BWA General Council Resolution 1986.5

Whereas humankind has now entered the fifth decade of life under the awesome threat of nuclear annihilation, and

Whereas the nations of the world will spend approximately the equivalent of one trillion US dollars this year on military forces and weapons, and

Whereas the peoples of the Third World are suffering the burden of rapidly increasing militarization in the midst of their poverty and

Whereas the need for peace has never been more urgent, nor have the prospects for peace with justice ever been more subject to political manipulation and rhetoric, and

Whereas Jesus Christ our Lord was called the Prince of Peace in an era dominated by a heavily militarized empire and God has called us to be peacemakers;

Be it therefore resolved that we, the participants in the meetings of the Baptist World Alliance in Singapore, July 1-5, 1986 call upon Baptists worldwide:

1. to unite in earnest prayer for the peace of the world;
2. to communicate to their political leaders our deep conviction that the future of the human race will be tragically imperiled without a prompt de-escalation of the arms race and a reasonable agreement on arms control among the nuclear powers;
3. to work diligently within their respective political, economic and organizational systems to champion the priority of peace with justice as a worthy goal for the world’s nations, as a humane approach to the current crisis of militarism, as a powerful ideal in our Christian faith and as a precondition of human survival.

Be it also resolved that we reaffirm the conviction expressed in the BWA congress resolution, Los Angeles, 1985, that the meetings of the leaders of the USSR and the USA are an important contribution to the peace of the world.

4. to endorse wholeheartedly and encourage a worldwide Christian Council of Peace in which the Christian churches could address in unison and with spiritual authority the issues of peace and justice.

Citations

Original Source Bibliography: Claas, Gerhard, editor. Baptist World Alliance 1986 Yearbook: Minutes of the General Council Meeting and Directory. McLean, VA: Baptist World Alliance, 1986.

Original Source Footnote/Endnote: Gerhard Claas, ed., Baptist World Alliance 1986 Yearbook: Minutes of the General Council Meeting and Directory (McLean, VA: Baptist World Alliance, 1986), p. 51.

Online Document Full Citation: BWA General Council Resolution 1986.5 Peace with Justice; https://baptistworld.org/resolutions.

In-text Online Document Citation: (BWA General Council Resolution 1986.5).