711 - Modern Slavery

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Adopted as Paper 711B

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Comments

[Chadwick Anderson]

Really good book on this subject, "Be the Change", by Zach Hunter

[Kevin Austin]

We need to take a stand on this issue. I live in a part of the world where I encounter this issue on a daily basis. There are an estimated 20 million slaves in the world today. We Free Methodists can make a difference in this area!

Books to read on this subject are:

Disposable People, by Kevin Bales
The Traffic in Women, by Siriporn Skrobanek
Child Prostitution in Thailand, by Siroj Sorajjakool

[Nancy Murphy]

Thank you to all for listening to the cries of the exploited and abused. This is an important resolution and I am glad that we are a part of a Body posed to respond and act.

[Kevin Austin]

Also check out the website: www.freetheslaves.net

[Todd Koeppen]

The Bible is VERY clear that we are to seek justice. We really need to pray and examine how we as a denomination (and as individuals) can become active in combating human trafficking.

[Tom Wallace]

When first confronted with the concept of modern slavery, we tend to respond with, “I thought we had abolished slavery in the mid-1860s; people today are above that practice! What do you mean by slavery - wage slaves? Well, maybe in third world countries, but not here in the United States!”

In answer, Kevin Bales in his book “Disposable People” specifically defines slavery as the total control of one person by another person for the purpose of economic gain. He states that although slavery is illegal in every country of the world, it thrives because slaveholders have all the benefits of slave ownership without the legalities; they get total control without any responsibility for what they own. Of the estimated 27 million slaves in the world today, is it estimated that there are 10,000 here in the United States.

Approval of this resolution can move this issue into the consciousness of our people. We can help people understand that this is a moral issue and not just an economic or social issue. As a church, we can make a difference.

[Curtis Turner]

In the Carribean area young high school girls are kidnapped for prostitution on islands such as Arbua, St. Croix, Jamaica, Cancun, etc.

As a denomination we could be the "Mouse that Roared" by sending a resolution that would be adopted by our church in renunciation of human slavery throughout the world, highlighting our original purpose during the Civil War era of being a church that recognized that slavery did not allow every person to develope as a free moral agent, including those that were being held as property at that time. Doing so might subject us to the liabilities of exposing this evil and the people who do this, i.e., various Persian Gulf and African countries, such as the Sudan, etc.; making us targets for terrorist attack.

It would be a bold step and would highlight the fact that most Muslim countries have not signed or do not keep the United Nations Universal Derclaration of Human Rights. Egpyt, for example, has a large contingent of Coptic Orthodox who have been persecuted for decades since the Muslim Brotherhood imposed its demands for Sharia Law to be practiced in that country. Egypt has signed the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but in fact it is not being practiced.