D031 HD Committee #16 Report #05

House of Deputies Committee 16 - Safety, Wellness and Mental Health presents its Report #05 on Resolution D031 (Addressing the Ongoing Harm of Coercive and Abusive Christian Ministries) and moves:

Adopt

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring,

That the 81st General Convention, recognizing that our baptismal promise to “seek and serve Christ in all persons” goes hand in hand with our charge to “respect the dignity of every human being,” lament the historic and ongoing prevalence of coercion and abuse within Christian social ministries, with particular acknowledgement of how participation in religious services has been a prerequisite for the receipt of social support, how evangelizing publications have been packaged with material support, and how support has been denied to individuals whose relationships do not conform to Church-dictated structures; and be it further 

Resolved, That the 81st General Convention repent for The Episcopal Church’s own past complicity in coercive and abusive ministries such as, but not limited to, Indigenous boarding schools, homes for unwed mothers, and crisis pregnancy centers (also known as pregnancy resource centers); and be it further

Resolved, That the 81st General Convention direct the Office of Government Relations to work to defeat funding initiatives and governmental support for these, and other, coercive and abusive Christian ministries.