The Methodist Church in Ireland

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#WeStandUp | Resolution on Racism

At today's Ministerial Session of the 251st Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in Ireland, the following Resolution was agreed by all those attend by means of zoom

It came in the name of the Methodist Council on Social Responsibility and was agreed by all "attending"

In the wake of the cruel and needless death of George Floyd and the widespread cry for an end to the "polemic of racism" we call upon our Methodist people to stand up against the sin of racism. Let us not just condemn the wicked actions of others in the present or the past, but let us examine our own hearts and attitudes. Like the related evil of sectarianism, racism can be deeply ingrained and yet hidden, under a veneer of respectability. In doing so, we are not saying anything new. Methodists, informed by Scripture, have always believed in the dignity and value of every person as someone "created in the image of God". If we have not always lived up to the ideal and failed to stand with those who have been mistreated and discriminated against, we repent of that failure. We look back to our roots and are challenged by the last letter that John Wesley wrote, a week before his death, to William Wilberforce who was campaigning against slavery in Westminster.  Wesley wrote to encourage him not to give up.  

He wrote:

" O be not weary of well-doing. Go one, in the name of God and in the power of His might, lest that ever saw the sun shall vanish away before it"

We call on our Methodist People, throughout Ireland, to engage prayerfully, peacefully, publicly (recognising the restrictions due to Covid-19) and politically
to work together with others to eliminate racism in our world, our own communities and in our own hearts.

The resolution was brought in the name of Rev. Dr. David Clements, Convenor of the Northern section of CSR but bringing it is the name of the whole of Irish Methodism.

The Resolution received the acceptance of all those in attendance.

ENDS
10.6.20

Issued by:

Rev. Roy Cooper, Press Officer, Methodist Church in Ireland.

Contact: 07710945104