WHEREAS, Children are our most valuable asset but cannot defend themselves from adults, and
WHEREAS, Each year in the United States almost one million children are maltreated by their parents and other adults, and
WHEREAS, More than 2,000 children die annually in circumstances attributable to abuse or neglect, and
WHEREAS, Approximately four years after the passage of the Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, Public Law 93-247, state laws and practices are such that only twenty-eight states are eligible to receive state grants under the terms of the Federal act, and child abuse still occurs in our society, and
WHEREAS, Any attempt to deal adequately with child pornography requires strong and enforceable child abuse legislation at the national level,
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in its one hundred twenty-first session, June 13-15, 1978, in Atlanta, Georgia, request its Christian Life Commission to research the latest information on child abuse and provide materials dealing with the problems of child abuse, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention encourage all state and national legislators and other leaders to do everything possible to support strong child abuse legislation designed to end the horrors of child pornography and protect children from child abuse.