Reformátusok Lapja, 1971 (71. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1971-10-01 / 10. szám
4 REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA Report on the Eighth General Synod Meeting held June 25—29, 1971 at the Civic Auditorium Grand Rapids, Michigan The Eighth General Synod of the United Church of Christ was attended by more than 700 delegates. The theme was: “Whole Earth, Whole People.” This large gathering was remarkable in many ways, one of course was the amount of work that was accomplished by the delegates in that short period of time. Bishop Beretz, Mr. A. Kovács and Dr. J. Butosi As the lay delegate from our own Calvin Synod we arrived in Grand Rapids on June 24 and registered at the Pantlind Hotel, to my surprise I found that the hotel did not have air conditioning and being over 100° for most of our stay, Dr. Butosi and I suffered through our stay at the hotel. Needless to say we did not spend too much time in our room except to sleep. The meetings were long and at times discouraging for those of us who are moderate and conservative in our thinking. My impression was that the theme should have been changed to; “General Synod of the United Church of Christ Against the United States and its Government.” This of course is only my opinion, being perhaps a bit more conservative than 95% of the delegates. I got the impression that the United Church of Christ is leaning toward the left if it isn’t already there. Opinions from the other side are not heard, for one reason the delegates, especially the clergy, are liberal in their thinking. Of course I have no quarrel with this. My objection is that even the guest speakers were from the most liberal side, not one from the moderate or conservative side. When the General Synod of the United Church of Christ invites speakers who ridicule our country and our government and tell our youth what is wrong with our country and how to keep out of the service, then I feel that it is time for some other voices to be heard to counter the slander of our government and our country even though these people claim that they are doing this because they love their country. It is hard for me to believe that the local churches that elect these delegates would agree with their voting record. When the United Church of Christ votes to condemn the United States for the unjust war in Indochina, one may ask, what is a just war? Perhaps the only just war is the one that the Communist are waging against our brothers in Eastern Europe and in the whole world. When we at the General Synod meeting condemn our country and its allies and keep silent about the captive nations, than we are guilty of brutal oppression of those millions who want to be free. As delegates from the Calvin Synod, we spoke out against these injustices, but we were told that the General Synod cannot tell other governments what they may do, but they could pressure our government into action. The voices that were raised in behalf of our brothers in Eastern Europe were few and one wonders why if we claim “whole world and whole people” are they not part of this world? When the General Synod votes 614 to 23 for an immediate end to the war in Vietnam without any solutions and asks the President to investigate war crimes only on one side of this war, then again one wonders. Just highlighting some of the other resolutions that were passed: the pronouncement on South Africa, liberalization of abortion, commanding the release of the Pentagon Papers, conscientious objectors and many others. The faith crisis and local churches received quite a bit of attention and were discussed in small groups as well as on the General Synod floor and recommendations were made to deal with these problems. There were also some bright spots at this meeting. One that is important to us in the Calvin Synod is that Dr. John Butosi was elected to the Executive Council of the United Church of Christ. This is the first time that anyone from our Synod has been elected to an important board. We also elected to the Executive Council the first American Indian, August Little Soldier, from Golden Valley, North Dakota. At least we could say that the minority can now be heard. One of the most memorable experiences came at the Communion service on Sunday, June 27th. The service opened to the sounds of many trumpets and a large choir selected from the delegates and guests. The service was led by a young minister who pleased not only the young, but everyone present with his outstanding sermon. I would like to commend the youth delegates to the Eighth General Synod. The way they handled themselves and the knowledge that they had on every subject that was discussed added a special significance to the meeting. These are just a few highlights about the Eighth General Synod meeting, of course, but it is impossible to report on everything. I would like to express my appreciation for being elected as a delegate. Albert Kovács
