Living Our Baptismal Covenant
As Christians we are called to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ with clarity and conviction, particularly as that Gospel compels us to work alongside those in every faith tradition to confront forces which threaten the lives and safety of the most vulnerable of God’s people.
We Episcopalians believe in a loving, liberating, and life-giving God: As constituent members of the Anglican Communion in the United States, we are descendants of and partners with the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church, and are part of the third largest group of Christians in the world.
We believe in following the teachings of Jesus Christ, whose life, death, and resurrection saved the world.
We have a legacy of inclusion, aspiring to tell and exemplify God’s love for every human being; women and men serve as bishops, priests, and deacons in our church. Laypeople and clergy cooperate as leaders at all levels of our church. Leadership is a gift from God, and can be expressed by all people in our church, regardless of sexual identity or orientation.
We believe that God loves you – no exceptions.
In the Episcopal Church we…
- support laws which combat gun violence.
- support immigrants and refugees, including becoming a sanctuary church.
- support a pathway to citizenship for “dreamers.”
- support LGBTQ by adding sexual orientation to the non-discrimination canons in 1994, and gender identity and gender expression in 2012.
- support efforts to assist LGBT youth against bullying and stands against all conversion therapy.
- support same sex marriage.
- work to change public policy to help the poor and hungry and specifically to repair the social safety net.
- oppose the death penalty.
- recognize the racial and gender bias of our mass incarceration system, and seek public policies which end it.
- stand against racial injustice.
- support efforts to stop human trafficking.
- acknowledge that in this country it is the legal right of every woman to have a medically safe abortion, and further oppose abortion “as a means of birth control, family planning, sex selection, or any reason of mere convenience.”
- oppose all violence based on gender.
- affirm that war as a method of settling international disputes is incompatible with the gospel, and urge its people to study just war theory.
- affirm that global warming threatens the future of God’s good creation, and the effects of global warming disproportionately hurt the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable in the United States and around the world.
- support efforts that seek to reduce global warming, including national and international legislation that increases the supply of clean energy and reduces consumption of fossil fuels.
Therefore we commit:
- to protect and defend the human dignity of immigrants, refugees, and those who fear deportation. Our churches will be sanctuaries for those whose safety and security is threatened.
- to stand and work with those whose race or religion is threatened by the vitriolic and violent language and action of white supremacy in American society.
- to confront bigotry, fear, ignorance and hatred whenever and wherever we encounter it. We will not be silent or passive in the face of language or actions that harms the children of God.
- to protect the physical, psychological, and spiritual safety of women, people of sexual and gender diversity, the elderly and the physically impaired.
- to pray for our president and elected leaders and hold them accountable to the principles of justice as found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.