AN OVERTURE TO THE 216th GENERAL ASSEMBLY (2004)
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
from the Presbytery of Lackawanna
ON GLOBAL POPULATION
STABILIZATION AND
REDUCTION
| This overture was passed earlier in
January by the Presbytery of Lackawanna, with a vote of about 65% in
favor. In the words of one supporter, it "makes
a strong case for being good stewards of God's creation."
[1-31-04] Click here
for a background paper for this overture. |
Whereas, the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) for many years has recognized the need to curtail human population
growth in order to preserve the balances of nature and the integrity of
God's created order, and to reduce the social strains and conflicts
exacerbated by population pressures, and therefore has strongly supported
voluntary family planning and reproductive health programs and their
availability to all who choose to limit family size, and has also advocated
for improvements in living standards and the status of women, which in many
countries are factors in lowering fertility rates; and
Whereas,
the 208th General Assembly (1996) in its policy statement "Hope for a Global
Future: Toward Just and Sustainable Human development" declared,
"Complacency about continued population growth now constitutes defiance of
the wisdom of God" and is as though "human creatures alone [could be]
forever exempt from the laws by which God governs complex processes and the
interactions of living creatures"; and
Whereas,
the peril to the future of life does not come simply from overpopulation,
since the human impact upon the natural world is the product, not only of
the number of people, but also of the technologies used by industry and
agriculture and the magnitude of per capita production and consumption; and
this means that the greatest global impact comes from the affluent,
industrialized nations, the United States of America above all; and
Whereas,
the 213th General Assembly (2001), recognizing the massive encroachments of
human beings and economic development upon the habitats of other creatures,
issued a "Call to Halt Mass Extinction," declaring that the
"Creator-Sustainer of all life wills its continuance, diversity, beauty, and
interconnectedness" and that the "Creator-Deliverer calls human communities
to work with God to rectify the abuses whereby human impacts upon the earth
are leading to a mass extinction of living species," and calling for "steps
in practice, policy, and systemic change that will prevent mass extinction
and preserve the biodiversity essential to the flourishing of life"; and
Whereas,
the 210th General Assembly (1998) declared that "the inestimable worth of
every child" makes it "imperative now to bring human numbers into balance
with other creatures, within healthy natural systems, so that all children,
present and future, may enjoy a habitat conducive to the realization of
their potential under God"; and
Whereas,
the same 210th General Assembly (1998) stated: "Recognizing the natural
human desire for procreation . . . but recognizing also the compelling need
for fewer births, so that God's creation, human and nonhuman, may flourish
according to God's intent, [the General Assembly declares] that both those
who choose not to conceive children and those who do choose to conceive
should be accorded encouragement and support, respect and honor for their
decisions"; and
Whereas,
in the United States of America human births exceeded deaths in 2002 by over
1.5 million; and
Whereas,
The Worldwatch Institute and the Population Institute provide the following
information: the human population of the world more than tripled in the 20th
century, reach 6 billion in 1999, now exceeds 6.2 billion, and is projected
to increase to somewhere between 7.9 and 10.9 billion by 2050; almost all of
the increase will take place in developing countries where resources are
already strained; the population of India, now just over a billion, is
expected to reach 1.6 billion; many impoverished countries must cope with
cropland that is insufficient for their needs and declining in quality; an
even greater threat is the shortage of water, with half a billion people in
regions of chronic drought, a number expected to increase fivefold by 2025;
and in some African countries, including Liberia, Rwanda, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia, women average six children each, and these
countries have recently suffered civil war, genocide, and/or famine; and
Whereas,
by 2003, according to the Population Reference Bureau, 26 nations had Total
Fertility Rates (TFRs = births per 1,000 people) of 1.3 or less; this means
that they are at the point, or very close to it, at which births are fewer
than deaths; most of these nations are European, eastern and western, but
they include Russia, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan; five years
earlier only 13 nations had TFRs of 1.3 or less; this represents a rapid
movement toward fewer births and population stabilization and reduction in a
significant number of countries - a movement, however, that will require
strenuous, concerted efforts if it is to be extended throughout the world,
including our own country;
Therefore,
be it resolved that the Presbytery of Lackawanna respectfully overtures the
216th General Assembly (2004) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), meeting
in Richmond, Virginia, to take the following actions and positions:
1. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), while reaffirming the naturalness and goodness of the human desire
for procreation, recognizes that human numbers in our time are far exceeding
the intent of the biblical mandate in Genesis 1: 28 to "be fruitful and
multiply," because the health and well-being of human creatures depend upon
the continuing fruitfulness of the earth and the health and integrity of the
natural systems by which God governs to make life possible and good.
2a. The General Assembly calls upon the President and the
Congress of the United States of America to reverse the recent policies and
directives that have reduced and withheld appropriations to the United
Nations Population Funds and other voluntary international family planning
agencies, and provide fully restored or increased funding for these agencies
and/or organizations.
2b. The General Assembly calls upon the President and the
Congress of the United States of America to honor the action plans of the
United Nations Conference on Population Development (1994) and other United
Nations conferences, and to provide strong leadership and substantial
funding to ensure the availability throughout the world of contraceptive and
reproductive health services, so that all who chose to determine the size of
their families may do so, and also to promote the kind of economic
development that actually reduces poverty while protecting the environment,
and to extend educational opportunities in developing countries, especially
to the girls and women who have been denied them, and to enhance women's
status and access to health care, credit, and employment.
2c. The General Assembly urges the President and the
Congress of the United States of America to develop and implement, together
with appropriate state, national, and international governments and
agencies, long range policies and plans to achieve the goal of stabilizing
and then reducing human populations, the United States of America, other
nations, and the world, so that by concerted efforts the total births in
this world may be fewer than deaths by 2020 - 2030.
3. The General Assembly urges those who support and those
who oppose the legality of abortions to work together to support measures
that prevent unintended pregnancies, recognizing that abortions, whether
legal or illegal, increase when family planning services are not available.
4. The General Assembly calls upon young people and
couples - Presbyterians, those of other denominations and other faiths, and
all who acknowledge responsibility to serve the common good - to make their
private decisions about procreation in the light of the compelling need to
reduce the human impact upon the planet, so that the degradation and
depletion of natural resources, the disruption of natural systems, and the
losses and extinctions of nonhuman species may cease, in accordance with the
Creator-Redeemer's will for the harmony, liberation, and fulfillment of the
whole community of life.
5. The General Assembly continues to encourage all who
make decisions about having children to consider conscientiously and
prayerfully their options, including that of remaining birth-free and
considering the possibility of adopting children.
6. The General Assembly understands and declares that the
earth's protection and restoration require a very substantial reduction of
consumption by the comfortable and the affluent; that the overpopulated,
impoverished countries in the world are unlikely to give priority to
population stabilization and reduction unless the international community as
a whole gives priority also to global poverty reduction and the reduction of
unnecessary, excessive consumption; that Christians and all other people of
goodwill are called to resist the temptations posed by advertising and other
enticements to wasteful, injurious consumption; and that if the economic
system requires ecologically unsustainable consumption in order to generate
employment, it is the system that has to be changed in basic ways, so that
all people may participate in a livelihood that is both sufficient and
sustainable.
7. The General Assembly directs the Stated Clerk to send
copies of these resolutions with their rationale [the "whereases"] to the
President of the United States of America, all the members of Congress, and
appropriate governmental and nongovernmental population and environmental
agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agenda, the Council on
Environmental Quality, the Population Reference Bureau, the Worldwatch
Institute, the Population Institute, Population Connection, the Planned
Parenthood Federation of America, any Pro-Life organization, Friends of the
Earth, National Wildlife Federation, and other Religious bodies with which
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is in communion as well as the US
Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Governing Bodies of the National and
World Council of Churches.
Do you have comments, or are you
aware of similar overtures coming from other presbyteries?
Please
send a note!
