process which may lead to a major meeting in the U.S. of Protestant, Roman Catholic and other churches in 1977. The Board expressed support for peace efforts in northern Ireland, heard a report on the situation in the Middle East and another one onSouthern Africa and sent a message to the churches concerning next year's bicentennial and the churches' concepts of civil obligation, property and security.
Board members unanimously voted to invite member churches and their agencies to jointly seek Federal Government disclosure of any surveillance or other improper activities by federal agents against the Council or member churches. The resolution said the NCC is troubled by reports and indications that various intelligence and law-enforcement agencies had violated constitutional rights and may have impaired the free and effective exercise of the Church's mission around the world.
A background statement reported numerous investigative moves against the NCC, including an Internal Revenue Service audit from 1970-72, purportedly to examine the organization's tax-exempt status. Also mentioned were reports that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been engaged in surveillance of American citizens within the U.S. contrary to law and that it has obtained intelligence from and through Americans going abroad including missionaries.
When confronted with a recommendation to support the civil rights of persons without regard to their "affectional of sexual preference," the Board voted 84 to 17 (with six abstentions) that discrimination against such persons was "morally wrong. "
In structural matters, the Board combined the former Broadcasting and Film Commission and the Department of Information into one unit now called the Communication Commission, and firmed up procedures that will pass the work of the Council on to new officers and board members at the end of this triennium (December 31, 1975).
Other staff reports heard concerned studies of the Middle East situation and church stockholder activities which seek to prevent IBM from selling computers to the South African government.
The next meeting of the board will be held in New York City, October 10-12.
Note: Texts of the following resolutions/statements are available on request:
Equal Rights Amendment
Civil Rights Without Discrimination as to Affectional or Sexual Preference
Federal Investigative Agencies and the Churches
Equal Employment Opportunity
Message to the Churches on the Bicentennial of the United States