STUDENT EXILES, REFUGEES AND POLITICAL PRISONERS

WHEREAS ever since wars have been fought, a large part of the human cost are the countless numbers of refugees; those who flee to other lands and those who, for various reasons, become refugees in their own lands; and

WHEREAS exiles and refugees today are not just the victims of temporary political upheaval, but represent in their plight a dimension of suffering and disorder that is going all over the world; and

WHEREAS there is an obvious need, then, to recognize new dimensions to the words “exiles,” “refugees,” and “political prisoners,” and

WEHREAS the manner of their arrests, the inhuman conditions of the prisons and the treatment they receive constitutes one of the major moral issues that face every human being and every society in our time (that of which Sozhenitsyn in Russia, our brothers and sisters of KSCF, in Korea, the Lutheran Bishop in Namibia, and the Lutheran World Federation in Palestine have made us aware in their own countries, is seen as multiplying in an alarming fashion throughout the world);

            BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

1. The LSM recognizes the efforts of the World Student Christian Federation to initiate programs designed to alleviate the problems and conditions of student exiles, refugees, and political prisoners; it further applauds these efforts as visionary and in the best spirit of Christian mission as it is being defined in today’s world; and

2. The LSM collect a special offering at one of the worship services to be sent to the WSCF in support of its work with student exiles, refugees and political prisoners; and

3. The LSM affirm the courage and righteousness of those who seek not just temporary food and clothing, but a new community; a new community where they can express their creativity and their longing and aspirations for a new society for everyone.