wfn.org | Assembly Condemns Black Church Burnings

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09-July-1996 
 
GA96121      Assembly Condemns Black Church Burnings 
 
ALBUQUERQUE--The Committee on National and Urban Issues had the distinction 
of being first and last in the longest business day of the 208th General 
Assembly.   
 
     The committee's report was on the floor three different times Friday, 
prompting Moderator John Buchanan to greet committee Moderator Clemente 
Anzaldua's return to the podium for the third time with, "We've got to stop 
meeting like this." 
 
     In their final presentation, the committee submitted a brief remaining 
list of recommendations, and moved they be adopted as a group. A tired body 
of commissioners agreed, and passed them. 
 
     Among the items was a resolution decrying the recent arsons of 
African-American churches. The committee had received several such 
resolutions, and combined them into one response that included a call for 
the church to commit itself to work with ecumenical and interfaith partners 
to prevent future acts of racial hatred and violence. 
 
     The Assembly also adopted recommendations: 
 
     -to add an additional female lay person member to the Native American 
task force; 
 
     -to continue development of a plan seeking more responsible moral 
behavior by the media; 
 
     -to support government efforts to end child hunger; 
 
     -to monitor a wage issue involving K-Mart Corporation; 
 
     -to call for intense efforts to end child labor abuse in factories 
producing U.S. goods; 
 
     -to study gambling and gaming in order to help Presbyterians make 
choices related to Christian behavior. 
 
     The Assembly referred a commissioner's resolution to the Advisory 
Committee on Social Witness Policy dealing with political prisoners in 
Puerto Rico. A report is to be made to the 209th General Assembly (1997). 
 
Nancy Borst 

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