wfn.org | Churches Warn of 'New Line of Demarcation' as More Countries

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@ELCA.ORG>]

Churches Warn of 'New Line of Demarcation' as More Countries Join European
Union
Churches Urged to Be Safe Places for People Living with HIV/AIDS 

ODESSA, Ukraine/GENEVA, 7 May 2004 (LWI) * Participants in a Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) consultation on HIV/AIDS expressed concern about the
"implications of a new line of demarcation" following the entry of ten new
member countries into the European Union (EU) on May 1. 

Countries and churches that have been experiencing growing relations with
each other as neighbors, "are likely to find themselves divided again from
one another, based on who is included or excluded from this new political
union," said representatives of LWF member churches in Europe following the
April 20-25 regional HIV/AIDS consultation in Odessa, Ukraine. The German
Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Ukraine (DELKU) hosted the meeting.

Around 40 participants, including bishops, pastors and lay members, youth,
medical and social work professionals, and those involved in the diaconal
work of the churches, attended the consultation, focusing on the churches'
response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Europe. They expressed concern that
countries entering the EU would no longer have access to lower cost generic
medication to treat HIV infections, and would be cut off from some
international funding for their programs. 

In their message titled "Bound Together," the representatives of LWF member
churches in Europe cautioned that migration of people across borders might
increase, giving rise to new fears and challenges. While so much attention in
the region was oriented toward becoming more like the West, they said, it was
especially strategic for the churches to turn their attention toward the
eastern and southeastern parts of Europe, where more difficult living
conditions continue to prevail.

"As churches in communion with one another, we are called to stand in
solidarity with those who continue to suffer in many ways, including through
the growing incidence of HIV/AIDS in many of these countries. We recognize
that this specific focus of our consultation is also related to other
economic and cultural factors, especially the negative forces of
globalization and the weakening of families and other social structures that
give meaning, values and direction to life," they said.

They pointed out that the enormous economic, educational, cultural and other
widespread disparities worldwide are manifest among Lutheran churches across
Europe. While the spread of HIV/AIDS had been contained in some of the
countries, it was escalating in others. Some churches have developed
extensive, effective programs to care for and support persons affected by
HIV/AIDS, but others have barely begun, the church representatives said in
their message.

The self-understanding of the Lutheran churches as a communion of churches,
they said, underlines that the suffering and challenges of some are shared by
all. "Thus, we are bound together and called to seek new ways of living out
the reality of this communion, in listening carefully to and learning from
one another, and in sharing our resources in ways that respect our different
identities, values and priorities, rather than the stronger partners imposing
theirs on the weaker," the participants stated.

The consultation participants urged the Lutheran churches in Europe to become
"safe places" for people affected by HIV/AIDS. Churches have a distinct
responsibility to address the various spiritual dimensions at stake in
sensitive and appropriate ways. This includes reaching out and receiving into
the churches those who are affected, especially those who have often been
treated as "outsiders" or stigmatized as outcasts. Church liturgies, sermons
and prayers, should uplift people affected by HIV/AIDS, they stressed.

They encouraged churches to learn the facts about HIV/AIDS, how it is
transmitted, the reality and actual needs of the people who are affected. The
churches must speak more openly about HIV/AIDS and related topics also in the
families and communities. In order to "break the silence," churches needed to
be more attentive to religious, social and cultural barriers that have
contributed to the silence. 

They called on churches to focus attention on deepening theological
reflection "through more biblically grounded theological learning,
discernment and discussion in order to respond from out of the gospel of
Jesus Christ that we proclaim and seek to live out." 

Churches were urged to care for and support all those affected by HIV/AIDS as
an aspect of the diaconal calling of the church, and also as a part of the
baptismal call of all Christians. Participants in the regional consultation
encouraged the churches to focus attention on promoting HIV/AIDS prevention
through such means as sexuality education, and awareness raising about
"gender equality, abstaining from and postponing sexual activity, avoiding
risky behavior, use of condoms, sterilized and disposable needles, clean
blood supply and other measures to avoid spreading the virus."

Churches were urged to "teach Christian values that promote and protect life,
based on love for self and neighbor. Churches should teach values that
support marriage and family life, as well as mutual sexual responsibility and
faithfulness to one another."

In their message participants stressed the need for collaboration with other
churches, ecumenical organizations, NGOs, governments, and self-help groups
from local to international levels, "so as to increase the impact of our
joint efforts to diminish the spread of HIV/AIDS, to care for and to pursue
justice for and with all those affected."

They urged churches "to advocate for the human rights of persons with
HIV/AIDS, and for policies and practices that will be effective in supporting
them and their needs, for example, affordable access to medication." 

The Odessa consultation was the last out of four regional consultations for
LWF member churches under the 2002 LWF global campaign against HIV/AIDS and
its action plan "Compassion, Conversion, Care: Responding as Churches to the
HIV/AIDS Pandemic." Similar meetings took place in Africa, Latin America and
the Caribbean, and Asia. (952 words)

The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 136 member
churches in 76 countries representing 62.3 million of the almost 66 million
Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas
of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology,
humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless
specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or
opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with
acknowledgment.]

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