wfn.org | ALC News Service 2 Mar 2003

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

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CONTENT

BRAZIL:  Hope for the IECLB: Altmann
BRAZIL: Lula's conservative economic policy criticized.
BRAZIL: We have a great deal to learn from president Lula, said Methodist
bishop
PANAMA: Minister and priest in polemic over hydroelectric plant

BRAZIL
Hope for the IECLB: Altmann

Sao Leopoldo , Feb 28 (ALC) During the inauguration of reading week in the
Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession of Brazil (IECLB) School of
Theology, Pastor President Walter Altmann emphasized that we must "always be
prepared to give the reason for our hope," which is the true north, the aim
of Christian discipleship and the Church.

Altmann spoke before students, teachers, IECLB pastors and leaders and a
delegation from the Lutheran World Federation, lead by El Salvadoran Bishop
Medardo Gomez and said that St Peter's words (1 Peter, 3:15-16) should serve
as a guide for life today.

"Hope is the mystery of impossible things that are not only possible for
God, but promises. This sustains us. Therefore, there is hope for the
  IECLB," he said. He defined the denomination as a Church with slow but
significant process and underscored the fact that the IECLB has not lost
members.

  Altmann, who was a professor at the EST until last December, when he
assumed the presidency of the IECLB drew parallels with the feeling of hope
that reigns in Brazil under the administration of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.

He also emphasized that there was an "aura of hope" at the III World Social
Forum, held in Porto Alegre last January. "Hope was in the air, hope was
celebrated," he said, adding that during the Forum Porto Alegre became the
"world capital of hope."

He emphasized the fact that the IECLB has moved from being a pastoral Church
to an "intentionally missionary Church."

"In the history of the IECLB we have observed processes that are frequently
slow but highly significant," he said. This include moving from being a
fundamentally rural to a more urban Church, from having a heavy dependence
on foreign workers to becoming a Church that is theologically
self-sustaining, moving from being a pastoral to a missionary Church and
becoming a Church that seeks a decisive ecumenical role.

He also recalled how the Church Council approved the proposals he made as a
candidate, including the creation of six advisor groups for the presidency
that include things such as Ethnic Issues, Gender Issues, among others.
These groups, he said, will be constituted this month and will each have
five to seven volunteer members.

Altmann concluded by saying that it was "exaggerated and even irresponsible"
to speak about a generalized loss of IECLB members. He said that in 1987
there were 564,000 members and in 2001 there were 713,000.

-----------
BRAZIL
Lula's conservative economic policy criticized.

BRASILIA, February 28, 2003 (alc). President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's
government has adopted innovative attitudes regarding foreign policy and the
battle against hunger, but is conservative regarding its economic policy "as
if it were possible to separate the economical from the social," said
Brazilian Catholic Bishops.

  The National Bishops' Conference  (CNBB) "Analysis of Current Events",
corresponding to February raised some "uncomfortable questions" for the new
government.

According to the document, the government was extremely efficient in
creating new alliances as it was able to obtain the necessary majority in
Congress and place allies in key positions.

Economically, however, measures adopted by the Lula government do not differ
much from those already in place. Here the "radical" members of the Workers
Party (PT for its initials in Portuguese) are clearly unsatisfied, the
analysis continues.

  The Lula government uses the same methods applied by former president
Fernando Enrique Cardoso in the economic field, calling on the population to
make further sacrifice: higher primary surplus, high interest rates.  To
date these measures have not given positive results.

The argument, also used by the previous government, is that there is a need
to avoid "speculation" that will destabilize the economy.  According to the
CNBB it is curious that countries that have been hardest hit by speculation
are those which opted for the neoliberal model.

India, China and other countries, on the other hand, escaped this threat
with different alternatives: exchange rate control, selective control on
capital flow, a moderate deficit or surplus in the current account balance
of payments, high internal reserves and a selective industrial policy for
foreign investment.

The document underscores that each day last year the government, both
federal, state and municipal, transferred US$312.2mn to investment banks and
funds. The expenses, including interest, were more than double the primary
surplus and the public sector closed the year with a loss of 61.6bn reales
(1 dollar is equal to approximately 3.45 reales).

According to the CNBB analysis, the Zero Hunger will cost 6bn reales this
year while public sector debt interest payments cost 114bn reales in 2002.
The document warns that neither the government, nor civil society, will be
capable of efficiently confronting the challenge of poverty.

The text warns that the Zero Hunger Program runs the danger of quickly
petering out "given its exaggerated publicity and the contradictory nature
of its real efficacy." The document recommends that more be invested in
"structural actions" rather than emergency actions and marketing.

According to the analysis there are structural actions that are more
important, although not so public, such as the elaboration of the Zafra Plan
2003/4 based on family agriculture and agrarian reform, the reorganization
of the Feeding and Nutrition Monitoring System and the Organization of the
II Food and Nutrition Security Conference.

If these structural actions are not taken into account the Zero Hunger
program will not reach its goal of reaching 1.5mn families by the end of the
year and 10mn within four years, warns the CNBB document.

----------
BRAZIL
We have a great deal to learn from president Lula, said Methodist bishop

RMO DE JANEIRO, February 28, 2003 (ALC). What is the priority of the
Methodist Church, said Bishop Paulo Lockmann, after underscoring the fact
that President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has named the battle against hunger
Brazil's first priority.

In an article published on the Methodist web site, Lockmann said if our
slogan is "Methodist Church: a Missionary Community at the Service of the
People," we must emphasize the Gospel. For this reason we believe that there
is a urgent need for disciples to work with poor children in school
nutrition, to promote Bible teachings through Sunday school.

In order to achieve this, we must promote tithing as a legitimate and
fundamental Biblical way to finance the mission of the Church, he said.

In order to transform priorities defined in Methodist councils into
commitments, into effective action in favor of the poor and the hungry, he
said, our first motive must be spiritual.

If we want to see a change in the world, in Brazil, he said, we must stop
loving only ourselves and love God. One of the biggest dangers facing the
Church, he said, is to worry so much about the religious role, the human
institution, the bodies and ministries that it loses its passion for Christ.

The best way to express our love for Christ is to love the Brazilian people,
in particular the poor. In this sense, he said, we have a great deal to
learn from our president. Lula feels tenderness for the people, for their
needs, he is a sensitive man. God's Spirit is visibly working in the life of
the new president.

It will not be easy to transform emotion into concrete action. However,
without passion and emotion there is no solidarity, commitment, change, he
said.

It is not enough that we continue to occupy the benches of our local
Churches. There is an urgent need to go and find the poor, he said.

Our solidarity with the needy, he concluded, must also have an evangelical
dimension. Everyone who seeks us out should know that the greatest good they
are missing, that we can give them, is Jesus.

-------------
PANAMA
Minister and priest in polemic over hydroelectric plant

Panama, February 24, 2003 (ALC). Government and Justice Minister Arnulfo
Escalona accused Catholic Priest Jose Alain in the department of Chiriqui in
northern Panama of inciting indigenous people to oppose the Tabasara
hydroelectric plant.

In a bitter exchange, in front of the San Jose Church, Minister Escalona
called on the priest to stop stirring up the indigenous people because the
approval of the project is something that must be resolved by other bodies,
something the priest contested.

The minister then said he was serious and told the Rev. Alain that the
government has handled the situation responsibility but "we are not going to
allow road blocks."

He said that the project is currently being debated by the Supreme Court and
it is the magistrates who will decide whether or not it goes through.

"I am not accusing the Rev. Alain of anything, I am just telling him not to
lead people to block roads," the minister said.

Alain said he is not stirring up the indigenous and certainly not
encouraging them to block roads. However, he said that they do have the
right to defend their property as this project will leave them homeless and
without land, something they inherited from God and owned even before the
creation of the Panamanian state, he said.

"The government is obligated to respect the rights of the indigenous because
otherwise a cloud will hang over Tabasara and a storm could break any time,"
he said.

For her part, Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso said that the project is a
private undertaking that began in the previous government.

"I think that the indigenous people should talk to the owners of the project
to reach an agreement because the government has nothing to do with this,"
she said.

Last January, Ngvbe Bugli indigenous blocked the Inter-American highway for
more than five hours to reject the Tabasara hydroelectric plant. More than
30 were arrested.