If you would like additional information about the General Conference, please click here.
By Lonnie Brooks
I want to set the record straight on something; it's important.
On page 1243 of the Advance Edition of the Daily Christian Advocate a new resolution to go into the United Methodist Book of Resolutions is proposed. That resolution is attributed to me as its author who submitted it. I did submit it, but when I sent it to Abby Parker Herrera, the UM Petitions Secretary, I asked that she attribute authorship to Andy Bartel, the person for whom I was acting as mechanic to get the petition submitted. Andy Bartel is the lead pastor at my local church, St. John UMC of Anchorage, Alaska.
Andy approached me with the concept and asked if I'd be willing to get it into the proper format for petitioning the General Conference. I said an enthusiastic yes, did the work, and, with Andy's full support made the submission, promising to give him attribution of authorship.
Well, for whatever reason, it's there with my name, not Andy's. Now, mind you, unlike when sometimes I do this kind of work for people and don't support the idea or the intent, in this case, I fully support both, but it wasn't my idea. The idea? Well it's short, so I'll let you read it for yourself, if you like. You can find what we submitted by clicking here.
With three edits to make the resolution more general and not coming out of the COVID pandemic, the Church and Society Legislative Committee 2 voted 52 to 1 to approve the petition and thus put it on the Consent Calendar for submission to the plenary session. Here's how the petition will read as it will appear on the Calendar:
Add a new resolution to the Book of Resolutions as follows:
WHEREAS Vaccinations have been shown to be an effective means for limiting and in some instances eliminating the spread of infectious diseases among humans, and
WHEREAS some of the worst effects of communicable diseases are often experienced by the most vulnerable among us, including the elderly, immune compromised, and those historically disadvantaged by prejudice, racism, and poverty, and
WHEREAS The United Methodist Church does not teach or promulgate any doctrine that supports a religious objection to the use of vaccines that have been authorized for distribution by the appropriate governmental authorities,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that The United Methodist Church encourages all its members, constituents, and other people around the world to take advantage of vaccination programs for communicable diseases when such programs have been authorized by the appropriate governmental authorities, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that The United Methodist Church does not support any claim of religious exemption from any person on the basis of membership or affiliation with The United Methodist Church, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that The United Methodist Church encourages its local churches, conferences, and agencies wherever possible and practicable to host clinics for the distribution of authorized vaccines.
I don't think a Consent Calendar has ever been rejected by a UM General Conference. Now that's something to celebrate, I think.