UPCUSA General Assembly Minutes, 1965, P. 489-490.
UPCUSA General Assembly Minutes, 1965, P. 489-490.
MINUTES
OF THE
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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OF
PART I
Journal
'
SIXTH SERIES
VOLUME VIII
1965
Part I
Journal
~ennsylvania
19107
August, 1965
PRESBYTERIAN }I
520 WITHERS~~~~RICAL SOCIETY
P1Hu
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BUILDING
GENERAL COUNCIL
1965]
'489
It has come to our attentio'n that some United Presbyterian congregations are disturbed because their pastors are participating in the
current voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama.
'
We would remind our members, through you, that these men are
doing their Christian duty as they see it, and are carrying out the
obligation that falls on all of us to be supportive of the efforts of Negro
American citizens who are seeking to gain, by nonviolent means, their
full constitutional rights.
The attaChed resolution was adopted by the General Couhcil on
MarCh .10, 1965. Copies were sent to the President and Attorney
General and the statement released immediately to the press. We
request that you do everything you can to call this resolution to the
attention of your constituency.
Resolution of the General Council of the General Assembly of The
United PresbyteriAn Church in the United States of America
Constitutional rights?
Shall any state be allowed to treat citizens of other states as outsiders,
denying them adequate police protection when they stand with Negroes
in their just protests?
Have not recent events in Alabama proved that the local forces of
law and order are either unwilling or unable to keep the peace?
- The General Council of the General Assembly of The United
Presbyterian ChurCh in the United States of America believes that the
members of our ChurCh ought now and requests them to petition the
President of the United States, the Attorney General, and their representatives in the Congress to act promptly under the powers of th~
Federal Government to establish law .and order in Alabama and in
any other state where locat government fails to protect the exercise
of the constitutional rights of all United States citizens, to these ends :
1. That all qualified citizens may be enabled to register to vote
not later than November, 1965, and;
2.
white citizens.
490
MINUTES
[May 26
G. HAWKINS, Chairman
M. TAYLOR, PH.D., Secfetar;,
REv. THEOPHILUS