The United Church of Canada: A History

Chapter Seven - 1980s: What Does It Mean to Be The United Church of Canada? Emergent Voices, Self-Critique, and Dissent

139 Chapter Seven 1980s: What Does It Mean to Be The United Church of Canada? Emergent Voices, Self-Critique, and Dissent Tracy J. Trothen Moderators 1980–82 Lois M. Wilson (first woman moderator) 1982–84 W. Clarke MacDonald 1984–86 Robert F. Smith 1986–88 Anne M.Squire (first lay woman moderator) 1988–90 Right Reverend Sang Chul Lee Secretaries of the United Church of Canada 1975–83 Donald G. Ray 1983–85 Philip A. Cline 1985–87 Irene E. Parker (acting) 1987–93 Howard M. Mills Presidents of the United Church Women 1980–82 Madeleine McGowan 1982–84 Betty Tudor 1984–86 Elinor Townsend 1986–88 Pearl Griffin 1988–90 Evelyn Lamb-Kerr 140 T R A C Y J . T R O T H E N Key Reports, Statements, and Actions of General Council 1980 General Council receives Project: Ministry and the Report of the Task Force on Christian Initiation; In God’s Image...Male and Female is released as a United Church study document 1982 Report of the Project Group on Christian Initiation is released 1984 General Council issues official confession of complicity in sexism statement General Council approves Gift, Dilemma and Promise: A Report and Affirmations on Human Sexuality 1986 General Council receives the report Learning on the Way and Funding Theological Education General Council issues apology for past denial of Aboriginal spirituality 1986–88 Ending of South African investments 1988 Inauguration of All Native Circle Conference General Council receives Toward a Christian Understanding of Sexual Orientation, Lifestyles and Ministry as an historic document and approves a motion that has come to be known as the “Membership, Ministry and Human Sexuality”(MMHS) statement Demography 1981 Number of persons under pastoral care: 2,223,889 UCC membership: 3,758,015 Population of Canada: 24,343,1801 Introduction At its inception, the United Church’s identity was based on an understanding of itself as a uniting church in the Canadian context. Its formation was seen as a step toward the coming together––in spite of differences––of all committed Christians, which in turn would be salvific for the entire nation.2 The 1980s witnessed an implicit revisioning of this goal and identity. The church’s social justice commitments were challenged by emerging marginalized voices, including those of women, laity, Aboriginal people, and liberation theologians, which became louder and more insistent. The church embraced this challenge. The result was a shift to “a greater appreciation of ‘difference’which runs counter to the dominant cultural assumptions at the 1 9 8 0 S : W H A T D O E S I T M E A N T O B E T H E U N I T E D C H U R C H O F C A N A D A ? 141 time of church union”;3 a corresponding move away from a valuing of “experts” in favour of the marginalized;4 a greater emphasis on relationship and less on primarily act-based ethical reasoning; an increased awareness of the church’s complicity in systemic marginalization which became expressed in “confessions” to women and Native peoples; and a more fragmented and internally conflicted church. As more marginalized groups claimed their voices within the church, it became clear that the United Church family was not as united as many had hoped. In this chapter I will examine this shift and its consequences. These changes within the United Church occurred in the midst of heightened awareness of a complex global context that included the nuclear arms race, the environmental crisis, South African apartheid, and the right-wing political leadership of Ronald Reagan in the United States and Margaret Thatcher in Britain. In Canada, the issues of sovereignty for Quebec and First Nations peoples became central. The 1980 Quebec referendum for sovereignty -association was rejected by only 60 percent of the Quebec electorate . The North American Bilateral Free Trade Agreement was proposed and accepted by Canada’s Conservative government late in the decade. Theologically , left-wing liberation theologies grew along with increased calls for social justice in places such as Central America. As the decade unfolded, Canadians were faced with significant questions of ethics and responsibility: What issues ought to concern me? What are my responsibilities? Prioritizing the Agenda: The United Church’s Attention to Gender and Sexuality Yet, human sexuality concerns dominated the United Church in the 1980s and often eclipsed these other issues. Earlier in the...