The Baptist World General Council, meeting in the Caribbean:
1. Has observed with profound concern and apprehension the continuing suffering and oppression of many in El Salvador;
2. Expresses its utmost sympathy with all those who are caught up in the present conflict.
The General Council of the Baptist World Alliance wishes to state its concern and position regarding multiple but interrelated crises in the Near and Middle East in the following expressions:
1. We express our profound concern regarding the blatant disregard for human rights, civil liberties and national self-determination.
The General Council of the Baptist World Alliance, meeting in Nairobi, Kenya:
1. Aware of the constant struggle for physical survival in this continent as well as in the world, the present conditions in the Sahel being one tragic example, would there draw attention to the statement quoted in the report of the BWAid Committee as follows…”
Ever since the Baptist World Congress in Atlanta in 1939 the Baptist World Alliance has spoken out with regularity on behalf of religious freedom for all persons, and in more recent years on behalf of civil liberties generally.
Baptist people numbering more than 34 million from all over the world have long stood for the right of all people to be free and independent and have worked to encourage governments everywhere to respect human rights. As Christians we believe that human rights are God-given and that violations of human rights are violations of the laws of God. We have expressed deep concern in previous years about human rights violations in all parts of the world, from blatant racial discrimination and restrictions on religious freedom to military and economic oppression.
We reaffirm the fundamental Christian convictions expressed in Resolution 1983.4 of the Baptist World Alliance, adopted in July 1983 in the Republic of Argentina, namely that “human rights are God-given and that violations of human rights are violations of the laws of God.”
WHEREAS, estimates of the number of chronically hungry people range from 500 million to one billion, from one-eighth to one-fourth of the world’s population; and
The General Council of the Baptist World Alliance, meeting in Amman, Jordan, July 5-12, 1987, l) welcomes the encouraging report of the Baptist Friendship Tour to China in 1986;
2) warmly supports the decision to plan further visits and contacts for learning and sharing with Chinese Christians; and,
RECALLING the prophetic stance taken by the Baptist World Alliance in its resolutions on South Africa at the World Congress in 1985 and at the General Council in 1986 and 1988,
REAFFIRMING its opposition to apartheid as a sin against the Gospel of God’s love for all people,
The General Council of the Baptist World Alliance, meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica, July 4-12, 19922;
HAVING received a report from the Baptist World Alliance Human Rights Delegation to El Salvador in January, 1992, and also from our Baptist sisters and brothers in that troubled country;