GENERAL ASSEMBLY URGES THE HOUSE TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

"NCC News" <nccnews@ncccusa.org>
7/11/msg00080.html
Date Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:14:09 -0400

General Assembly urges the House to recognize Armenian genocide

Reaffirms commitment to Middle East Peace and receives Social Creed
statement

Iselin, N.J., November 7, 2007 – The General Assembly of the National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) and Church World
Service (CWS), holding its annual meeting here November 6-8, urged
the U.S. House of Representatives to pass legislation recognizing
the slaughter of Armenians in 1915 as a genocide.

The resolution put forward by the Rev. Arem Jabejian, an Armenian
Orthodox priest from Chicago, was passed by voice vote with six
persons requesting to be counted as abstaining.

In its business session Wednesday afternoon, the General Assembly
also reaffirmed the NCC and CWS commitment to Middle East peace, and
received "A Social Creed for the 21st Century" approved in September
by the NCC Governing Board.

The Armenian genocide statement as amended and approved by the General
Assembly said it is "unacceptable that the United States has yet to
officially recognize the Genocide of 1915, which in fact decimated
a majority of the Armenian population then living in Asia Minor."

The statement cited House Resolution 106 "acknowledging this
universally recognized historical fact (and) condemning this crime
against humanity."

Most historians agree that the slaughter was carried out by soldiers
of the then Ottoman Turk Empire.

The House leadership decided not to place the legislation before the
House because of objections from the Bush Administration, which said
it would harm relations between the U.S. and Turkey, a NATO ally.

"As persons of faith, we express our concern that the truth was not
upheld by our elected representatives," the resolution states.

The statement "strongly urges the leadership of the U.S. House of
Representatives to bring forth this legislation before the end of
this Congress."

The General Assembly also passed by unanimous voice vote a
"Reaffirmation of Our Commitment to Peace in the Middle East in Light
of the 1980 Middle East Policy Statement.

Noting that the Middle East situation has deteriorated since the
hopeful days of the 1980 Camp David Peace Accords, the updated
policy reaffirms commitments to peace, including encouragement of
a responsible discourse in the Middle East; a focus on issues of
particular importance related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;
concern for the alarming diminution of the Christian community of
the Middle East; and appreciation for interfaith sensitivities among
Christians, Jews and Muslims, as well as people of other faiths.

"The member communions of the NCC have a profound connection to the
Holy Land," the statement acknowledges. "It is the place where God was
revealed in Jesus Christ through the power of the Spirit … Therefore,
we reaffirm these commitments, cognizant of the role our nation plays
in the Middle East, to remind ourselves of the urgent need to influence
our country to take right and moral actions in the region."

"A Social Creed for the 21st Century" is an update of the Social
Creed of 1908 developed by the NCC’s predecessor organization, the
Federal Council of Churches.

"Just as the churches responded to the harshness of early 20th
century industrialization," declares the creed’s background statement,
"we offer a vision of a society that shares more and consumes less,
seeks compassion over suspicion and equality over domination, and
finds security in joined hands rather than massed arms."

The National Council of Churches USA is the ecumenical voice of 35 of
America’s Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican, historic African American
and traditional peace churches. These NCC member communions have 45
million faithful members in 100,000 congregations in all 50 states.

Church World Service is the relief, development, and refugee assistance
agency of these same communions, working in 80 countries around the
world to eradicate hunger and poverty and promote peace and justice.

—

General Assembly on site contacts: Ann Walle, Church World Service;
Wesley ‘Pat’ Pattillo, National Council of Churches USA.

CWS News contact: Lesley Crosson, 212.870.2676,
lcrosson@churchworldservice.org

NCC News contact: Philip Jenks, 212.870.2228,
pjenks@councilofchurches.org or Dan Webster, 212.870.2252,
NCCnews@ncccusa.org

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