Resolution
to Invite Congregations to Endorse the Earth Charter
Approved
by the 204th Annual Meeting, June 6-7, 2003, Mount Holyoke College.
Proposed by First Congregational Church, United Church
of Christ, Williamstown
Background: Urgent worldwide concern brought the Earth Charter
into existence at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. From the beginning,
the emphasis was on saving and sharing energy, protection of
species, concern for poverty, controlling pollution, and honoring
the gift of the earth, our home. The final version was approved
and released by the Earth Charter Commission in Paris, March
2002. The secretariat for the Commission was established at
the Earth Council office in Costa Rica. The text of the Charter
is available online at www.earthcharter.org or Earth Charter,
International Secretariat, P.O. Box 319-6100, San Jose, Costa
Rica.
Commission members represent five geographic areas: e.g. Mikhail
Gorbachev chairs the Europe group, along with commission members
from France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Greenland. Candaidan
Maurice F. Strong co-chairs the North American group. Prof.
Steven Rockefeller, department of religion at Middlebury College,
helped revise the document. He and religious environmentalist
Thomas Berry spoke at an Earth Charter conference last May
in Maine, which two members of the First Congregational Church,
Williamstown also addressed.
Christians seek to respect the words of Psalm 24, “the
earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” Around
the globe, individuals and organizations have crafted the Earth
Charter, an attempt to improve the worldwide situation in its
environmental, social, and economic aspects. The Charter calls
upon us to respect the earth and life in all its diversity. “The
spirit of human solidarity and kinship with all life is strengthened
when we live with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude
for the gift of life, and humility regarding the human place
in nature.”
WHEREAS a global, grassroots effort has drafted the Charter;
and
WHEREAS the January 2003 Annual Meeting of the First Congregational
Church of Williamstown unanimously voted to endorse the Charter;
and
WHEREAS the same meeting also voted unanimously to extend
an invitation to other U.C.C. Massachusetts congregations to
do likewise; and
WHEREAS the more individuals and organizations that signify
a commitment to the spirit and aims of the Charter, the more
likely it will influence decisions and actions in future years
through study, endorsement, and application to immediate issues
and long-term church planning; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 204th Annual Meeting of
the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ
invite all churches in the Conference to study and to consider
endorsing the Earth Charter.
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