ATTACHMENT F

The Current Situation

The Bill of Rights guarantees the separation of Church and State. It guarantees that the State will not create any laws that prohibit the free exercise of religion. However this guarantee is contradicted when limitations are placed on the Church's basic elements of ministry (visitations, financial support, diaconal ministry, missionary work and pastoral accompaniment) in countries that are considered "enemies" of the United States. These are the contradictions that the Churches in the United States currently face when relating to their sister churches in "enemy" countries such as Cuba, Iraq and North Korea. In order to carry out any visits or provide financial or missionary assistance to church related programs or to provide humanitarian aid in these countries Churches must receive "exemption" from the United States government.

The Importance of The Free Exercise of Religion

The Universality of the Church can not be limited by political or ideological boundaries, as Lewis S. Mudge Jr. Says in his book, Why is the Church in the World?-- "It is the powers of the world that turn the ordinary differences between men into idols which drive men into isolation from each other... This is why it is so important for the Christian Church today to transcend the ideological barriers between men." The experiences of the Baptist, Mennonite and Brethren Churches or more recently of those churches who took part in the Sanctuary Movement represent just such acts of transcendence.

In the universality of the Body of Jesus Christ, to diminish or prohibit the diakonia that is part of the expression of faith, is to limit the freedom that is guaranteed by the Constitution.

Towards a New Strategy

It is time now not to appeal for violation of the laws of exemption, but to review our methods of demanding that the State respect our right to practice our faith and carry out our ministry freely with our brothers and sisters in other latitudes. This claim for exemption ought to be automatically guaranteed to the Church so that it may continue to relate fully with its brothers and sisters who have been separated by ideological boundaries.

Proposal for Action

To initiate a dialogue to analyze this issue, establish a study group to create a document to be presented at the next CWSW Unit Committee and subsequently to the NCCCUSA Executive Committee or Assembly.