wfn.org | Capital punishment, gambling top issues at conferences

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

June 28, 2000 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.     10-21-30-71B{299}

NOTE:  The following story is based on reports filed by individuals in each
annual conference. It is intended to be illustrative of conference
resolutions, not an exhaustive report. Individual reports are at
http://umns.umc.org/acreports/2000acreports.html on the Web. Reports from
Central Conferences outside the United States, meeting at various times
throughout the year, will be posted on the Web site as available. For
related coverage, see UMNS stories #298 and #300.

By United Methodist News Service

Capital punishment and gambling were concerns most frequently addressed
during 66 United Methodist annual conferences held across the United States
in May and June.  Following closely behind were resolutions on public
education, poverty, racism and the environment.

Calling for a moratorium on executions or the death penalty were Tennessee,
Missouri West, Virginia, Central Pennsylvania, Eastern Pennsylvania, Little
Rock, North Alabama, Wyoming (portions of New York and Pennsylvania), West
Michigan, North Texas, Pennsylvania-Delaware, North Arkansas, Missouri East
and New York. Some conferences have acted on the issue at previous sessions.

The denomination officially opposes capital punishment and urges its
elimination from all criminal codes. 

Attempts to expand legalized gambling were obviously on the minds of many of
the United Methodists. Conferences speaking out on the issue included North
Indiana, New York, Little Rock, North Arkansas, Eastern Pennsylvania,
Southern New Jersey, South Carolina, Detroit, North Carolina, West Ohio and
Tennessee.  

Members of the Dakotas Conference heard the Rev. Tom Grey of the National
Coalition Against Gambling urge defeat of a video lottery proposal that will
be on the ballot in South Dakota this November.  "The national industry is
watching," he said. "This battle can be won."

West Ohio Conference members called on a moratorium on the expansion of any
state-sponsored gambling until the governor and state legislature have
authorized and completed a social, economic, and regional impact study
carried out by a qualified independent research organization.

The United Methodist Church formally considers gambling a "menace to
society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic and
spiritual life, and destructive to good government." 

Most of the conferences addressing educational issues spoke out against
school vouchers, saying they would drain financial resources from public
schools. Others called for more adequate means of funding public education.

Some conferences made the elimination of racism in church and society a top
priority.  Detroit and New York objected to racial profiling. North Arkansas
called for all local, district and conference offices to close in observance
of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Several conferences addressed issues related to public welfare, particularly
sales tax systems that have a disproportionate effect on poor families. 

Environmental concerns were the topic of several conference resolutions.
Detroit and Wyoming were among conferences that called for studying problems
related to global warming. Florida called for energy conservation.
California-Pacific condemned pesticides as a public health threat and called
for the development of safer alternatives to pest control. Western North
Carolina approved a call to "Creation Stewardship," which supports care of
the earth and becoming familiar with specific environmental problems and
possible solutions. 

Eastern Pennsylvania and New York spoke out on the criminal justice system,
calling for restoration rather than retribution. Pacific Northwest members
encouraged churches to implement partnerships with their state departments
of corrections to create ministries with inmates and victims.

Some conferences spoke in favor of debt forgiveness for Third World nations.
Eastern Pennsylvania supported political campaign finance reform. Florida
members disapproved of the denomination's Board of Church and Society
collecting funds in the Elian Gonzalez case and urged that all agencies make
clear that they speak only for themselves.

Tennessee and Central Pennsylvania called for churches to support HIV/AIDS
awareness efforts, and North Carolina urged its members to be in ministry
with people living with potentially terminal illnesses, including HIV/AIDS.

Several resolutions addressed the communications media. Central Pennsylvania
called for positive TV programming and commercials, and Florida asked the
government to enforce a moral code on the entertainment industry. Southern
New Jersey reaffirmed a 1999 resolution urging an end to negative
stereotyping in the media.

Detroit and Pacific Northwest urged the United States to lift economic
sanctions against Iraq, and, along with the West Michigan and Oregon-Idaho
conferences, supported closing the School of the Americas at Fort Benning,
Ga. Pacific Northwest also called for normalization of relations with Cuba,
the prohibition of U.S. land mine use and discontinuation of the Star Wars
missile defense program. 

Oregon-Idaho members called for a nuclear test ban treaty and cuts in
military spending. Detroit asked that governments not designate church
property as cultural, historical and architectural landmarks. Some churches
with such designations have not been able to rebuild or remodel within their
financial capabilities. 

Detroit asked President Clinton to pardon Native American Leonard Peltier,
jailed for 24 years after being convicted, some say unfairly, of shooting
two FBI agents on the Oglala reservation in Iowa during a 1975 uprising.
Peltier has repeatedly been denied a new trial. 

California-Pacific members called for the release of Wen Ho Lee until his
trial in November. A former employee of the Los Alamos National Laboratory,
Lee is charged with mishandling classified information. Supporters of Lee
say the 60-year-old U.S. citizen has been unfairly detained without bail and
with restricted access to visits by family and friends, despite a
recommendation from the pre-trial services officer that he be released on
$100,000 bond. Lee's supporters contend that he is a victim of racial
profiling by the U.S. Department of Energy and the FBI, and that there is no
evidence of espionage against him. Churches were encouraged to pray for Lee
and to write President Clinton and Attorney Janet Reno.

Oregon-Idaho members discussed a controversial boycott of NORPAC, a local
food processor. An agricultural task force of the conference presented a
40-page report detailing both sides of the issue. The conference narrowly
supported the boycott.

Eastern Pennsylvania spoke out on health care, specifically the crisis
caused by hospital mergers that have an impact on poor and rural
communities. Memphis and Tennessee conferences expressed concern about elder
abuse. North Arkansas called on churches to create "safe sanctuaries" for
children and youth. New York asked for a repeal of mandatory sentencing laws
for drug infractions without court discretion. 

West Ohio opposed gun industry immunity from lawsuits, and the Pacific
Northwest called for the adoption of stricter gun control measures,
including criminal background checks. Missouri West members said they would
stand against any effort to allow citizens of the state to possess or use
concealed weapons.  
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United Methodist News Service
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