Passed, March 10, 1937, by unanimous action of the General 
Conference Executive Committee, in Spring Meeting assembled, at Washington, D.C. The council included, in addition to the full headquarters officer and departmental secretary staff, several veteran leaders, all the North American union conference officers, and numerous educators, editors, and medical, institutional, and young people's leaders.
"There is, first of all, a fundamental distinction between natural pictures, or pictures of real life, and pictures of dramatized theatrical plots. This is a basic line of demarcation.
By the former are meant scenes which are reproduced through the motion-picture camera wholly of natural life,—whether of persons, animal or plant life, events, or places,—and which are recognized, within certain limitations herein set forth, as legitimate and proper for Christians, and for the organizations and institutions of the church.
In contrast, there are the motion pictures of dramatized theatrical plots, usually produced by professional actors and actresses. The very principle upon which these are constructed is inherently wrong, and cannot be approved or condoned by the church.
The history and the present estate of theatrical drama show it to be opposed to the highest ideals of morality, and alien to spiritual life. --Its themes are built upon human passion.
--It graphically presents, by portrayal and by suggestion, the sins and crimes of humanity,—murder, adultery, robbery, and every other evil.
--Even its attempted depiction of virtue is feeble, and frequently false.
--And its conception of love and of lovemaking desecrates the most intimate and sacred relation of man and woman.
*Theatrical films are evil in their influence, and consequently unacceptable, because they confuse the thinking of our people regarding the Seventh-day Adventist attitude toward the theater, the opera, and novel reading; because they create an appetite for emotional reaction which can be satisfied only by further indulgence; and because they make an unwarranted play, upon the emotions.
This is wrong, because emotional stimulation without appropriate action is destructive to character development. Pictures which play upon the emotions create an appetite for the sensational, causing the individual to live in the realm of the unreal, destroying responsiveness to duty, and resulting in emotional instability... we therefore take a definite and positive stand against all dramatized motion pictures which use character representation for the purpose of acting out a theatrical plot.
Such dramatization of imaginative plots, as a method of creating impressions, influencing life, or conveying information, should not be employed in God's service, and is not to be countenanced by His people. We, therefore, call upon our entire church membership, young and old, to take their stand upon this platform.."
MinistryMagazine1937
Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
Isaiah 19:15
