Church of Christ Panel Endorses Right to Die : Human dignity: ‘Gift of abundant life is more than the avoidance of death,’ statement says. The national church will consider the issue.

A resolution supporting the right of persons “in hopeless and irreversible conditions” to terminate their lives has been passed by delegates to a regional conference of the United Church of Christ and recommended to the denomination’s national legislative body for adoption.

Delegates at the Rocky Mountain Conference annual meeting also voted to accept a working document that establishes conference policy for handling charges of sexual misconduct by clergy.

Stressing the needs of the body over the needs of the person can amount to a kind of “biological idolatry,” warns the resolution adopted on the issue of death and dying. The “gift of abundant life is more than the avoidance of death,” says the statement.

The statement “supports the rights of individuals and families to make decisions regarding human death and dying.” The “dignity of the dying person and the emotional and physical well-being of (their) families” can be eroded by the “prolonged dying process with hopeless deterioration.”

The two actions were taken by 300 delegates at the conference’s annual meeting recently in Rock Springs, Wyo. The Rocky Mountain Conference is headquartered in Denver and includes 22,000 members in Colorado, Utah and southern Wyoming.

The Rev. Clyde Miller, executive minister for the region, said the resolution was strongly debated, especially on the issue of suicide. Suicide was not “advocated,” he said, but “Christian compassion for those who may choose this route” was urged.

The resolution will be forwarded to the UCC general synod, the 1.8-million-member denomination’s national legislative body, for further consideration. Once there, said the conference’s associate executive minister, the Rev. June Grubb, it will probably be assigned to a synod committee, which will issue a report of its own recommending or not recommending to the denomination at large. The synod is on record as supporting the legal recognition of living wills.

Delegates to the regional meeting also approved a position paper on sexual misconduct by clergy that establishes procedures for a conference ethics committee to investigate charges brought against ministers or other church workers.

Acknowledging that the high moral code expected of ministers is often breached in sexual matters, the 23-page paper says that providing assistance for the victims of such sexual misconduct should be the primary concern of the church.

Grubb said the paper is a “working document” on policy for the Rocky Mountain conference alone. Like a number of regional conferences, “We wanted to have something in place” while the denomination’s Office of Church Life and Leadership works on a national policy, she said.