Episcopal Church Leaders Condemn 'Zionism' Stand of U.N.
Diocesan Press Service. November 20, 1975 [75414]
NEW YORK, N. Y. -- Two leaders in the Episcopal Church have condemned a United Nations General Assembly resolution that called Zionism a form of racism.
In a joint statement, the Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, and the Rt. Rev. John H. Burt, Bishop of Ohio, on behalf of the Committee on Christian - Jewish Relations of the Episcopal Church, said that the November 10 resolution "which equates Zionism with racism fills us with dismay and profound regret."
The two bishops said that the resolution, which was approved by the U.N. General Assembly by a vote of 72 - 35, with 32 abstentions, was "an inexcusable offense against those legitimate aspirations of the Jewish people for a homeland which the U.N. itself certified back in 1947."
The two Church leaders said that the resolution was supported in the U.N. by representatives of many nations which "have struggled in the recent past to claim this same right for themselves."
The statement expressed the fear that the U.N. "resolution may well unleash fresh expressions of international bitterness and regional anti-semitism."
"Let us all now resolve," the statement concluded, "that the Christian Church today will stand steadfast alongside those who profess the faith and preserve the religious tradition in which Jesus of Nazareth was raised."
Bishop Burt is chairman of the Episcopal Church's Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations, as well as a member of the Presiding Bishop's Committee on Christian - Jewish Relations.
[To access the full text of the statement by Bishops Allin and Burt, please contact the Archives. --Ed.]