Rationale for Adventists Opposing Slavery:
Sexual Trafficking
“Thus says the Lord, ‘Preserve justice, and
do righteousness, for my salvation is about to come, and
my righteousness to be revealed.’”
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer
slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all
of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
WHEREAS Slavery,
against which Adventism’s founders fought, persists
and grows in our time, including trafficking in women
and children for sexual service.
WHEREAS “Trafficking is all acts involved in
the recruitment, abduction, transportation, harboring,
transfer, sale, or receipt of persons; within national
or across international borders; through force, coercion,
fraud or deception; to place persons in situations
of slavery or slavery-like conditions, forced labor
or services, such as forced prostitution or sexual
services, domestic servitude, bonded sweatshop labor
or other debt bondage.”
WHEREAS “No country is immune from trafficking.
A recent U.S. Government estimate indicates that approximately
800,000-900,000 people annually are trafficked across international
borders…that estimate includes men, women, and children
as young as eight years old trafficked into forced labor
and sexual exploitation…lured by promises of good
jobs, unaware their travel documents will be seized, they
will be subject to brutal beatings…threats, intimidation
and violence to force them to engage in sex acts or
labor under conditions comparable to slavery.”
WHEREAS Seventh-day Adventists believe that God granted
to all creation the power of choice, and that at the risk
of His own life, the Creator bestowed freedom upon every
being.
WHEREAS Seventh-day Adventists believe that all humans
are created in the image of God, and the body is the Temple
of God.
WHEREAS Seventh-day Adventists believe that all human
beings have equal standing in the eyes of God as individuals,
and should thus be afforded respect and dignity.
WHEREAS Seventh-day Adventists believe in the special
importance of children, as outlined by Christ while
here on earth, as examples of God’s kingdom and
deserving of nurture, respect and protection.
WHEREAS Seventh-day Adventists believe in a Second Coming
of Christ, and hold an Apocalyptic view of the end of the
world, in which all human beings will be held accountable
for their actions, maintaining the central importance for
all followers of Christ to bring justice now to the weak
and oppressed.
WHEREAS The Adventist church has a heritage of taking
a strong abolitionist stand against slavery in the
United States during the mid-nineteenth century. Ellen
White wrote, “Great men, professing to have human hearts, have
seen the slaves almost naked and starving, and have abused
them, and sent them back to their cruel masters and hopeless
bondage…Oh, what an insult to Jehovah!” She
further instructed that “the law of our land requiring
us to deliver a slave to his master, we are not to obey.”
WE
AFFIRM that any action that degrades another human
being emotionally or mentally by intentionally doing
damage to his/her self-image and/or self-worth places
one individual in an un-ordained position of authority
over another.
WE AFFIRM that slavery in any form and for any purpose
(labor, sex, or otherwise) and the sale of any human being
or his/her actions or time against his/her will violates
the God-given right of every individual to freedom of choice.
WE AFFIRM that the intentional deception of another
human being which leads, as a result of an apparent
free-will choice, to the enslavement or harm of another
human being is in direct violation of God’s law.
WE AFFIRM that any action taken to intentionally
harm a child by abusing him/her (physically, sexually
or otherwise) or by using him/her as a commodity (for
labor, sex or otherwise) is an attack upon particularly
precious human beings as well as an act of violence
against God’s
creation.
WE THEREFORE RESOLVE that it is the responsibility
of organized society, religious or otherwise, to
come to the aid of those who are abused (physically,
emotionally or otherwise), by reporting incidents of
abuse, giving whatever aid and healing we can, and
bringing the perpetrators to justice.
WE FURTHER RESOLVE that the illegal forced trafficking
of human beings (children, women, or men) for the purpose
of commercial exploitation (for labor, sex, or otherwise)
is a direct violation of the aforementioned principles and
heritage of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It is the
resolve of the Church leadership that it is the duty of
any member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, particularly
those members working with Seventh-day Adventist institutions
(medical institutions, relief agencies, or otherwise) that
may come in regular contact with trafficking victims, to
report incidents of commercial trafficking. It is also the
responsibility of each member who encounters a victim of
commercial trafficking to do everything within his/her power
to aid the victim and bring the perpetrators to justice.