Transcript An Introduction to the Social Principles

2008 Social Principles
Produced by the
Church and Society Network
John Wesley:
A New Kind of Preacher
Wesley himself:
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Lived modestly and gave all he could to help people who
were poor. He died almost penniless.
Visited people in prison and provided spiritual guidance,
food, and clothing
Spoke out against slavery and forbade it in Methodism
(Wesley’s last letter before his death was to William
Wilberforce denouncing slavery)
Founded schools
Published books, pamphlets, and magazines available to
everyone
Established clinics for the poor
John Wesley
Founder of Methodism
“Christianity is essentially a social religion, and to turn it into a
solitary religion is indeed to destroy it. The Gospel of Christ knows
no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness.” Works quoted
in Devotional Life in the Wesleyan Tradition
“It is impossible for any that have it to conceal the religion of Jesus
Christ. This our Lord makes plain beyond all contradiction by a
twofold comparison: ‘Ye are the light of the world. A city set upon a
hill cannot be hid.’ Ye Christians are the light of the world with regard
both to your tempers and actions…So it is impossible to keep our
religion from being seen, unless we cast it away…Sure it is, that a
secret, unobserved religion cannot be the religion of Jesus Christ.
Whatever religion can be concealed is not Christianity.” Works
Means of Grace
 Acts
of Piety (prayer, searching the
scriptures, Holy Communion, fasting,
Christian community, healthy living)
 Acts of Mercy (feeding the hungry, clothing
the naked, entertaining or assisting the
stranger, visiting those that are sick or in
prison, reproving the wicked, exhorting
and encouraging the well doer)
A Long Tradition of Social Holiness
 1908
Social Creed
 1972 Social Creed
 2008 Companion Litany
1908 Social Creed
The Methodist Episcopal Church stands—
For equal rights and complete justice for all men in
all stations of life. For the principle of
conciliation and arbitration in industrial
discussions.
For the protection of the worker from dangerous
machinery, occupational diseases, injuries and
mortality. For the abolition of child labor.
For such regulation of the conditions of labor for
women as shall safeguard the physical and
moral health of the community. For the
suppression of the “sweating system.”
1908 Social Creed, cont’d
For the grateful and reasonable reduction of the hours of
labor to the lowest practical pint, with work for all; and for
that degree of leisure for all which is the condition of the
highest human life. For a release from employment
one day in seven.
For a living wage in every industry. For the highest wage
that each industry can afford, and for the most
equitable division of the products of industry that
can ultimately be devised.
For the recognition of the Golden Rule and the mind of
Christ as the supreme law of society and the sure
remedy of all social ills.
The Church and the Social
Principles
 The
church is called to be principled, not
ideological.
 The church is called to be clear, but also
civil.
 The church is to be engaged but not used.
Preface
The United Methodist Church has a long
history of concern for social justice. Its
members have often taken forthright
positions on controversial issues involving
Christian principles. Early Methodists
expressed their opposition to the slave
trade, to smuggling, and to the cruel
treatment of prisoners.
Preface, continued
The Social Principles, while not to be considered
church law**, are a prayerful and thoughtful
effort on the part of the General Conference to
speak to the human issues in the contemporary
world from a sound biblical and theological
foundation as historically demonstrated in United
Methodist traditions. They are a call to
faithfulness and are intended to be instructive
and persuasive in the best of the prophetic spirit.
The Social Principles are a call to all members of
the United Methodist Church to a prayerful,
studied dialogue of faith and practice.
**Denotes change
The Quadrilateral
Scripture
Reason
Tradition
Experience
The Social Principles Address:
 The
NATURAL world
 The NURTURING community
 The SOCIAL community
 The ECONOMIC community
 The POLITICAL community
 The WORLD community
END OF INTRODUCTION
The NATURAL WORLD
 Water, Air,
Soil, Minerals, Plants**
 Energy Resources Utilization
 Animal Life
 Global Climate Stewardship*
 Space**
 Science and Technology**
 Food Safety
*Denotes a new subsection
**Denotes a change within a subsection
The NATURAL WORLD
All creation is the Lord’s, and we are
responsible for the ways in which we use
and abuse it. Water, air, soil, minerals,
energy resources, plants, animal life, and
space are to be valued and conserved
because they are God’s creation and not
solely because they are useful to human
beings. God has granted us stewardship
of creation.
The NATURAL WORLD, cont’d
We should meet these stewardship duties
through acts of loving care and respect.
Economic, political, social, and technological
developments have increased our human
numbers, and lengthened and enriched our
lives. However, these developments have led to
regional defoliation, dramatic extinction of
species, massive human suffering,
overpopulation, and misuse and
overconsumption of natural and nonrenewable
resources, particularly by industrialized
societies.
The NATURAL WORLD, cont’d
This continued course of action jeopardizes the
natural heritage that God has entrusted to all
generations. Therefore, let us recognize the
responsibility of the church and its members to
place a high priority on changes in economic,
political, social, and technological lifestyles to
support a more ecologically equitable and
sustainable world leading to a higher quality of
life for all of God’s creation.
Grounded in Scripture
 Genesis
1:1 (In the beginning when
God…)
 Genesis 1:26 (Humankind to have
dominion)
 Genesis 9:9-10 (Covenant with all of
creation)
 Psalm 103:15-22 (Bless the Lord…)
 Job 38:1-18 (God as creator)
The NATURAL WORLD
Discussion of subsections
Contemporary Voices
How do we live in creation? Do we relate
to it as a place full of “things” we can use
for whatever need we want to fulfill and
whatever goal we wish to accomplish? Or
do we see creation first of all as a
sacramental reality, a sacred space where
God reveals to us the immense beauty of
the Divine?
--Henri J.M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey
Wrap-Up
 How
do we act as stewards?
 Where do you see that happening?
 Where is that not happening?
The NURTURING COMMUNITY
Family**
Sexual Abuse*
Marriage
Sexual Harassment
Divorce**
Abortion**
Single Persons**
Ministry to those who
have experienced
abortion
Women and Men
Adoption
Human Sexuality**
Faithful Care for Dying
Persons**
Family Violence and
Abuse
Suicide
*New subsection
**Change has been made within subsection
The NURTURING COMMUNITY
The community provides the potential for
nurturing human beings into the fullness of their
humanity. We believe we have a responsibility to
innovate, sponsor, and evaluate new forms of
community that will encourage development of
the fullest potential in individuals. Primary for us
is the gospel understanding that all persons are
important—because they are human beings
created by God and loved through and by Jesus
Christ and not because they have merited
significance.
The NURTURING COMMUNITY
We therefore support social climates in which
human communities are maintained and
strengthened for the sake of all persons and
their growth. We also encourage all individuals
to be sensitive to others by using appropriate
language when referring to all persons.
Language of a derogatory nature (with regard to
race, nationality, ethnic background, gender,
sexuality, and physical differences) does not
reflect value for one another and contradicts the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
Grounded in Scripture
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Psalm 139:1-18 (God is everywhere from womb
to dying)
Leviticus 18 (Social Code)
Romans 1:18-32 (Sexual immorality)
Matthew 5-7 (Sermon on the Mount: New code)
1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (Body as temple)
Acts 10:23-35 (After Peter’s dream—clean and
unclean)
Galatians 5:16-22 (Fruit of the Spirit)
Mark 12:28-34, Matthew 22:34-40 (Greatest
commandments)
The NURTURING
COMMUNITY
Discussion of subsections
Contemporary Voices
The church has always been required to
deal with differences; the measure of
Christian love is not reaching total
agreement but living with some ambiguity
and providing respect to one another in
the midst of disagreement.
--Living Faithfully as Friends and Family
(Part of the Becoming the People of God
series)
Wrap-Up
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What does United Methodism hold to be healthy
and true about human sexuality and human
rights?
 What does it hold to be destructive? What
Christian action does it call for in these areas?
 How does our congregation invite all persons
into its life? Where do we need to be in “ministry
with?”
 How do we talk to one another in love when we
disagree?
The SOCIAL COMMUNITY
Rights of Racial
and Ethnic
Persons
Rights of Men*
Tobacco
Media Violence
and Christian
Values**
Rights of
Religious
Minorities
Rights of
Immigrants*
Medical
Experimentation
Information
Communication
Technology
Rights of
Children
Rights of Persons Genetic
with Disabilities
Technology
Persons living
with HIV and
AIDS
Rights of Young
People
Equal Rights
Regardless of
Sexual
Orientation**
Rural Life
Right to Health
Care**
Rights of the
Aging
Population
Sustainable
Agriculture
Organ
Transplantation &
Donation
Rights of Women
Alcohol and
Other Drugs
Urban-Suburban
Life
*New subsection
**Change within
subsection
The SOCIAL COMMUNITY
The rights and privileges a society bestows upon or
withholds from those who comprise it indicate the
relative esteem in which that society holds particular
persons and groups of persons. We affirm all persons as
equally valuable in the sight of God. We therefore work
toward societies in which each person’s value is
recognized, maintained, and strengthened. We support
the basic rights of all persons to equal access to
housing, education, communication, employment,
medical care, legal redress for grievances, and physical
protection.
The SOCIAL COMMUNITY
We deplore acts of hate or violence against groups
or persons based on race, ethnicity, gender,
sexual orientation, religious affiliation, or
economic status. Our respect for the inherent
dignity of all persons leads us to call for the
recognition, protection, and implementation of
the principles of The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights so that communities and
individuals may claim and enjoy their universal,
indivisible, and inalienable rights. (New)
Grounded in Scripture
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John 13:34-35 (Love one another)
1 Corinthians 12:24-26 (One body, shared
suffering)
Romans 14:10-13, 17-19 (Do not judge)
Ephesians 2:14-22 (Fellow citizens with God’s
people and members of God’s household)
Galatians 5:1, 13-15 (Freedom is not license; let
love make you serve one another)
1 Peter 4:8-11 (Use your gifts for the service of
others)
The SOCIAL COMMUNITY
Discussion of subsections
Contemporary Voices
For us the justice of God’s kingdom is based on
something very different from the balancing of
interest or right. It is far more radical than the
humanist conceptions of liberty, equality and
fraternity; more basic than the opportunity to
compete. It is a justice born of love, and it is
rooted in our willingness to die for each other.
Unless we are actually ready to do this, to lay
down life itself for the sake of our brothers, all
our talk about peace is meaningless.
--Johann Arnold, Seeking Peace
Wrap-Up
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Where are we falling short in living out the call in
these social principles?
 Where do you find hope in society’s living out
the call in these principles?
 How is the reality of community fostered? Are we
our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper? In what
sense?
 What are some programs/organizations that you
know about that are addressing these issues?
Which ones have become issues of public
policy?
The ECONOMIC COMMUNITY
Property
Foreign Workers**
Collective
Bargaining**
Work and Leisure
Gambling**
Consumption**
Corporate
Responsibility
Trade & Investment
Poverty**
*New Subsection
Family Farms**
**Change within subsection
The ECONOMIC COMMUNITY
We claim all economic systems to be under
the judgment of God no less than other
facets of the created order. Therefore we
recognize the responsibility of
governments to develop and implement
sound fiscal and monetary policies that
provide for the economic life of individuals
and corporate entities and that ensure
employment and adequate incomes with a
minimum of inflation.
The ECONOMIC COMMUNITY,
cont’d
We support measures that would reduce the
concentration of wealth in the hands of a
few.
We believe private and public economic
enterprises are responsible for the social
costs of doing business, such as
employment and environmental pollution,
and that they should be held accountable
for these costs.
The ECONOMIC COMMUNITY,
cont’d
We further support efforts to revise tax
structures and to eliminate governmental
support programs that now benefit the
wealthy at the expense of other persons.
Grounded in Scripture
 Psalm
82:1-4, Psalm 72 (God liberates
and defends)
 Deuteronomy 26:5-10 (God freed God’s
people)
 Exodus 23:1-13 (Just actions)
 Exodus 22:25-27 (Fair business practices)
 Leviticus 24, Deut. 15:1-4 (Economic
justice, jubilee)
Grounded in Scripture
 Deuteronomy
26:12-13 (Tithe and
distribution)
 Nehemiah 5:1-13 (Treatment of the poor)
 Luke 16:19-31 (Treatment of the poor)
 Matthew 19:16-26 (The Rich Man)
 Luke 19:1-9 (Zacchaeus)
 John 13:1-17 (Jesus washes feet)
The ECONOMIC COMMUNITY
Discussion of subsections
Contemporary Voices
The world designed by God is a world of
justice. The relationship between people
must be based on justice. This order must
be continually implanted in the world,
since social systems are constantly
changing and new possibilities and
necessities of the distribution of goods are
developing.
--Pope John Paul II, 1980
Contemporary Voices
The words of Mary’s canticle are pronounced in
a beautiful outburst of gratitude towards God,
who—Mary proclaims—has done great things
for her. These words say that the world designed
by God cannot be a world in which some hoard
immoderate wealth in their hands, while others
suffer from destitution and poverty, and die of
hunger. Love must inspire justice and the
struggle for justice.
--Pope John Paul II, 1980
Wrap-Up
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Where do you struggle with poverty and the
implications thereof?
Talk a little about consumerism, materialism, and
individualism in our society.
What is the Christian response to the poor?
How are church, state and national budges
moral documents?
Talk a little about the scandals in the corporate
world.
Discuss saints/heroes who have worked and are
working in the area of economic justice. What
can one person/congregation do?
The POLITICAL COMMUNITY
Basic Freedoms and
Human Rights**
Political Responsibility
Civil Obedience and
Civil Disobedience
The Death Penalty
Church & State
Relations
Freedom of
Information
Education**
Criminal & Restorative
Justice
Military Service
**Change within
subsection
The POLITICAL COMMUNITY
While our allegiance to God takes
precedence over our allegiance to any
state, we acknowledge the vital function of
government as a principal vehicle for the
ordering of society.
Because we know ourselves to be
responsible to God for social and political
life, we declare the following relative to
governments: (Subsections follow)
Grounded in Scripture
 Matthew
22:15-22 (Pay to Caesar)
 Matthew 22:34-40 (Greatest
commandments)
 James 1:22-27, 14-18 (Be doers)
 James 4:1-12 (Submit to God)
 Romans 13:1-7 (Submission to authorities)
 Romans 13:8-10 (Love and Law)
The POLITICAL COMMUNITY
Discussion of subsections
Contemporary Voices
Behind all these and other political conflicts lies
the question of power, of the definition and true
nature of power. Jesus tried to propagate a new
paradigm of power. Power and might in this
paradigm are not meant for selfaggrandizement, not meant to be lorded over
others. Power and might are not for throwing our
weight about, disregarding any laws and
conventions we may find inconvenient. Power in
this new paradigm is for service.
--Archbishop Desmond Tutu, God Has A Dream.
Wrap-Up
 How
can “religious values” enter the public
debate?
 What does the statement that the church
is counter-cultural mean to you?
 When you have you found loyalty to God
in conflict with loyalty to the government?
The WORLD COMMUNITY
Nations and Cultures
National Power and Responsibility
War and Peace**
Justice and Law**
The WORLD COMMUNITY
God’s world is one world…We commit ourselves as a
Church to the achievement of a world community that is
a fellowship of persons who honestly love one another.
The unity now being thrust upon us by technological
revolution has far outrun our moral and spiritual capacity
to achieve a stable world. The enforced unity of
humanity, increasingly evident on all levels of life,
present the Church as well as all people with problems
that will not wait for an answer: injustice, war,
exploitation, privilege, population, international
ecological crises, proliferation of arsenals of nuclear
weapons, development of transnational business
organizations that operate beyond the effective control of
any governmental structure, and the increase of tyranny
in all its forms.
The WORLD COMMUNITY,
cont’d
This generation must find viable answers to
these and related questions if humanity is
to continue on this earth.
We pledge ourselves to seek the meaning of
the gospel in all issues that divide people
and threaten the growth of world
community.
Grounded in Scripture
1
Corinthians 12:24-26 (If one suffers, all
suffer)
 Matthew 25:31-46 (Nations are called to
care for the least)
 Luke 10:25-37 (The Good Samaritan)
 Matthew 5:43-47 (Love of enemies)
 Phil. 2:1-8 (Model Christ’s humility
Grounded in Scripture
 Galatians
5:13-15 (Use freedom to serve
others)
 Luke 22:49-53 (Jesus’ arrest)
 Matthew 7:24-27 (Wise and foolish
builders)
 Matthew 12:1-8 (Lord of the Sabbath)
 Mark 12:28-34 (Greatest commandments)
 Ephesians 2:11-22 (Walls are broken
down through Christ)
The WORLD COMMUNITY
Discussion of subsections
Contemporary Voices
All this is simply to say that all life is
interrelated. We are caught in an
inescapable network of mutuality; tied in a
single garment of destiny. Whatever
affects one directly, affects all indirectly. As
long as there is poverty in this world, no
man can be totally rich even if he has a
billion dollars.
As long as diseases are rampant and millions of
people cannot expect to live more than twenty or
thirty years, no man can be totally
healthy…Strangely enough, I can never be what
I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.
You can never be what you ought to be until I
am what I ought to be. This is the way the world
is made.
--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, The American Dream
Wrap-Up
 What
challenges are there for the church
in war and peace issues?
 How do we begin this journey toward a
peaceful world?
 What small/large steps do we personally
and collectively take?
Suggested Resources
 God’s
Politics by Jim Wallis
 Credo by William Sloan Coffin
 God Has a Dream by Archbishop
Desmond Tutu
 Seeds of Peace by William H. Shannon
 A Justice Prayer Book from Catholic
Campaign for Human Development
 The Violence of Love by Oscar Romero
Suggested Resources, cont’d
 2008
Book of Resolutions (UMC)
 In Search of Security from the UM Council
of Bishops
 The Green Bible by Harper Collins
Publishers
 Poverty and Justice Bible by World Vision
and Bible Society