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The
Assembly is an ecclesiastical governing body, incorporated by a special act of
Legislature of the State of New York, Laws of 1914, with jurisdiction in
several states of the United States of America and the Dominion of
Canada.
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- It is empowered to
issue charters to churches and auxiliaries.
- It is empowered to
ordain ministers with the right to perform the marriage ceremony and all other
offices of the church.
- It has the right to
extend its operations to the several states of the United States of America and
the Dominion of Canada.
- The status of its
churches and ministers is the same as that of all other religious
denominations, having the highest authority that may be vested by law in any
religious body.
- Its tenets are those
accepted by Spiritualists of the world.
- It supports freedom
of thought in religion, and adheres to the American principle of separation of
Church and State, opposing and legislative effort of compulsory religious
training in the public school system.
- It recognizes the
demonstration of magnetic and spiritual healing as one of the tenets of
Spiritualism.
- It recognizes the gift
of prophecy, clairvoyance, trance and other forms of mediumship.
- It is governed by a
Constitution duly adopted by a convention of its member churches. Its policies
between annual conventions of the member churches are formulated by a Board of
Directors elected at annual convention.
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The General assembly believes in the advancement of the Spiritualist
religion as an idealistic, humanitarian, and inspiring movement, that gives aid
to the sick, through spiritual healing, and aid to the sound of body, by well
founded hope and faith.
The General Assembly is firmly and permanently
opposed to all fraudulent and dishonest imitations of real mediumship, and to
the sensational display thereof.
The ideal of the General Assembly is
continually to raise the standards of the Spiritualist movement, to encourage
study classes, reading courses, dissemination of Spiritualist literature, and
research work, to the end that others may learn of the reality of the Spirit
World and its meaning to mankind.
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| Declaration of
Principles |
- We believe in Infinite
Intelligence.
- We believe that the
phenomena of nature, both physical and spiritual are the expression of infinite
intelligence.
- We affirm that a
correct understanding of such expression and living in accordance therewith
constitute true religion.
- We affirm that the
existence and personal identity of the individual continues after the change
called "Death".
- We affirm that
communication with the so-called "dead" is a fact, scientifically proven by the
phenomena of Spiritualism.
- We believe that the
highest morality is contained in the Golden Rule: "Whatsoever ye would that
others should do unto you, do ye also unto them".
- We affirm the moral
responsibility of the individual and that he makes his own happiness or
unhappiness as he obeys or disobeys Nature's Physical and Spiritual
Laws.
- We affirm that the
doorway to reformation is never closed against any human soul, here or
hereafter.
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