wfn.org | Religious leaders report to Clinton on racial justice work

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

March 10, 2000 News media contact: Joretta Purdue ·(202) 546-8722·Washington
10-21-30-71BP{136}

NOTE TO EDITORS: A photograph will be available for use with this story.

By Dean Snyder *

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - United Methodist leaders told President Clinton that the
denomination is committed to creating "one America" for all people,
regardless of race.

Bishop S. Clifton Ives of the West Virginia Area, president of the United
Methodist Church's Commission on Religion and Race, was one of seven
religious leaders invited to describe their faith community's efforts to
oppose racism during "A Call to Action: The President's One America Meeting
with Religious Leaders" at the White House on March 9. 

"We pledge ourselves to you and others in the faith community to work
collaboratively to be a people of faith working to create one America for
all God's people," Ives told Clinton. "Our church is committed to that."

Also addressing White House staff, congressional representatives and 150
national religious leaders, Ives described plans to repent of racism at the
United Methodist Church's General Conference in May and to change the
denomination's constitution to include a commitment to racial justice. 

"We as a denomination have always taken a strong position in relationship to
the issue of race, but our actions have not always followed our words," the
bishop said. 

As examples of the denomination's renewed commitment to racial justice, he
cited the establishment of 300 Shalom Zones across the United States,
increased support for the denomination's 11 historically black colleges, and
a proposed 17 percent increase in funding for the churchwide Commission on
Religion and Race. 

A statement issued by the White House said the United Methodist Church was
chosen as a model religious community because of plans to initiate an Act of
Repentance for Reconciliation project and to increase funding by $1.3
million over the next four years to expand anti-racism consultation,
training and publications. Also cited was a proposed 25-year effort to raise
$300 million to endow United Methodism's historically black colleges.

"What an important role the faith community of that day had in the civil
rights movement," Clinton said in his opening remarks. "Even today
contemporary surveys tell that the American people look to faith communities
to lead us forward on this great journey. 

"America would have never had movements for social justice if it were not
for religious leaders - none of them," he added.

Bishop Alfred Johnson of the New Jersey Area, who also attended the summit,
said he was encouraged by the president's leadership in calling together the
interfaith group of religious leaders. "It is my hope the United Methodist
Church will be a leader in this whole event and we will do more than words
of confession and repentance regarding racism, but that we will be bold in
our actions as a leader in not only this country but also across the world,"
he said.

Efforts to implement the President's Initiative for One America within the
religious community are being coordinated by the National Conference for
Community and Justice, formerly the National Conference of Christians and
Jews. Sanford Cloud Jr., the organization's president, announced that
participating religious groups would cooperate to:
·	create an information clearinghouse on faith-based practices and
strategies for racial reconciliation,
·	publish a text of theological and scriptural beliefs that support
the conclusion that racism is a sin, 
·	provide training for theological students on racism and how to work
toward racial reconciliation and interfaith collaborations,
·	design a self-assessment sheet so each participating group or
denomination could assess its place on an "anti-racism continuum" and
·	identify public policy initiatives to advance racial justice that
communities of faith can undertake collectively.

Bishop Felton Edwin May of the Washington Area, who is recuperating from
heart bypass surgery, serves as a member of the One America planning group.
The Rev. David Simpson, May's research analyst, represented the United
Methodist Church on the planning group in the bishop's absence and
participated in the White House meeting.

The Rev. Lawton Higgs Sr., pastor of the United Methodist Church of the
Redeemer in Birmingham, Ala., also attended the summit and was invited by
the White House to speak to the press afterwards about the Birmingham
Pledge, a campaign to recruit signers who commit themselves to confront
prejudice daily.

Other United Methodist participants included the Rev. Robin M. Hynicka,
director of the Frankford Group Ministry of Philadelphia, and the Rev.
Douglas Tanner, president of the Faith and Politics Institute of Washington.

Other religious groups invited to discuss their efforts on behalf of racial
justice were the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the Rabbinical Council of
America, the National Spiritual Assembly of Baha'is, the Unitarian
Universalist Association, the American Muslim Council, and the Interfaith
Alliance, a national grassroots organization with members representing 50
faith traditions.  

# # #

*Snyder is the director of communications for the Baltimore-Washington
Annual Conference and senior editor of the conference's UM Connection
newspaper.

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United Methodist News Service
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