Light of Hope UMC

 
International News
 
Denzel Washington brings some star power to local UMC

02.14.08
by Cynthia A. Bond Hopson, Ph.D. Assistant General Secretary, Black College Fund

Dear Friends in Ministry,

Actor Denzel Washington brings some star power to local United Methodist church services in a specially produced video available for downloading at www.umc.org/greatdebaters .

In the video, Washington tailors a greeting to United Methodist congregations and thanks them for a "legacy of support" on behalf of the 11historically African-American colleges and universities long sustained by United Methodism's Black College Fund apportionment.

The five-minute video also features excerpts from Washington's new film, "The Great Debaters." Set in Marshall, Texas, the movie stars Washington as Melvin B. Tolson, a brilliant but volatile debate coach. In 1935 Tolson inspired Wiley College students to form the school's first debate team and challenge the University of Southern California (shown as Harvard in the film) in a national championship. Despite incredible odds, Wiley beat Southern California-and a score of other oratorical powerhouses.

"My faith," said Washington, "has made me realize there are things much more important than just making movies. It's important for me to tell stories that people will benefit from: stories about life, about actions and about consequences."

To get the latest information on "The Great Debaters" and to learn more about Wiley College and other institutions supported by the Black College Fund, please go to:

www.umc.org/greatdebaters
http://www.gbhem.org/bcf 
 
Why Should I Care About AIDS? A Focus On: Women

10.25.07
By Natalie Brown, DSC AIDS Task Force

In the last issue of the Desert Connection, you read about the dangers of misinformation regarding HIV/AIDS. For the next few months, the Desert Southwest Conference AIDS Task Force will focus on the factors that influence how HIV/AIDS affects various groups, and the specific challenges associated with providing accurate and complete healthcare information for disease prevention and treatment to each of those groups.

The rate of women and girls infected with HIV is quickly growing. It is a misconception that HIV/AIDS is primarily a concern for homosexual men. According to the Center for Women’s Policy Studies, unprotected heterosexual sex is the single most important factor in the transmission of HIV across the globe. Globally, approximately half of all people living with HIV are female. In the U.S., 27% of new AIDS cases are women. This same figure was only 8% in 1985. Nationwide, women are less likely to receive appropriate HIV treatment than men.

In Africa, young women between the ages of 15 and 24 are nearly three times more likely to be HIV-positive than young men of the same age. Why is this? We cannot begin to understand the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS without first examining the social and economic inequities based on gender that exist in many parts of the world. In places where women do not have access to education, employment opportunities, political participation, land ownership, and economic security, women are often forced into marriage and/or sexual relationships to escape poverty. Rejection or violence can result if these same women insist that their husband or partner use a condom or be tested for HIV. These women are unlikely to be tested themselves. Young women married to older men are at greater risk as they feel even less empowered. A majority of women with HIV were infected through heterosexual sex while in monogamous relationships and did not engage in high-risk behavior. In India, for example, 80% of HIV infections in women occurred in those who were both married and monogamous.

Myths and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS also lead to greater infection rates of women. Two weeks ago, we learned of a religious leader discouraging the use of condoms and anti-retroviral drugs. Even more dangerous is the propagation of the myth that sex with a female virgin will cure HIV, which has lead to the rape of young women in African countries by HIV-positive men.

Because HIV infection in women is dependent on so many factors, the UNAIDS Global Coalition has identified several action areas, including preventing HIV infection among adolescent girls by focusing on reproductive health care, reducing violence against women, protecting the property and inheritance rights of women and girls, ensuring equal access by women and girls to care and treatment, supporting improved community-based care, promoting access to prevention options for women, and supporting ongoing efforts toward universal education for girls. Violence, human trafficking, rape, and forced prostitution all increase the rates of HIV infection among women. Because many women are at risk for HIV infection based on the behavior of others and other external factors, any action taken to increase the autonomy and empowerment of women worldwide is a step toward reducing HIV infection rates.
 
United Methodists invited to take hymn survey

10.25.07
United Methodists are invited to participate in an online survey identifying their 10 favorite hymns to help the United Methodist Publishing House and the United Methodist Board of Discipleship analyze and plan for congregational singing resources and identify changes and trends in musical styles. The survey also asks participants to select up to 10 of their least favorite hymns and songs and also the titles that should have been included. In addition, participants will respond to five geographic questions. The
survey is available at Favorite Hymns of United Methodists in the USA.
 
Katrina Recovery Opportunity

10.16.07
We have an interesting situation in Dulac that I need help with. The Louisiana Conference recently received an LFRC grant that has specifically infused $250,000 into Dulac for the rebuilding of homes. That in itself is great news! We so desperately need the money. This is government funds, though, and so there are stipulations (of course). I can spend no more than $15,000 on a single home (I can live with that), and the money can only be used for materials - no labor. I have to be able to buy all the materials before December 31 (ouch! - but do-able), and, all projects must be completed by February 15, 2008. O.k.- there's the problem. UMCOR has, wonderfully, decided to allow their $7,500 per home funds to be used for labor, tied in with this LFRC money. That is helpful. But it won't cover the cost of paying contractor labor costs for all that needs to be done. Here's what I need: VOLUNTEERS. We're in a slack period. Please get the word out that Louisiana needs your volunteers ASAP. Now in all fairness, the LFRC grant money did go to several locations across Louisiana. But - $250,000 did get specified to Dulac, and I bet I'm the first of the station managers to contact you - so, please - send folks to Dulac. Some of you have heard that I have resigned from here. Yes and no. Because of this grant money the Conference asked me to stay on a bit longer. I have agreed. So come on down with multiple teams and I'll be here to show everyone a great time. Although all skill levels are needed, I have a particular need for skilled electricians, plumbers and drywall hangers/finishers. (Miracle workers accepted as well.)

Thanks, JP
John McGuire

NOTE: For more information, please contact Pastor Anthony.
 
HIV in the News: Clarification

10.03.07
On September 26, an article appeared on the MSNBC website in which Archbishop Francisco Chimoio, the head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique, claimed that two unnamed European countries were
deliberately manufacturing condoms tainted with the HIV virus in a plot to kill Africans. He also claimed that unspecified European drug companies were manufacturing anti-retroviral drugs to be used in Africa
that were contaminated with HIV. The article can be found at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20999747/.

The Desert Southwest Annual Conference AIDS Task Force would like to take this opportunity to clarify some misconceptions about HIV and AIDS. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). According to the United Nations Development Programme's You and AIDS division, "The Human Immunodeficiency Virus is fragile. Once the virus is outside the body in a dry form, it dies immediately. Even in a wet state, it does not live long when exposed to heat, detergents, or disinfectants." A terrorist attack like what Archbishop Chimoio described is biologically
impossible. HIV cannot be spread through casual contact and can only be transmitted by the following fluids: blood, semen, vaginal fluid, and breast milk.

This article provides an example and painful reminder of the hate and misinformation that is out there regarding this disease, as well as the cultural and religious challenges of providing access to accurate and complete information regarding health education. We ask you to use this as an opportunity to educate yourself about HIV/AIDS and then get involved in an AIDS outreach ministry in some capacity. Please visit the AIDS Task Force webpage on the Conference website for ideas. We also ask that you remember all those affected by HIV/AIDS in your prayers.

The AIDS Task Force, with the help of the Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network, has developed an HIV/AIDS education and prevention curriculum.  The AIDS Task Force also has a Speaker's Bureau of individuals willing to present this curriculum to any group. If you would like more information about scheduling a presentation or to obtain a copy of the full curriculum, please contact Rev. Mary Bullis at
Mary.Bullis@azwildblue.com.
 
Women Division joins call for justice in Jena, La.

09.20.07
Women’s Division urges Louisiana and U.S. officials to intervene in racially charged criminal prosecution of six black students in Jena, La.  by YVETTE MOORE*

Sept. 20, 2007, New York City – The Women’s Division joined nationwide calls for equal justice for six black students facing criminal prosecution in the wake of racially charged events at their high school in Jena, La.

The students, known as the “Jena 6,” were charged as adults for attempted murder for beating up a white student at school after a series of racial incidents at and around the school. The white student was treated and released from the hospital the day of the fight and attended a school function the same evening.

Women’s Division issued a statement on the case and sent letters urging Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana Donald Washington to intervene in the case. The letters called on the government officials to:
  • Investigate and monitor the criminal cases against the youth;
  • Guarantee the youths’ constitutional right to fair and equal treatment under the law; and
  • Pursue justice in the situation.

The division called on United Methodist Women members to send similar letters to Louisiana and other government officials. The division asked members to pray for the Jena community, in particular:

  • The six young men, their families, and that they gain justice;
  • For justice, healing and reconciliation for all the families of Jena;
  • For the faith community of Jena and of Louisiana, that they might continue efforts to bridge the racial divide and witness to God’s work of justice and mercy in the world;
  • For our nation to mend a failed criminal justice system that incarcerates black men at alarming rates in an unequal application of the law.

“What is happening in Jena is the reflection of much deeper institutional racism in our nation,” the Women’s Division stated. “Fifty years after the gains of the Civil Rights Movement we are witnessing a ‘new Jim Crow’ racism that functions through unequal schools, courts and police forces that disproportionately criminalize and jail poor young black and Latino youth.

“Like our Methodist foremothers whose local missionary societies led the Southern anti-lynching societies and created the United Methodist Church’s first Charter for Racial Justice Policies in 1952, we are compelled to speak out about what Jena, La., means for us as a nation today.”

The Women’s Division is the national policy-making body of United Methodist Women, a nearly 800,000-member organization in the United Methodist Church in the United States. Its purpose is to foster spiritual growth, develop leaders and advocate for justice. United Methodist Women members give more than $20 million a year for programs and projects related to women, children and youth in the United States and around the world.

*Yvette Moore is an executive secretary for communications for the Women’s Division of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries.
 
'Path One' team plans strategy for new church starts

07.02.07
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)—Since the most effective evangelism is through new churches, The United Methodist Church wants to start 650 new congregations with 63,000 members by 2012 as part of a new emphasis on church growth in the United States. Eventually, the shrinking denomination wants to return to its evangelistic heyday of planting a new U.S. church every day. It also wants to reach untapped frontiers such as western states where the church historically has not followed population growth. The strategy is all part of the aggressive vision of "Path One," the newly organized strategy team on new congregational development coordinated by the United Methodist Board of Discipleship. "We believe it’s one of the most needed and time-sensitive national efforts in the denomination’s recent history," said the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, top executive of the Board of Discipleship.

The initiative will be headed by the Rev. Thomas G. Butcher (former Central-West District Superintendent of the Desert Southwest Annual Conference), who on July 1 becomes executive secretary of the newly created office of new congregational development for the United States. Butcher will work to foster a new wave of United Methodist evangelism by developing and coordinating training for 1,000 new church "planters."
 
Dolly Parton's gift honors Methodist missionary doctor

02.06.07
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Country singer Dolly Parton's pledge of $500,000 to a new hospital in her hometown honors a Methodist missionary doctor and minister who worked in the East Tennessee mountains for more than 50 years. Dr. Robert F. Thomas came to Sevier County in 1929 as both physician and clergyman. He delivered Parton and several of her brothers and sisters, and became a beloved citizen to the Smoky Mountains region of Tennessee. Parton has honored Thomas several times before. One of her country ballads describes him as a "mighty, mighty man" whom the "Lord must have appointed." The 200-seat "country" chapel at her Dollywood theme park is named for the missionary, and he was the resident pastor there from its opening in 1973 until his death in 1981. The singer's gifts are being made through the Robert F. Thomas Foundation, which is raising $10 million of the $90 million needed for a new 79-bed hospital and cancer center in the rapidly growing Sevierville-Pigeon Forge area, according to a report by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
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United Methodists create Methodist blog about denomination

02.06.07
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - A group of lay and clergy persons have come together online to create the MethoBlog.  The site was conceived as a place to connect United Methodists, create community and promote conversation about the church. At a recent gathering in conjunction with the Congress on Evangelism in Myrtle Beach, S.C., the "Methobloggers" decided to focus on the 2008 General Conference and provide a space for conversation in advance of the quadrennial meeting of United Methodists in Fort Worth, Texas.

"One of the difficulties we have had in the past," says the Rev. Jay Voorhees, co-editor of the site, "is that there have been too few opportunities for individuals to talk about the issues before the church. Once delegates get to General Conference, the schedule doesn't allow room for substantive conversation on the theological or political implications of the legislation being considered. Our hope is that our site could become a gathering place for delegates and non-delegates alike to openly discuss and think through the things that will be voted on."

The site is focusing the discussion every Tuesday on issues facing the General Conference, providing questions for conversation, and encouraging participants to be open and honest about their hopes and dreams for the church. They will link to articles related to the General Conference from a variety of sources, and are talking about creating some sort of mechanism for submitting petitions to the General Conference online through their site.
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Exploration Weekend of Prayer, Discernment, and Commitment

12.08.06
Ordained clergy told their personal stories of answering God's call to 525 young people attending Exploration 2006 to wrestle with the question of whether God is calling them to ordained ministry in the UMC. During a commitment service Saturday night, more than 300 high school seniors and young adults from 42 states stepped forward to pray with elders, deacons, local pastors, chaplains, and campus ministers who attended the event in Jacksonville, Fla., held Nov. 17-19. At the end of the night, 198 youth and young adults signed commitment cards saying they are definitely interested in ordained ministry. Young people, high school seniors to age 24, attending the event said hearing the stories in the main worship and plenary session and during workshops and small group sessions was helpful in clarifying what God was telling them to do. - Vicki Brown, GBHEM
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World AIDS Day 2006

11.28.06
25 years of AIDS
In June 1981, scientists in the United States reported the first evidence of a disease that would become known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS. Twenty five years later, the AIDS epidemic has spread to every corner of the world. Around 40 million people are today living with HIV and over 25 million have died of AIDS.

World AIDS Day is traditionally observed December 1. United Methodists are encouraged to observe this event on or near that day. This year's international theme: "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise" relates directly to the eight UN Millennium Goals to "Keep the Promise" to fight the sources of hunger and poverty in our world. To read more about the worldwide response to AIDS, administered through the UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

United Methodists are responding to the global epidemic locally and globally. Please use the information and resources on this page to learn more about how HIV/AIDS affects our society and world and for ways to observe this day in your community.

$8 Million of Hope
One way United Methodists are answering this crisis is through the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund. Heeding the biblical commands to "care for the widow and the orphan" and "visit the sick," the 2004 General Conference delegates established The United Methodist Church Global AIDS Fund, with a goal of raising at least $8 million by 2008.

Funding supports education, prevention, care, and treatment programs for people living with HIV/AIDS. The Global AIDS Fund does not overlook the crisis in the United States. About one million people are infected in the United States and more are added to that number each day. The plan specifies that 25 percent of what each annual conference raises should be used in that conference for AIDS work, either locally or in global projects.

Preventing AIDS in the Next Generation
This critical work is starting with the next generation: infants infected by HIV at birth. Pregnant women have a one in three chance of transmitting HIV on to their infants. United Methodists are working to provide a life-preserving drug, Nevirapine, which prevents the transmission of HIV from mother to child in Zimbabwe and seven other countries. The church also supports critical programs and services to care for orphans of AIDS.

To contribute to these life-saving ministries, you may write a check to our church with the memo "AIDS-Africa" or AIDSUSA" in the memo. 100% of your donation goes directly to assist victims and does not pay for administrative expenses.
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Nothing But Nets campaign

11.16.06
Today marks a historic partnership with The People of The United Methodist Church, NBA Cares, Sports Illustrated and the UN Foundation with the launch of the Nothing But Nets campaign.

The Nothing But Nets effort got started when Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly learned about the UN Foundation's efforts to provide bed nets across Africa and decided to get involved. In a column entitled "Nothing But Nets", he made an appeal for anyone who ever played or enjoyed any sport involving nets to donate $10 -- the approximate cost to purchase and distribute an insecticide-treated bed net.

Please listen to Rick's personal message regarding the cause now close to his heart, and listen to his thanks of The People of The United Methodist Church for remaining committed to this campaign of prevention.
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Episcopal, United Methodist bishops share Eucharist for 1st time

09.21.06
DENVER (UMNS) — United Methodist Bishops Warner H. Brown Jr. of Denver and William Oden of Dallas and Episcopal Bishop Franklin Brookhart Jr. celebrated Holy Communion together for the first time on Sept. 8 in Denver as a part of a dialogue-study group between United Methodists and the Episcopal Church. Oden, ecumenical officer of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, has been in dialogue with Brookhart and others from the Episcopal Church for several years. The dialogue group discussing commonality of theology and practice visited Denver to talk with the leadership of a joint United Methodist-Episcopalian church in Buena Vista, Colo.
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United Methodists launch U.S. back-to-school ad campaign

09.15.06
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The United Methodist Church is marking the back-to-school season in the United States with a $1.5 million cable television advertising campaign that urges people to focus on God. The commercials are designed to appeal to audiences between the ages of 25 to 54. Two different television spots - titled, "I Believe" and "Prayer" - are included in the campaign. The commercials are airing on 21 cable networks through September 17th, according to United Methodist Communications, which manages the campaign. The communications agency also has awarded 70 grants totaling $240,000 to local churches to conduct media campaigns in their communities.
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Gunmen Kill United Methodist Local Pastor in Philippines

08.17.06
A UM in the Philippines, who had served as a local pastor, was shot dead by gunmen outside his home. According to a story in the Aug. 6 edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Isaias Sta. Rosa was found dead in Malabago, Daraga, Albay, on Aug. 3. He was near a creek, alongside another man dead of
gunshot wounds who was identified as an army corporal, according to the newspaper. Police said the soldier was believed to be one of about ten masked gunmen who forced their way into the pastor's home. Sta. Rosa's brother's home nearby also had been entered, and police listed the case as a "robbery with homicide." The brother, Jonathan Rosa, said he had been asked where Isaias was and ordered to knock at his door. He said Isaias was beaten and taken from the house to the creek. Sta. Rosa, in his mid-40s, was a freelance writer and project consultant for nongovernmental organizations
and a member of Legazpi City UMC.

Bishop Leo A. Soriano (Davao Area) condemned the killing and urged civil and military authorities to bring the guilty parties to justice. He also urged UMs to "fight all forms of injustice, and condemn these acts." The General Board of Global Ministries is joining with the church in the Philippines in launching an investigation and is in communication with the country's three bishops. Some funding for the inquiry will be involved, but the amount is yet unspecified. According to the Aug. 14 proposal the bishops submitted to GBGM, representatives from each of the Philippines Episcopal areas will engage in a fact-finding mission Aug. 15-16 at the site of the murder.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines issued a statement Aug. 7, noting that Sta. Rosa was the 21st church worker killed since May 2001. "Sta. Rosa's killing came after three activists were killed in a span of 24 hours in the regions of Northern and Central Luzon and Sorsogon province," the statement said. "It is interesting to note that these murders continue even after the announcement by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of a 10-week deadline to investigate the spate of extra-judicial killings among activists and journalists." The statement, signed by Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes, the council's chief executive, calls for an end to the killings, an independent investigation, and "a thorough inquiry by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations
Human Rights Council and other international courts of justice." The Manila Bulletin Online noted that the first person to die in the series of slayings since 2001 was another UM pastor, Marcelino de la Cruz of Central Luzon. He was shot to death May 28, 2001.
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UM Committee on Relief News - Heightened awareness of malaria

07.12.06
Heightened awareness of malaria's toll may help UM efforts to stem the disease. At least six countries in Africa recently received grants from the UM Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to spray insecticide indoors, distribute bed nets that shield the vulnerable from mosquitoes, and conduct community
awareness programs. Cameroon, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone were among the recipients. According to a New York Times report, 800,000 young African children die every year of malaria, more than of any other disease. To support UMCOR's work against malaria, you may write a
check to our church with the memo, "Malaria Control".
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United Methodist College News

05.03.06
The student government association at Wiley College has begun an initiative to help Birmingham-Southern College raise funds for rebuilding the nine rural churches in Alabama burned by two Birmingham-Southern students. Both schools are UM-related. According to Joseph Morale, vice president for student affairs and enrollment services at historically black Wiley, students must be aware and responsive to the world outside of Marshall, Texas. The student government committed to matching all funds raised by Wiley during "The Alabama Church Burning Assistance Campaign." The association challenged the student leadership of all historically black colleges in the effort. - UMNS
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Pastor campaigns against mercury in vaccines

05.02.06
For the first two years of his life, Wesley appeared to be a normal, healthy child, smiling in baby pictures with his brother and family.

By his third birthday, however, Wesley's childhood pictures changed. The life in his eyes appeared lost. His smile was no longer there. His mother could scream his name, and Wesley would not respond.

The Rev. Lisa K. Sykes, a pastor in Richmond, Va., sought medical help for her son. Doctors diagnosed him with autism, then tested him for heavy metal poisoning. Tests showed he had mercury levels in his blood stream exceeding danger levels.

For Sykes, the devastating news came when she discovered the vaccines and common shots, administered to her during pregnancy and to her child as an infant, had contained mercury, a documented poison at certain levels.

"Neither my physicians nor I knew mercury was present in these pharmaceuticals because it comprised part of an antiquated preservative that was, and still is, labeled as Thimerosal," Sykes told directors of the Women's Division of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. She spoke at the directors' April meeting in Stamford, Conn.

Several childhood vaccines and the Rho Gam shot given to some women during pregnancy contained Thimerosal until 1999, when companies removed it gradually.

However, the flu shot administered to young children, pregnant women and the elderly still contains the preservative, according to the Centers for Disease Control Web site.

Other nonstandard immunizations being used more and more by parents contain Thimerosal, Sykes said. "When you take something lethal and put it in something lifesaving, does that make the lethal thing safe, or the lifesaving thing lethal?"

"Along with being denied safe pharmaceuticals, I also was denied informed consent, making this not only a medical crisis, but also a crisis of civil - and some say, constitutional - rights," she said.

'Safe alternatives exist'

With other concerned parents, Sykes began a campaign to educate parents, to change legislation, and to make government regulators and pharmaceutical companies study the issue and alternative uses of Thimerosal.

She believes a direct correlation exists between the increasing rate of autism in the United States and the rate of exposure to the vaccines that contained Thimerosal. She does not stand alone in stating that certain children have a genetic disposition, which causes life-long reactions to mercury, such as with autism, and potentially other childhood disorders. Researchers from John Hopkins, Columbia, Tufts, Baylor and similar institutions are finding supporting evidence.

Dr. Mark Geier, president of the Genetic Center of America, writes that a decreasing load of mercury in the immunization schedule in 2003 has produced a falling rate in the diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders three years later.

However, these disorders are expected to increase again, since Thimerosal is beginning to appear in newer vaccines.

"Safe alternatives exist," Sykes told the Women's Division directors. "But pharmaceutical companies prefer Thimerosal because it is cheap and allows them to use old factories and old manufacturing processes."

Powerful enemies

For four years, Sykes took her cause to the federal government, health agencies and the Virginia State Legislature, seeking to get a mercury-ban in pharmaceuticals. Seven other states have passed mercury-banning legislation, including Iowa, California, Delaware, Missouri, Illinois, New York and Washington.

According to California Proposition 65, "Thimerosal has been recognized by the California Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, as a developmental toxin, meaning that it can cause birth defects, low birth weight, biological dysfunctions, or psychological or behavior deficits that become manifest as the child grows, and maternal exposure during pregnancy can disrupt the development or even cause the death of the fetus. Exposure to mercury in utero and to children may cause mild to severe mental retardation and mild to severe motor coordination impairment."

"When the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration protest that they have found no 'evidence of harm,' they sidestep the issue that they are required by law to show proof of safety clinical proof," Sykes said.

In the Virginia Legislature, the mercury-banning bill never got out of committee, and a top aide told Sykes that "your enemies are more powerful than you know." She disagreed, deciding it was time to enlist the support of the church.

The United Methodist Virginia Conference, led by Bishop Charlene Kammerer and Virginia United Methodist Women, passed a resolution on "Protecting Children from Mercury-Containing Drugs."

Women join fight

For Christians, the issue intensifies into a moral and ethical issue, as the developing world has passed laws keyed to those in the United States, after being victimized by unsafe and cheap pharmaceutical products. If the United States bans Thimerosal, other countries will do the same thing, forcing companies to provide them with an alternative drug that costs the companies more, she explained.

Women's Division directors shared her concern and voted to encourage the nearly 1 million members of United Methodist Women to advocate for changes in safety guidelines for childhood shots.

The division wants members to call on the secretary of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to protect children from mercury-containing drugs.

They also want members to push for mercury-free stocks of vaccines and other pharmaceutical products; prioritize these for pregnant women, newborn infants and children; and ensure that an "informed consent" form is given to all individuals regarding mercury exposure through these products.

*Martini is communications director for the Women's Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org .
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Op Ed Immigration

04.07.06
Article that appeared in the Tucson Arizona Daily Star on March 27, 2006

The debate surrounding the issue of immigration has reached a level of emotional and political intensity in Arizona and in our nation that concerns us greatly. A reflection of this intensity that we want to address is evident in the measures being considered at the State Legislature that we believe would target immigrants with ineffective and unjustly punitive results and that would not serve the long-term interests of Arizonans.

As faith leaders who provide pastoral care to immigrants, we know from our own experience and from fact-based studies that the great majority of immigrants who enter Arizona are men and women who are trying to survive and to provide for their families. This great majority finds work here in industries that are important to the State’s economy, and by their labor they actually contribute to the general well being of our community. This great majority does not come here to commit crime or acts of terrorism or to take advantage of our welfare system.

We acknowledge and support the need to enforce the law and to protect our borders, but we are concerned that pending legislation, if enacted, would drive the undocumented population deeper into the shadows, cause undue suffering and infringe upon basic human dignity.

For example, one initiative would make trespassing a felony for undocumented immigrants who live in this country. Another would empower state and local police to enforce immigration law. Law enforcement in Arizona faces enough challenges as it is, and this measure would divert manpower and resources from the task of apprehending real criminals in our communities. We were encouraged that the House defeated a piece of legislation that would have financially penalized cities for not aggressively enforcing federal immigration laws.

Still another proposal targets immigrant access to education by denying financial assistance to otherwise worthy students. Children and young people should not carry the burden of an ineffective immigration policy. We were encouraged that an amendment to this bill would allow in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants graduating from high school in Arizona and meeting some other residency requirements.

A number of proposals in the Arizona Legislature take our State in the wrong direction. They represent an emotional and political response to a complex situation that requires a multi-faceted and comprehensive solution.

What do we believe would be the right direction for our State?

A first step in the right direction would be for our State Legislators to state definitively that our federal immigration system is broken and to pass a resolution that urges the Arizona congressional delegation to help fix it before the end of the year.

A second step would be to change the emotional and divisive political atmosphere surrounding the debate.

We believe that the creation of legal status for the undocumented among us as well as legal avenues for future flows of migrants are policies that are best achieved through federal legislation. They are critical elements in what would be an effective approach to our immigration crisis.

There is no question that Arizona is at the epicenter of what is now a national policy issue. The negative rhetoric used by some in our State that demonizes undocumented immigrants has contributed to a polarized atmosphere both locally and nationally. This is not an atmosphere for thoughtful policy making.

We gain nothing from division, but we could gain immensely by serving as a model of deliberate discourse and reasoned decision-making.

We urge our legislators to lead us as one community in search of the common good.

In this spirit, we invite all Arizonans of good will to join us for a prayer service on Tuesday, April 4, from 10 a.m. to noon at the State Capitol to pray that our leaders will take us in the right direction.

The issue of immigration evokes strong emotions and legitimate concerns. As people of faith, we are called by God to treat the immigrant with compassion and to advocate for just laws that ensure their basic human rights. We urge all people of faith to work together to help fashion a solution to our immigration crisis that reflects the values upon which our nation was built – fairness, opportunity and compassion – and that would take our State in the right direction.

Bishop Minerva Carcaño
United Methodist Bishop of Arizona and Southern Nevada

Bishop Gerald Kicanas
Roman Catholic Bishop of Tucson

Bishop Kirk Smith
Episcopal Bishop of Arizona

And other Arizona Religious Leaders

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NCC Study Guide Focuses on Poverty Goals

02.28.06
NEW YORK (UMNS) - To help churches take action on poverty, the National Council of Churches has released a new guide, Eradicating Poverty: A Christian Study Guide on the Millennium Development Goals.

The Millennium Development Goals are a set of eight goals to end extreme poverty, hunger and disease by 2015, agreed to by world leaders in 2000. The 2004 United Methodist General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body, supported those goals.

The purpose of the study guide is to motivate people to make the goals a reality, according to Lallie B. Lloyd, one of its editors.

"Since the Millennium Development Goals were announced in 2000," Lloyd writes, "a global movement has emerged. Around the world and across the United States, Christians are joining other people of faith ... in a unified effort to eradicate extreme poverty."

The 64-page study guide has six sessions for use in congregational church school classes and other settings "to foster an understanding of the pertinent issues and promote this worldwide effort on behalf of the poor," said Antonios Kireopoulos, an NCC executive and the guide's editor.

Each session examines one or more of the Millennium Development Goals. An appendix to the guide examines the special economic and political challenges facing the African continent.

The first goal is to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty or suffering from hunger by 2015. Other goals touch upon such issues as education, gender equality, child mortality and maternal health, and environmental sustainability.

One of the resources used in the new study was the book, Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith, written by the Rev. Don Messer and former Sens. Robert Dole and George McGovern.

"In a world of plenty, Christians dare not accept the moral scandal of allowing one person to die in this world every three seconds because of the misery-go-round of extreme poverty, hunger and disease," said Messer, a United Methodist pastor and former president of Iliff School of Theology in Denver. "Now is the time to make hunger history and to work toward an AIDS-free world."

As noted in the chapter on HIV/AIDS, "the extent of human suffering brought about by the global HIV/AIDS pandemic has rarely been seen before in the history of the world."

"If we are truly one, we are the church with HIV/AIDS," said Denise Ackerman, a South African theologian. "People living with HIV/AIDS are found in every ... religious denomination. We are all related; what affects one member of the Body of Christ affects us all."

Following the example of Jesus with the leper, the church must practice the values of inclusion, engagement, connectedness and continuity to deal with the HIV/AIDS crisis, according to Ackerman.

The idea for the study guide grew out of a meeting hosted by the NCC that included a presentation by economist Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Millennium Project, a U.N.-commissioned advisory body that proposes solutions to meeting the goals by 2015.

The NCC governing board has endorsed the U.N. Millennium Development goals.  The study guide was made possible in part by a grant from industrialist Chang K. Park, a Christian layman from New York.

Eradicating Global Poverty: A Christian Study Guide on the Millennium Development Goals is published by Friendship Press, 7830 Reading Road, Cincinnati, OH 45237. The cost is $7.95. To order, call toll-free (800) 889-5733, or send a fax to (513) 761-3722. Order also can be sent by e-mail.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759.

NOTE: Photographs and a related story are available.
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Katrina is not over

12.08.05
by United Methodist Bishops

Please join our efforts to restore our congregations, parsonages and mission facilities.

WE have given generously to the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to help persons whose lives were turned upside down by Hurricane Katrina.  Now that the immediate crisis is over, we are faced with restoring United Methodist mission and ministry on the Gulf Coast. The need is enormous.
  • In Louisiana, 30 United Methodist churches must be demolished and rebuilt.
  • In New Orleans alone, 78 United Methodist churches need major repairs, and 58 clergy families require salary support.
  • In New Orleans, Dillard University and six other United Methodist institutions are damaged. 
  • In Mississippi, six churches are destroyed. An additional 20 are severely damaged, and 300 sustained moderate to minor losses. Twenty-seven pastors live in campers. 
  • In Mississippi, historic Gulfside Assembly in Waveland is destroyed, and Seashore Assembly in Biloxi requires major reconstruction.

We mourn with our brothers and sisters their great losses while we embrace this opportunity for United Methodists to show commitment to our faith and to one another. Together we can restore mission and ministry while moving into a strong future. Please open your hearts and your wallets to the Katrina Church Recovery Appeal. All money you give will help to:

  • Restore hurricane-damaged United Methodist facilities.
  • Pay salaries for clergy while their congregations cannot do so or until pastors can be reappointed or relocated to another church.
  • Establish new congregations or consolidate existing ones in storm-ravaged areas.
  • Provide worship necessities--Bibles, hymnals, robes, and so forth--to churches in need.

Gifts may be given to Light of Hope UMC; memo it with, "Bishop's Appeal."
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UM's Advertise in Times Square

11.30.05
UM advertising has again appeared above Times Square in New York City, having been displayed on the giant television screen during Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and for two weeks in November. The 30-second spot, called "The Gift," ran eight times a day. This spot kicks off a season of advertising that will include two commercials on 18 cable stations running from Dec. 5 through Christmas Eve, the longest run yet, according to Stephen Drachler, director of public information with UM Communications.

Light of Hope is also advertising in three local newspapers with graphics from "The Gift" campaign.
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Pakistan Earthquake Relief Efforts

11.30.05
As winter begins in the northern hemisphere, those without homes due to the earthquake in Pakistan are in need of winterized tents. Church World Service says that two children have already died from tent fires. The demand for winterized tents exceeds the availability. CWS and its partners have provided tents for 15,000 people along with heaters, blankets, and sweaters.  The government and various aid groups are also using at least a part of the destroyed homes in order to provide some shelter from the snow that has begun to fall. The UM Committee on Relief is sending aid through CWS and the International Blue Crescent.

To donate to the Pakistan Earthquake relief, write a check to Light of Hope and memo it, "Pakistan Earthquake."
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