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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 11/19/2003 9:17 AM (GMT -6) |   | 1.RELIGIOUS INDIFFERENCE TO THE AIDS CRISIS
by Tony Campolo.
I wish you could see what I saw when I visited South
Africa and Zimbabwe. Spread before my eyes were the
devastating effects of the AIDS epidemic. It seemed
as though everywhere I turned I met children who
belonged to nobody, because they had lost both
parents to this dreaded disease. In two of the
schools I visited, there was a shortage of teachers
because more than half of the teachers had died of
AIDS. Making matters even worse was the prevalent
myth that AIDS could be cured by having sex with a
virgin - leading to the rape of many young girls by
stricken men.
The Christian response to the AIDS epidemic has been
abominable. There has been a tendency to write off
those who are suffering from AIDS on the grounds
that this disease is some kind of punishment that
God has meted out to those who have been sexually
promiscuous. The logic behind such a conclusion is
beyond my comprehension. Consider the fact that a
huge number of those who are HIV positive are women
who have been infected by promiscuous husbands. Are
they to be condemned and ignored because of what
their husbands have done? And what about the
children who are born with the disease? Children
constitute a significant proportion of those who are
facing the possibility of AIDS-related death through
no fault of their own.
At a church meeting in Zimbabwe, I heard a mother
ask the congregation to pray that her children would
die before she did. Her husband had given her the
HIV virus and she, unknowingly, had given birth to
two girls who were infected. Now, her husband was
dead and she knew that if she died before her
children did, her daughters would be left to die
alone and hungry. Two weeks later, her prayers were
answered.
We should recognize that the AIDS epidemic very much
parallels the disease of leprosy that we read about
in the New Testament. In biblical times, those who
had leprosy were deemed spiritually unclean, and
others would not get near them or touch them for
fear of contamination that would be both physically
harmful and spiritually defiling. Leprosy was seen
as having a spiritual dimension to it, and lepers
were looked upon as being especially cursed by God.
It is important for us to note that Jesus had a
special spot in his heart to lepers. He embraced
them. He touched them and certainly did not view the
disease as some kind of special punishment that had
been rained down on them by the Heavenly Father.
Jesus reached out to them in love, which was
contrary to the legalistic pietism of religious
leaders in His day. He touched them as He healed
them, in spite of the fact that touching them would
render Him ceremoniously unclean to the custodians
of the temple religion.
The Jesus of scripture calls upon us to see His
presence in people with AIDS. Mother Theresa once
said, "Whenever I look into the eyes of someone
dying of AIDS, I have an eerie awareness that Jesus
is staring back at me." Indeed, that is the case! No
one can say that he or she loves Jesus without
embracing the Jesus who waits to be embraced in
those who have this torturous disease.
Indifference to the people in Africa who are
suffering from AIDS must be challenged. Those of us
who are in the church must use what moral authority
we have to speak to those political and economic
structures that the Bible refers to as the
"principalities and powers" that rule our age. We
must raise our voices against those pharmaceutical
corporations that overprice the new drugs that are
able to slow down the effects of the HIV virus in
those who are infected. We must call the corporate
community to account when they value a profit more
than the lives of people. We must speak out against
a government that spends trillions of dollars to
build up a military machine, but provides only a
pittance to deal with the AIDS crisis that is
destroying Africa.
If you want to make a financial gift for AIDS
victims, write to me and I will give you some
options. My address is Eastern University, 1300
Eagle Rd, St. Davids, PA 19087. Or check out some of
the many excellent organizations featured below, in
this special edition of the PRISM E-pistle, for ways
to help.
But please, for God's sake, do something!
(Tony Campolo is professor emeritus at Eastern
University in St. Davids, PA)
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
2.QUIZ: HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT AIDS?
from the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).
> How many people in the world are living with
HIV/AIDS?
> What percentage of people with HIV/AIDS are in the
developing world?
> In what region can the largest number of people
living with HIV/AIDS be found?
> How many children in Ethiopia have been orphaned
by AIDS?
> What is the main means of transmission of HIV
worldwide?
> Which country has the highest percentage of people
living with HIV/AIDS?
> Is there a cure for HIV/AIDS?
To find out how much you really know about AIDS,
take the quiz provided by MCC at
http://www.mcc.org/aids/quiz/index.html
MCC runs HIV/AIDS projects in Botswana, Brazil,
Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, D.R. of Congo,
Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria,
Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda,
Zambia, and Zimbabwe. They also work in British
Columbia, Florida, and Washington, D.C. To find out
more, and for ideas on how to help, go to
http://www.mcc.org/aids/help/index.html
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
3.LINKS TO WORTHWHILE ARTICLES & WEBSITES.
"Helping women is key to tackling Africa's AIDS
disaster, forum told" from Agence France Presse
(9.23.03)
"Raped or coerced into unprotected sex, denied
justice or rights by law or tribal practice, lacking
access to health care and education: women are
clearly the biggest victims of Africa's AIDS crisis,
experts warned.
"Grassroots workers attending an international
conference on AIDS in Africa unleashed a torrent of
stories of abuse against women and girls, describing
it as one of the biggest barriers to tackling the
continent's terrifying pandemic..."
To read the rest, copy the following address
http://www.hivworkshop.com/sept03-4.htm#Helping%20wo
men%20is%20key%20to%20tackling%20Africa's%20AIDS%20d
isaster,%20forum%20told
** ** ** ** **
The Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance (GAIA) -
extending help and hope to children and families
faced with AIDS.
Lifesaving and affordable medicine is available! A
US$4-course of medicine given to an HIV+ mother at
the onset of labor, with an additional dose given to
the newborn within 72 hours of birth, has proven to
reduce the baby's risk of getting HIV to about 50%.
Since every day approximately 1,000 babies are born
with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, delivering this drug
to all the women who need it would make a
substantial difference in the death toll of AIDS.
In addition, the lives of the mothers could be
prolonged significantly at a cost of about only
about US$10 per woman per year for sulfa-based
antibiotics to treat HIV-related opportunistic
infections.
Thanks to these drugs, one HIV+ mother that GAIA
works with has since produced one healthy baby boy,
and she is leading a healthier life because she is
in treatment now to extend the years before
full-blown AIDS sets in. When she found out she was
HIV +, she took two AIDS orphans into her own
family. She will raise all of them well, before she
dies. Literally thousands of responsible people
like her could change the direction of the epidemic,
with your help.
To learn more and to see how you can help, go to the
GAIA website at http://www.thegaia.org
** ** ** ** **
At www.data.org, you can urge President Bush to KEEP
OUR PROMISE TO AFRICA.
President Bush and the U.S. Congress, on Americans'
behalf, made a promise to help the poorest people in
Africa fight the AIDS emergency and poverty. But
now they are backing away from that promise.
Across the U.S., Americans are telling our leaders
to keep our promise to Africa - they're getting
informed and getting active in colleges, churches,
hospitals and community centers. Find out who's
doing what - and what YOU can do. Go to
http://www.DATA.org to find the toll-free number so
you can call Congress and exhort them to keep
America's promise to Africa, and to sign their
virtual Promise Card, send a letter to Congress, and
more!
** ** ** ** **
"Why I Would Follow Bono into Hell - and Why
Evangelicals Should Listen to Him and Join U2's
Worldwide Evangelistic Outreach," by David Di
Sabatino for PRISM Magazine (July/Aug '02 issue)
"Along with Bill and Melinda Gates, who created a
$24-billion fund to bridge the healthcare gap
between First and Third World nations, Bono has been
at the forefront of the DATA Agenda for African
healthcare. DATA (Debt, AIDS, and Trade for Africa)
has set forth an agenda calling for both private
philanthropy and government intervention to combat
the problem. In a report filed with CNN.com, Bono
offers an analogy to the United States' investment
in Europe in the aftermath of World War II: 'At the
moment Africa is in the same kind of vulnerable
position that Europe was...And I think it would be
very smart for the West to invest in preventing the
fires rather than putting them out, which is a lot
more expensive.'"
To read the entire text of this award-winning PRISM
article, go to
http://esa-online.org/esa-online/prism/archive/2002/
julyaugust2002/u2article.htm
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
4.EMBRACING THE SCORNED: In India, World Vision
embraces victims of the so-called "women's disease"
- HIV/AIDS - with God's love,
by Jane Sutton-Redner, with reporting by Raju
Bhagwat, Rupak Johnson, and Lily Venkatarangam.
In the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, sub-Saharan Africa
still dominates in severity. But tragedy looms in
other regions, particularly in Asia, where the
disease is exploding through densely populated
countries. India claims the most cases of people
living with HIV/AIDS outside of sub-Saharan Africa.
The TV screen gives off a wan glow in the sunless
room where Neeta,* 29, spends her days. Lying prone
on a thin mat on the floor, the HIV-positive widow
subsists on little more than tea and can barely
summon the strength to bathe. Neeta's whole world is
reduced to this dingy, 3-by-12-foot rented house in
the slums of Mumbai, India. Watching her favorite
channel has become more than a pastime - it's her
lifeline.
Her mother, Meera, gladly provides it. "I love my
daughter very much, and I cannot see her in tension
all the time," says Meera, 47. "She coughs, vomits,
moans, and groans. She needed something to divert
her attention away from her pain and agony. I knew
she loves watching TV."
Neeta is among an increasing number of Indian wives
who contracted HIV/AIDS from their husbands. Nearly
4 million people in India live with HIV/AIDS, a
figure that rivals some of the worst-affected
sub-Saharan African countries. Some sources predict
that India could see more than 20 million people
infected by the end of the decade. Transmission
trends have moved beyond high-risk groups into the
mainstream population. Statistics from antenatal
clinics, where pregnant women's blood is tested,
tell the story of the rising rate of HIV infections
- not among sex workers, but ordinary housewives.
These women invariably outlive their spouses,
causing them to bear the stigma of what's now
called, in some parts of India, "the women's
disease" - an isolating existence. But in two of
India's largest cities, HIV-positive women and their
families need not suffer alone. World Vision staff
reach out with medicine and practical care,
demonstrating through their compassion the loving
God who is always there.
Mumbai: A Caring Network
In India, cultural gender roles condone men's sexual
promiscuity, yet wives cannot refuse their husbands
even if they know the men are indulging in high-risk
behavior. Whatever tolerance a man might expect for
his HIV status does not extend to a woman. "Women
are discriminated against generally in a political
society like India, and more so if the woman is
found [to be] HIV-positive," explains Heather
Ferriera of World Vision's HIV/AIDS program in
Mumbai. "After the death of the HIV-positive
husband, the widow faces an uphill task to carry on
with her life and her children. Many women are
thrown out of their marital homes."
A widow's own family might also pull away - but not
Meera. She lavishes love on Neeta, her only
daughter, as she has always done. After her husband
left her for another woman, Meera scraped and
sacrificed to educate Neeta and to see her married -
the ultimate goal for Indian women. Two years after
the wedding, Neeta's husband, Dutta, started falling
sick frequently.
Dutta was secretive about his medical records,
raising Meera's suspicion. "Though I am not
well-educated to understand these things," she says,
"I had a feeling that this disease comes from some
bad doing." When Neeta's health began to fail in May
2001, Meera took her for a blood test and received
the horrifying news that she was HIV-positive.
Dutta died in February 2002. Sickly Neeta agreed to
let a brother-in-law raise her son, Kaustubh, now 2
and a half. Mother and daughter struggled to survive
alone - until the day they encountered some
unexpected advice at a bus stop.
"A gentleman standing next to me saw Neeta's poor
health and must have understood the cause," Meera
recalls. "He said, 'There is an organization called
World Vision [nearby]. You take your daughter there.
They will help you by giving medicines and other
things.'"
The chance meeting connected the women with World
Vision's Network of Care program in Mumbai slum
communities, where sponsorship projects have
benefited poor children and families since the
1980s. Now in its fifth year, Network of Care
provides HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns, health care
(through a drop-in center), and support groups for
HIV-positive people. Staff also buy food and
reimburse medical bills for patients who are too
sick to work.
Primary beneficiaries are women like Neeta who have
no other place to turn. Heather Ferriera notes that
of the 600-plus cases the center has handled, only
two women were proven to have contracted HIV outside
of marriage.
World Vision also trains HIV-positive counselors to
check on patients at home. Every few days, a
cheerful woman named Neelam appears at Neeta's door,
bringing advice and companionship, sometimes a bag
of groceries, and always encouragement.
On a recent visit, Meera tells Neelam that Neeta
can't keep food down. Neelam - whom Neeta calls
Taai, or Sister - advises Neeta to eat slowly, drink
lots of water, and move around more to aid
digestion. "Look at me: I take proper food," she
says, "and that's why I'm in good shape."
Neelam's smile brightens Neeta's dark days. The work
is also good for Neelam, 30, who has plenty in
common with widows like Neeta. She knows well the
feelings of betrayal and the heartache of loss - but
she's learned how to overcome the hopelessness.
Neelam lost her husband to AIDS in 1997 and then her
daughter to stomach problems in 2001. Resolving to
go on living if just for her son's sake, she
researched HIV/AIDS facilities and found World
Vision. The accepting, nurturing staff felt like a
new family to her. And by listening to the plight of
other patients, "My own problems seemed less
important."
As an HIV/AIDS counselor, Neelam earns $1.50 a day
from World Vision plus food and medical expense
reimbursements. Most importantly, she receives a
kind of comfort with eternal benefits. "World Vision
staff daily sit for prayer. They sing songs and
share God's words from the Bible," Neelam says. She
often joins in, and now she finds that Jesus' name
brings her solace. "I pray to take strength from
Jesus. He only will tell me how to live with AIDS."
Chennai: A Healing Touch
Faith plays a major role in the way people deal with
AIDS' death sentence, says Dr. Punitha Victor, the
medical officer at World Vision Chennai Integrated
HIV/AIDS Center (CIHAC). For four years, World
Vision has been caring for destitute women and
children here in the city where India's first AIDS
case appeared in 1986.
"When I talk to patients, I invariably present God
to them," Dr. Punitha says. "They are hopeless and
helpless. Their only hope is in God. I believe God
has placed me here for this purpose."
In her daily work at World Vision's drop-in center,
Dr. Punitha, who studied psychiatry, deals with both
the physical and emotional. "Most often, the
patients' fear is that they would be left alone with
nobody."
For many, the fear is well-founded. Madavi, 38, was
little more than a heap of bones when World Vision
staff found her. She had been infected with HIV by
her truck-driver husband, who died in 1999. Her
parents feared that even casual contact spreads
AIDS, so they left her to languish outside their
home. Every once in awhile they would open the door
a crack and set out a plate of food. When they saw
Dr. Punitha touch Madavi, they gasped in shock.
At World Vision's Chennai care home, Madavi received
extraordinary care. Staff saw her through heart
surgery, started her on drug therapy that returned
some of her vitality, cared for her two children,
and even helped her reconcile with her father. The
loving treatment is standard for a facility
established in memory of Mother Teresa. But it's
expensive: Care for one person at the home for one
year costs about $2,000. The payoff is longer life -
invaluable for women and the children they will too
soon leave behind.
Six-year-old Akash appeared at World Vision's center
ravaged by tuberculosis, one of the harshest
diseases that preys on HIV-weakened immune systems.
The boy weighed just 15 pounds and was so frail he
couldn't even stand. His mother, Vasantha, admitted
she spent precious time and too much money seeking
treatment for Akash from "quack" healers. She dared
not take him to qualified doctors, fearing they
wouldn't treat her HIV-positive son.
Dr. Punitha started Akash immediately on anti-TB
drugs. As a result of a protein-rich diet, he has
gained four pounds in a month. Gently patting his
cheek, housemother Subhadra Devi says, "He has put
on some flesh now." Akash loves to scribble on pads
of paper as he has seen the doctors do. Vasantha
looks forward to the day that he will walk and even
go to school.
Vasantha allows herself to hope for the first time
since her husband, Mani, died in 1998, a month after
Akash's first birthday. Back then, she tried to end
her life by eating poison, but her parents
intervened. Now determined to survive, Vasantha
traces her change in attitude to her first visit to
World Vision's center and glimpsing Dr. Punitha's
bracelet decorated with a cross. "When I saw that,"
she says, "I had a strange feeling that God brought
me to the right place."
And he has. World Vision staff, equipped by faith,
rescue women and children from the pain of isolation
and prolong their lives with the most important
medicine of all: hope.
*All the names of HIV-positive people have been
changed to protect their identities.
(Excerpted from the Autumn 2003 issue of WORLD
VISION magazine. Reproduced by kind permission of
the editor.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
5."AN OPTIONAL CATASTROPHE,"
by Rev. Jon Good.
"A man with leprosy came to [Jesus] and begged him
on his knees, 'If you are willing, you can make me
clean.' Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out
his hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' he
said. 'Be clean.' Immediately the leprosy left him
and he was cured" (Mark 1:40-42).
Is there anyone in the church - for that matter, is
there anyone anywhere - who isn't convinced that our
world has a modern-day leprosy, and that its name is
AIDS? The statistics are absolutely staggering, and
border on the incomprehensible: 74 million infected,
22 million dead, 14 million orphaned. And these
figures could double in the next six years.
The plight of lepers throughout Scripture has been
well documented: forced to live apart from society,
required to broadcast their uncleanness should they
venture out in public, often subject to severe
punishment should they come in contact with - or
even happen to be downwind from - the uninfected. In
the face of such ostracism and stigma, what did
Jesus do to combat leprosy? Mark tells us that he
was filled with compassion, which led him to reach
out and touch one whom society deemed untouchable.
In so doing, Jesus brought him healing and hope.
This begs the question: What is the church of Jesus
Christ doing with the untouchables of our day?
The congregation I serve, Christ Presbyterian Church
of Edina, Minnesota, is doing something. About a
decade ago, our church started taking short-term
mission trips to the Rakai district of southern
Uganda, which is widely believed to be the
birthplace of AIDS. Nearly an entire generation in
Rakai has been wiped out by the disease, leaving
countless orphans in their wake. Through a
partnership our church developed with World Vision,
our annual trips to Uganda led to our members
sponsoring children. This sponsorship ministry
became a vital part of our church's mission
commitment: for about $25 a month, our members were
offered the opportunity to transform a child's life,
quite possibly for eternity. And so, year after
year, our teams would return from Africa with
wonderful stories, and more children would be
sponsored. After several years, our church was
sponsoring 700 children, more than half of whom were
residents of Rakai, Ground Zero of the AIDS
pandemic. We were thrilled with how God was using
our congregation to make a difference on the other
side of the world.
In the spring of 2002, I had the privilege of
leading another team to Uganda. Once again, we were
struck by both the incredible toll that AIDS had
taken, as well as the incredible faith shown by
those who live and minister among the infected and
affected. Our small group of travelers came home
determined to motivate our church to respond. But we
quickly discovered that after more than a decade's
worth of trips to Africa, much of the congregation
felt as though they'd already heard the story and
done their part to respond. Our returning team
sensed that since the scope of this disease had
grown so big, we needed to make our church's
response even bigger. So we asked World Vision how
many "sponsorable" children were left in the Rakai
district, and we decided that their answer would
become our new goal. We were told that about 500
children were ready and waiting to be sponsored. And
so we launched a new campaign - one that, if
successful, would more than double the number of
children in Rakai sponsored by our church.
Much to our delight - and much to the surprise of
many - God truly blessed our efforts, and in six
weeks' time we'd sponsored as many kids as it had
taken us almost 10 years of effort to sponsor
originally. We were absolutely thrilled. And, as
mission pastor, I felt tremendous satisfaction. That
satisfaction soon turned to smugness as the news of
our effort somehow leaked out. I started hearing
from other pastors who wanted to know our secret.
The local public radio station called for an
interview. And in a Nov. 18, 2002 editorial on
effective AIDS strategies, CHRISTIANITY TODAY
praised our church for "setting the pace for
compassionate, practical care in partnership." I was
starting to feel pretty impressed with my church.
But then a funny thing happened: reality struck. I
quickly went from thinking, "How impressive!" to
thinking, "How pathetic." And I'm afraid that's
where I've stayed. Because that's the truth: How
pathetic is it that a church which has no long-term
strategy for combating AIDS, which has no
staffperson whose sole job it is to focus on AIDS
ministry, and which has no local AIDS involvement
whatsoever, is being held up both locally and
nationally as the model for AIDS involvement? Don't
get me wrong: We've worked and prayed hard to get
where we are, and I'm proud of our congregation's
efforts to make a difference. But if our church is
in the forefront of the effort to fight AIDS, then
the whole church is in trouble.
Why isn't the church of Christ doing more? Isn't it
clear that our world is facing an immense, deadly
crisis that demands a response? It's certainly clear
to some, as is demonstrated by the following:
A century from now, when historians write about
our era, one question will dwarf all others,
and it won't be about finance or politics or
even terrorism. The question will be, simply,
how could our rich and civilized society allow
a known and beatable enemy to kill millions of
people. The enemy, of course, is the HIV
virus...
There is no reason why the plague should have
killed 3 million last year; nor why it should
now be advancing quickly into China and India.
Yet this monstrous destruction proceeds because
not enough people have been shocked into
revolt.
Here, surely, is the puzzle for future
historians: How could we, a society with the
technology to land a missile on Saddam
Hussein's bathmat, not mobilize the science
necessary to defeat the scourge? How could the
United States, a nation that spends $10 billion
a year on soaps and perfumes, give $1 billion
in public money annually for battling the virus
and regard that as enough? How is it that we
have known about AIDS for two decades yet only
now are starting to react? Some say reaction is
hopeless, but that is wrong... AIDS need not
advance unchallenged. It is an optional
catastrophe.
So why do we [engage in] an Iraq war that may
cost more than $100 billion, even as we offer
$1 billion a year to fight a scourge equivalent
to 2.5 September 11s every day? It's partly
because Iraq seems to threaten us more
directly, but "seem" is the operative word
here. If AIDS is allowed to kill one in three
Africans, the failed states and power vacuums
that result are bound to harm U.S. interests.
And if the United States stands back and lets
this happen, its moral claim to global
leadership will have been undermined.
What is the source of these words? Are they from one
of our denominational offices? The Billy Graham
Center? The Vatican? No. These words are from an
editorial in the WASHINGTON POST (Oct. 14, 2002).
This is what the secular press is saying.
What about the church? What are we saying? Not much.
At least not much that's being heard or making a
difference. And who's speaking for the church
anyway? Who's leading our charge? If we're honest, I
think the answer should serve as a slap in the face:
A rock star is speaking for the church.
Thank God for Bono. The lead singer of U2 has made
it his personal mission to challenge the world to do
something in the face of the AIDS pandemic. And he's
forcing many of us to sit up and take notice. He may
not be wearing his faith on his sleeve, but he's
surely open about his passion for the untouchables
of our day. Like many of us who've made short-term
mission trips to Africa, Bono returned from his
first trip a different person. He put it this way in
an interview with Larry King (Dec. 1, 2002):
"[We're] coming home on the plane, and we say,
we'll never forget this. You know, we'll never
forget what we have seen, the squandering of
human life for stupid reasons you know,
money. Money is not a good enough reason to
die. Two and a half million Africans are going
to die next year for the stupidest of reasons:
because it's difficult to get AIDS drugs to
them. Well, it's not difficult to get fizzy
drinks to the furthest reaches of Africa. We
can get cold, fizzy drinks. Surely we can get
the drugs. This is America. We can do anything
here. You've got a guy on the moon. You know
what I mean?"
Just how much is America willing to do? Pollster
George Barna asked that very question. In a recent
poll, Barna found that evangelical Christians were
nearly twice as likely as the general public (14%
compared with 7%) to help underprivileged children
overseas. But when asked if they would help children
orphaned because of AIDS, 5% of the general
population said definitely, compared with only 3% of
evangelicals. In other words, if a child is dying
overseas, we're twice as likely to help. But if that
child is dying of AIDS, we're half as likely.
Is our lack of compassion due to the ignorant belief
that this is a "gay disease" in Africa? Is it
because of the staggering statistics, which lead us
to believe there's nothing we can do that will make
any difference? Is it because we've grown tired of
hearing about AIDS, and even though the pandemic is
horrific, it just doesn't play well enough on CNN to
capture our hearts? When it comes right down to it,
it doesn't really matter what's causing our
indifference. The simple fact is that we don't
appear to be willing to reach out with the love of
Jesus Christ to those who are dying in need of it.
A man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged him on
his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me
clean." What did Jesus do? Yes, he was filled with
compassion. Yes, he reached out his hand and touched
the man. But first, he had to be willing.
The question that needs to be asked is this: Is the
church of Jesus Christ willing? Are we willing to
act with compassion? Are we willing to reach out and
touch the untouchables? Are we willing to take the
trips that will break our hearts? To provide the
sponsorships for the forgotten orphans? To lobby for
the funding for the (very affordable) drugs that
will heal? It all comes down to being a matter of
our collective will.
In my job as mission pastor, I often remind my
congregation that serving in the name of Jesus
Christ isn't something that we've got to do -
rather, it's something that we get to do. In the
face of AIDS, I'm afraid I need to rethink that. The
time for inactivity is over. Every 14 seconds
another child is orphaned by AIDS. In the face of a
plague of biblical proportions, we must move beyond
our fear, our disgust, our ignorance. Whether we
choose to believe it or not, the lepers of today's
world are on their knees before us, the church of
Jesus Christ, begging for us to respond. In the name
- and for the sake - of Jesus Christ, we've got to
do something.
Are we willing?
(Jon Good is mission pastor at Christ Presbyterian
Church in Edina, MN; jong@cpconline.org)
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Don't get PRISM Magazine delivered to your door?
ESA members receive six issues of PRISM Magazine a
year. Call 1-800-650-6600 to become a member or to
receive a free sample issue.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
6.THE GAUNTLET OF AIDS,
by Margaret Kim Peterson.
There is something in AIDS to offend everyone.
Social conservatives are appalled by the sexual
licentiousness that facilitates the spread of AIDS.
Social liberals are dismayed that something as good
as sex could possibly have fatal consequences. And
everyone in the modern West is offended by the idea
that there could be such a thing as an infectious
disease for which there is no ready cure. Our
grandparents' generation died young, of pneumonia,
influenza, and tuberculosis, but we think that if we
have to succumb to disease at all it should be at a
grand old age and of something such as cancer or a
heart disorder. AIDS is thus not just an illness; it
is a gauntlet thrown down before us, a challenge to
all our comfortable assumptions about the way the
world ought to be.
Perhaps this is why people tend to take AIDS so
personally. We practically define ourselves in
relation to it. Does AIDS happen to "us," or does it
happen to "them"? For gay white men, AIDS from early
on has been something that happens to "us." AIDS was
first identified in young gay men in centers of gay
culture like San Francisco and New York. As gay men
began to recognize how many of their number were
infected, ill, or dying, they made AIDS a rallying
point, calling for better medical care and better
access to care, for less-risky patterns of behavior,
for a readiness to care for the sick and to mourn
the dead. Many of them had experienced condemnation
and rejection from family, society, and the church,
and they sought ways to affirm and understand the
value of their individual and corporate lives in the
face of this terrible and overwhelming epidemic.
For a good many Christians, on the other hand, AIDS
is something that happens to "them." Many
conservative Christians have long been inclined to
suppose that the worst sins are sexual and the worst
sexual sins are homosexual. Perhaps it is thus not
surprising that many Christians seized on the early
correlation of AIDS and homosexuality as sufficient
reason to understand AIDS as a uniquely terrible
fate that befalls uniquely wicked people. AIDS
doesn't happen to nice people, decent people,
Christian people. It happens to bad people who
deserve it. The so-called "innocent" victims of AIDS
- hemophiliacs, infant children - are pathetic
exceptions to the general rule that to have AIDS is
to be guilty of something really bad. Thus, as the
gay community responded to AIDS as an enemy
requiring engagement and as a call to affirm the
value of their lives in the face of those
(especially Christians) who would reject and
condemn, large segments of the Christian community
responded to AIDS as God's judgment on other people
(especially homosexuals), as something to be feared
and avoided but not encountered personally.
(The above excerpt comes from the chapter entitled
"The Rhetoric of AIDS" in the recently released SING
ME TO HEAVEN: THE STORY OF A MARRIAGE by Margaret
Kim Peterson [Brazos Press, 2003]. An expanded
adaptation of that chapter appeared in the Sept/Oct
2003 issue of PRISM Magazine under the title
"Between Two Worlds." Reproduced by kind permission
of the publisher.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
7.CALLED TO FOLLOW,
by Rebecca Heidkamp of World Relief's HIV/AIDS
Program in Nairobi, Kenya.
You have read the statistics. You have heard the
stories. You do not need to be convinced that AIDS
is the greatest tragedy facing our world today. You
just need to be told where to go and what to do. But
before you jump on a plane or start a program,
remember - you are not alone.
"Now you are the body of Christ, and each
one of you is a part of it."
1 Corinthians 12:27 NIV
You are joined to brothers and sisters across the
African continent and in all corners of the world
who carry the burden of the AIDS crisis. Some of
those you join are patients, facing firsthand the
reality of sickness and death. Others are family and
friends who must watch those they love pass away and
then struggle to survive without them. Still others
have only seen and heard from a distance, but that
is enough to spur them to respond.
We always seem to hear of what is NOT being done -
not enough donors are giving money, not enough
medicines are available, not enough people care. Let
us stop for a moment to consider what the Church in
Africa is doing. Let us watch and learn from the
parts of the body that bear the weight of this
crisis.
If the whole body were an eye,
where would the sense of hearing be?
If the whole body were an ear,
where would the sense of smell be?
1 Corinthians 12:17 NIV
Josephine, for example, is a Kenyan woman in her
mid-30s who does not need to walk the paths leading
through a slum outside Nairobi. Her husband has a
good job. Her family lives in a middle-class
neighborhood far from the corrugated iron roofs of
the slum community. Yet she is there four days each
week because she feels called by God to train women
in the community as volunteer home-care providers,
to care for people affected by HIV/AIDS, and to work
to mobilize local churches to respond to HIV/AIDS.
I work with Josephine. We are good friends. Yet I
rarely go with her to the slum. It is not that I do
not want to go. But when people see my light skin,
expectations are raised. Rumors begin to fly about
how Josephine must have lots of money she is not
sharing. I am a burden rather than a help despite
all of my good intentions. Instead I fill a less
noticeable role - in an office behind a computer
editing reports and compiling proposals. I work to
provide the technical support that enables
Josephine's ministry to continue.
"Those parts of the body that seem
to be weaker are indispensable, and
the parts that we think are less
honorable we treat with special honor."
1 Corinthians 12:22-23a NIV
As Christians in North America, we are part of the
body and we do have an important role to play in the
AIDS crisis. Only this time, in terms of experience
and understanding, we are the weaker part. We must
rely on the strength and leadership of our African
brothers and sisters. We must trust them to be the
eyes, ears, hands and feet that take, direct, and
use the resources we can provide.
We must acknowledge the power of prayers prayed
behind closed doors, and be willing to be found
there on our knees rather than in the midst of an
urban slum or remote village "where the action is."
We must continue writing letters to people of
influence, talking to others, and giving what we can
materially. We must live lives of sexual purity and
strive to have lifestyles that do not contribute to
global inequalities.
I am not saying there are never times and ways in
which we, as North American Christians, are called
to go ourselves and work alongside our brothers and
sisters in parts of the world deeply impacted by
poverty and AIDS. Yet through my own experiences in
Africa and Latin America, I have discovered that I
am more a rib than a leg - a part that is
indispensable for support and protection, but a part
that must follow where the other parts lead.
(This essay was originally published in the Wheaton
College alumni magazine. Reproduced here by kind
permission of the author.)
Niebuhr thought that sustained moral energy in politics depended on religion's power to mobilize reason along with self-transcending love. The prophetic tradition, meanwhile, gave Jews and Christians some protection against the temptation to identify their social causes with God's will. Lincoln's second inaugural address expressed the prophetic insight, "The almighty has His own purposes." | | Back to Top | | |
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phil_five
Registered Member
Date Joined Feb 2003
Total Posts : 29
| Posted 11/19/2003 2:35 PM (GMT -6) | | Honorman: "Last time I remembered people had to do something to get AIDS. They don't simply "catch" it..."
Tony Campolo: 1) "Consider the fact that a
huge number of those who are HIV positive are women
who have been infected by promiscuous husbands. Are
they to be condemned and ignored because of what
their husbands have done?"
2)"Making matters even worse was the prevalent
myth that AIDS could be cured by having sex with a
virgin - leading to the rape of many young girls by
stricken men."
3)"At a church meeting in Zimbabwe, I heard a mother
ask the congregation to pray that her children would
die before she did. Her husband had given her the
HIV virus and she, unknowingly, had given birth to
two girls who were infected."
| | Back to Top | | |
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honorman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 1137
| Posted 11/19/2003 4:15 PM (GMT -6) | | BOOHOO! everything in the world is either the church or our government's fault. I so like being part of Satan's kingdom  | | Back to Top | | |
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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 11/26/2003 7:01 AM (GMT -6) | | Don't Tell the Pope
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: November 26, 2003
CONSONATE, El Salvador
Pope John Paul II would be scandalized if he came to the Roman Catholic hospital here in the poor southwestern part of El Salvador.
Thank God!
The Vatican is increasingly out of touch and exerts a reactionary — even, in this world of AIDS, deadly — influence on health policy in the developing world. Here in El Salvador, church leaders in 1998 helped ban abortions even when necessary to save the life of a woman, and, much worse, helped pass a law, which took effect last month, requiring condoms to carry warnings that they do not protect against AIDS.
In El Salvador, where only 4 percent of women use contraceptives the first time they have sex, this law will mean more kids dying of AIDS. The reality is that condoms no more cause sex than umbrellas cause rain.
Here at the grass roots, the Catholic Church is a vibrant, flexible organization enormously different from the out-of-touch Vatican. At the Catholic-run hospital here in Sonsonate, doctors tell women about IUD's and the pill — and especially about using condoms to protect against AIDS. Their humanitarian work is a reminder that the Catholic Church is much greater than the Vatican: local priests and nuns often ignore the troglodytes in Rome and quietly do what they can to save parishioners from AIDS.
"The bishop is in San Salvador and never comes here," explains Dr. Martha Alica De Regalada. "So we never get in trouble."
The Vatican has consistently opposed condoms and safe-sex education, even claiming falsely that condoms don't protect against AIDS. That's on par with the church under Pope Urban VIII putting Galileo under house arrest — except that this will have more deadly results.
Yet I take my hat off to the much broader Catholic Church that is toiling in the barrios of Latin America and the slums of Africa and Asia. Catholic Relief Services, one of the most vigorous aid organizations in the third world, is an example of humanitarianism at its noblest.
At ground level, priests apply doctrine with a flexibility that must drive the pope wild. In the desperately poor Salvadoran hillside village of Chucita, where campesinos live in shacks without water or electricity, a teacher explained how his fifth-grade class learns about dealing with AIDS.
"A social worker comes in with a banana and puts a condom on it," said the teacher, Eduardo Antonio Ascencio Mata. The priests, he says, have no objection.
In the remote Guatemalan town of Coatepeque, Maryknoll sisters run a first-rate AIDS clinic and prevention program, saving lives on a vast scale. They work with prostitutes and school children and explain how condoms can protect against AIDS.
So what about Vatican teachings?
"Certainly, God does not want us to kill each other," responded Marlene Condon, who works with AIDS patients. "You've got to do something."
Elsewhere in Coatepeque, some priests hold meetings where young people preparing for confirmation learn about AIDS — and condoms.
The Vatican has appointed hard-line bishops to eviscerate liberation theology and bring parishes back into line. Still, the French and German bishops' conferences have urged that condoms be permitted to fight AIDS, and Bishop Kevin Dowling of South Africa is pushing hard for the church to change policy to save lives.
Just this month, Catholics for a Free Choice and 20 other Catholic organizations called on bishops to accept condoms as a way to fight AIDS.
The irony is that no organization does more to help AIDS victims and their orphans than the Catholic Church. Some 25 percent of AIDS care worldwide is provided by church- related groups. Yet the Vatican blindly opposes condoms, even within a marriage when a husband or wife is infected with H.I.V. A member of the Kenyan Parliament has called the church "the greatest impediment in the fight against H.I.V./AIDS."
Let's hope the Vatican will learn from its priests and nuns on the ground, who do so much heroic work fighting the disease. In Coatepeque, I spoke with Father Mario Adolfo Dominguez, who sighed as I grilled him on the theology of condoms.
"We don't recommend the use of condoms, but we're not opposed to their use because we know they prevent AIDS," he said, looking nervous as I wrote down his words. "There is no contradiction between Christianity and a piece of rubber."
Niebuhr thought that sustained moral energy in politics depended on religion's power to mobilize reason along with self-transcending love. The prophetic tradition, meanwhile, gave Jews and Christians some protection against the temptation to identify their social causes with God's will. Lincoln's second inaugural address expressed the prophetic insight, "The almighty has His own purposes." | | Back to Top | | |
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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 12/1/2003 8:19 AM (GMT -6) | |
A message from Tony Campolo:
I wish you could see what I saw when I visited South Africa and
Zimbabwe. Spread before my eyes were the devastating effects of
the AIDS epidemic. It seemed as though everywhere I turned I met
children who belonged to nobody, because they had lost both
parents to this dreaded disease. In two of the schools I
visited, there was a shortage of teachers because more than half
of the teachers had died of AIDS. Making matters even worse was
the prevalent myth that AIDS could be cured by having sex with a
virgin - leading to the rape of many young girls by stricken
men.
The Christian response to the AIDS epidemic has been abominable.
There has been a tendency to write off those who are suffering
from AIDS on the grounds that this disease is some kind of
punishment that God has meted out to those who have been
sexually promiscuous. The logic behind such a conclusion is
beyond my comprehension. Consider the fact that a huge number of
those who are HIV positive are women who have been infected by
promiscuous husbands. Are they to be condemned and ignored
because of what their husbands have done? And what about the
children who are born with the disease? Children constitute a
significant proportion of those who are facing the possibility
of AIDS-related death through no fault of their own.
We should recognize that the AIDS epidemic very much parallels
the disease of leprosy that we read about in the New Testament.
In biblical times, those who had leprosy were deemed spiritually
unclean, and others would not get near them or touch them for
fear of contamination that would be both physically harmful and
spiritually defiling. Leprosy was seen as having a spiritual
dimension to it, and lepers were looked upon as being especially
cursed by God.
It is important for us to note that Jesus had a special spot in
his heart to lepers. He embraced them. He touched them and
certainly did not view the disease as some kind of special
punishment that had been rained down on them by the Heavenly
Father. Jesus reached out to them in love, which was contrary to
the legalistic pietism of religious leaders in His day. He
touched them as He healed them, in spite of the fact that
touching them would render Him ceremoniously unclean to the
custodians of the temple religion.
The Jesus of scripture calls upon us to see His presence in
people with AIDS. Mother Theresa once said, "Whenever I look
into the eyes of someone dying of AIDS, I have an eerie
awareness that Jesus is staring back at me." Indeed, that is the
case! No one can say that he or she loves Jesus without
embracing the Jesus who waits to be embraced in those who have
this torturous disease.
Indifference to the people in Africa who are suffering from AIDS
must be challenged. Those of us who are in the church must use
what moral authority we have to speak to those political and
economic structures that the Bible refers to as the
principalities and powers" that rule our age. We must raise our
voices against those pharmaceutical corporations that overprice
the new drugs that are able to slow down the effects of the HIV
virus in those who are infected. We must call the corporate
community to account when they value a profit more than the
lives of people. We must speak out against a government that
spends trillions of dollars to build up a military machine, but
provides only a pittance to deal with the AIDS crisis that is
destroying Africa. But please, for God's sake, do something!
Tony Campolo is professor emeritus at Eastern University in St.
Davids, PA.
-------------------------------------------------
Answer Tony's call to action:
Today is World AIDS Day - a day of awareness and action to stop
the spread of AIDS - and Sojourners is part of a coordinated
effort to tell President Bush that more funding is needed to
fight this and other deadly diseases.
Get the facts and take action at: http://go.sojo.net/campaign/stop_AIDS/e5wkn6rqjnkikx
Niebuhr thought that sustained moral energy in politics depended on religion's power to mobilize reason along with self-transcending love. The prophetic tradition, meanwhile, gave Jews and Christians some protection against the temptation to identify their social causes with God's will. Lincoln's second inaugural address expressed the prophetic insight, "The almighty has His own purposes." | | Back to Top | | |
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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 12/3/2003 10:35 AM (GMT -6) | | Hearts & Minds
+++++++++++++++++++++
A crisis of biblical proportions
by Jim Wallis
I've always loved basketball. And my favorite basketball player
of all time was Magic - Earvin "Magic" Johnson of the Los
Angeles Lakers. I loved the way he understood the game and what
it meant to be a team. The way he played made everybody else
better. When it was announced that Magic had contracted HIV, I
was brokenhearted. I would no longer see him take a rebound and
lead the patented Laker "Showtime" fast break.
Much worse, I was sure Magic would die - soon. But while HIV
eventually ended his basketball career, Magic hasn't died.
Through antiretroviral drugs he has gone on to live - and a
rather full life.
But today, 9,000 people will die of HIV/AIDS. And almost all of
them will be poor - they simply can't afford the drug treatments
that prolong life. World Vision says it well: "For the majority
of patients in poor countries, AIDS is a death sentence - not a
chronic, manageable condition."
Today, 14,000 new people will be infected with the disease, most
of them in poor countries. Forty-two million already have it, 22
million have already died, and the World Health Organization
puts the number of new infections at 5 million. The world has
never seen a public health crisis like this. Given the numbers,
one could say it is a crisis of "biblical proportions."
Last week, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said prophetically:
"For me it's not just statistics. ...I've seen the human
suffering and the pain, and what is even more difficult is when
you see somebody lying there dying who knows that there is
medication and medicine somewhere else in the world that can
save her. But she can't have it, because she is poor and lives
in a poor country. Where is our common humanity? How do you
explain it to her, that in certain parts of the world AIDS is a
disease that can be treated and one can live with and function?
But in her particular situation, it's a death sentence."
People dying of AIDS who know that elsewhere medication is
saving the lives of people know that they are dying because they
are poor. That, indeed, is a biblical matter.
The only good news is that the churches are changing. We must
admit that the churches have been slow to respond. AIDS has
carried a sexual stigma for the churches, and we didn't want to
deal with it. And the early perceptions of the disease were
mostly associated with homosexuality - and the church didn't
want to deal with that either.
But most victims of HIV/AIDS today are women and children -
infected by the promiscuity of men, and exacerbated by their
poverty. An entire generation of children - 13 million worldwide
- have been orphaned by AIDS and face a bleak future without our
immediate support.
We are finally seeing new church leadership and, perhaps most
significantly, new Evangelical leadership. On this World AIDS
Day I can point to the strong and unequivocal statements of
commitment from groups like World Vision, World Relief, and the
National Association of Evangelicals, along with the Catholic
Bishops and the mainline Protestant Church World Service.
HIV/AIDS is awakening the conscience of the churches.
Some have likened AIDS to a modern-day leprosy-the terrible
scourge of Jesus' day. The gospels note that Jesus went out of
his way to embrace the lepers who were isolated and abandoned by
the society and the religious people of his day. He instructed
his followers to heed his example. Today, Christians are
starting to follow Jesus, who said: "I was sick and you took
care of me."
We in the faith community must raise up a prophetic voice and
undertake a new faith-based initiative on HIV/AIDS.
We must call on our leaders in Congress to act. We must call on
President George W. Bush to take a faith-based initiative in
fully funding his own HIV/AIDS initiative, which many of us
applauded at the time, but have watched in dismay as promises
were broken. A commitment of $15 billion over 5 years means $3
billion this year, yet Congress only appropriated $2.4 billion.
To fund an initiative that will help in both the prevention and
treatment of AIDS is now quite simply a matter of good faith -
of making good on faith. There can be no excuses. It is a moral
imperative, as well as a political necessity. For all of us, it
is a matter of faith.
These remarks were delivered at a press conference held by
religious leaders outside the U.S. Treasury Department on World
AIDS Day, Monday, December 1.
Monday was Global AIDS Day, but you can still take action! Go to
our action alert page and tell President Bush to fully fund
global anti-AIDS initiatives: http://go.sojo.net/campaign/stop_AIDS/e5wkn62yj7bdd5
Niebuhr thought that sustained moral energy in politics depended on religion's power to mobilize reason along with self-transcending love. The prophetic tradition, meanwhile, gave Jews and Christians some protection against the temptation to identify their social causes with God's will. Lincoln's second inaugural address expressed the prophetic insight, "The almighty has His own purposes." | | Back to Top | | |
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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 12/5/2003 12:16 PM (GMT -6) | | Religions rise to Aids challenge
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3290825.stm
By Daniel Lak
BBC correspondent in Kathmandu
On the roof of their home in the Nepalese capital, 29-year-old Surendra Shaha and his mother are sitting with a Hindu priest, known as a pandit.
Surendra Shaha says his weekly prayer ritual is helping him
Incense sticks smoulder and pots of coloured powders and oil lie in careful array.
The priest mutters verses from Hindu scripture, smears red paste on Surendra's forehead then blows on a conch shell to summon the gods.
Surendra is HIV positive and this is a weekly ritual organised by his mother to keep his spirits up, to bring him in touch with his culture and religion. By all accounts, it's working.
"He's doing very well," says Mrs Shaha, "thanks to the gods and the daily prayers."
They listen and respect us because we are monks. So much has changed
Ven Phra Tuangsit, Aids activist and monk
Surendra - wearing a T-shirt proclaiming "3 million", the worldwide death toll from Aids - says he has rediscovered his Hindu faith lately.
"My mother was always after me to pray more, to pay more attention to god. Now I do and it's working. I feel happy and healthy, I'm living a normal life."
Change of heart
The role of religion in combating HIV/Aids can be a controversial one.
Orthodox thinkers in most major faiths have, in the past, denounced those who fall ill with the virus that causes Aids, suggesting their fate is divine punishment for immoral behaviour - but no longer.
At a conference in Kathmandu this week, bringing together representatives of all of South Asia's many religious faiths and HIV/Aids activists, speaker after speaker has been calling for compassion and tolerance for victims.
Ven Phra Tuangsit's Aids project in Thailand will be copied elsewhere
Unicef South Asia director Dr Sadig Rasheed says: "We need religious leaders to help us in every way, to pray for the sick, to comfort those inflicted and to help spread awareness and prevention strategies."
Once, Aids activists despaired at conservative religious attitudes.
The International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994 was largely seen as a failure on the question of HIV/Aids, because the various religious delegates opposed measures like condom distribution to stop the spread of the disease.
"We thought we'd be fighting religion tooth and nail after that," said a member of a large international charity, requesting anonymity.
Star monk
The organisers of the Kathmandu meeting say things have changed; faiths and HIV/Aids workers are converging, compromising and learning to live with each other's attitudes and priorities.
One of the stars of this week's conference in Nepal is Buddhist monk Ven Phra Tuangsit from Nong Khai in Thailand.
An Aids activist addresses delegates at the Sai Baba temple
He leads a project called Sangha Metta that many want to see duplicated in other parts of South Asia.
Buddhist clerics involved in the project work with young people, sex workers and others to spread awareness of HIV/Aids, including demonstrating how to use condoms, if appropriate.
"At first people were worried that it was inappropriate," says the saffron clad monk, "for a Buddhist cleric to work with condoms and things, but now people realise that I'm practising Buddhist compassion and helping people avoid painful, humiliating illness."
"They listen and respect us because we are monks. So much has changed."
In the audience, listening to Tuangsit speak, are mosque imams from the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, perhaps the most religiously orthodox region of South Asia.
They sit alongside Catholic priests and discuss the meeting's progress in hushed tones, keeping their opinions to themselves for now.
But with HIV/Aids set to become South Asia's biggest public health challenge very soon, it's clear that the men and women who serve God have decided they have a role to play in helping the present and future victims of a dreaded epidemic.
Niebuhr thought that sustained moral energy in politics depended on religion's power to mobilize reason along with self-transcending love. The prophetic tradition, meanwhile, gave Jews and Christians some protection against the temptation to identify their social causes with God's will. Lincoln's second inaugural address expressed the prophetic insight, "The almighty has His own purposes." | | Back to Top | | |
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