Worldscan

Lutheran, The, Mar 2005

* Church leaders in sub-Saharan Africa say some congregations preach that AIDS doesn't exist and others say those diagnosed with HIV can be healed with prayer. Sub-Saharan Africa has just over 10 percent of the world's population, but two-thirds of all HIV-infections, according to U.N. estimates. Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, told church leaders gathered in January in Nairobi: "Such people are disempowering our people, who should know AIDS is real, is hurting us and has therefore to be fought and defeated."

* Lutheran World Relief's "Wave of Giving" program hopes to raise $5 million to $10 million for tsunami relief and rebuilding. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans gave $1 million plus $2.5 million in matching grants for Thrivent members' gifts. For more information visit www.lwr.org/waveofgiving or call (800) 597-5972. Thrivent also gave the ELCA a $765,000 gift for tsunami relief. "The ELCA is committed to providing up to 50 percent of its International Disaster Response income designated for tsunami disaster relief to LWR," said Belletech Deressa, ELCA Division for Global Mission. The other 50 percent of the church's income will fund relief efforts of "our Lutheran companion churches in south and southeast Asia, and other ecumenical organizations," she said. To give to the ELCA International Disaster Response, visit www.elca.org/disas ter or call (800) 638-3522.

* After a fact-finding trip to Somalia to assess damage from the Dec. 26 tsunami, South African church leaders are seeking ways to help the survivors. The tsunami reportedly killed 300 Somalis and displaced 50,000 others. "About 2,000 houses have been destroyed, families displaced and hundreds of fishing boats as well as fishing equipment lost," said Njongonkulu Ndungane, Anglican archbishop of Cape Town. "Fishing is [residents'] sole livelihood."

* In a Jan. 17 letter to President Bush, evangelical leaders asked him to redouble efforts to overcome hunger and poverty. Authors said reducing international and domestic poverty "would honor our Lord" and "be a wonderful legacy for you to leave.... Such an outcome is clearly within the reach of the richest nation in history. The moral values you share with us demand no less." The letter said more action was needed related to AIDS, human trafficking and "unacceptably high" levels of poverty. "Poverty in our own nation has increased in the last several years and millions more working poor lack health insurance," wrote signatories that included national commander of the Salvation Army Todd Bassett, Evangelicals for Social Action president Ron Sider, and Assemblies of God General Superintendent Thomas Trask. Sider said later: "The community that voted most heavily for President Bush's re-election is demanding a greater emphasis on overcoming poverty."

* Archbishop John Marona of the Episcopal Church of Sudan said many in southern Sudan were "joyful" about a Jan. 9 peace agreement between their government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. Since 1983, 2 million people have been killed in two long-running conflicts: a civil war between Sudan's government in the north and Christian and animist rebels in the south, and fighting in the west between Muslim ethnic African tribes and nomadic Muslim Arab tribes. Reconciliation will be difficult, Marona, said, adding, "People have killed their relatives.... We have to teach [people] not to pay wrong for wrong. They also have to forgive themselves." At presstime, the accord had not yet been implemented.

* Due to high premiums, the 400,000-member Presbyterian Church in America discontinued its health insurance plan, affecting 858 employees. At the end of 2004, employees were given two months to find other insurance. "This is symptomatic of the crisis of health insurance costs in the entire country," said Dominic Aquila, the church's news officer. Those most affected are people with pre-existing conditions and immediate health concerns such as heart problems or cancer.

* Fifty-five percent of U.S. doctors say they've seen miracles in cases, according to a HCD Research survey of 1,100 Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist physicians. Of those surveyed, 72 percent said religion provides a necessary, reliable guide to life, 59 percent said they prayed for individual patients, 58 percent said they attended worship at least once a month and 46 percent said they prayed in their own lives.

* A poll found that the top concerns of low-income people in the United States are unemployment, health care, education, discrimination and poverty. In contrast, the top five concerns of the general public are the economy, war, government, immorality and terrorism. Among the general public, fewer people than in the previous year correctly thought U.S. poverty had grown. Also, the general public said the top three causes of poverty are lack of jobs, lack of education and laziness, while the poor respondents cited lack of education, low minimum wages and "unjust laws or social policies." More than 80 percent of the general public said they gave to help the poor in 2004. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development's "Poverty Pulse" poll drew poverty lines at a family of four earning $30,000 or less.