wfn.org | ALC Noticias Argentina Ecuador Brazil Cuba Colombia

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

ALC NEWS SERVICE
E-mail: director@alcnoticias.org

--------------
CONTENT

ARGENTINA: Evangelical Churches in solidarity with Bishop Maccarone
ECUADOR: CLAI accuses Robertson of encouraging international terrorism
ARGENTINA: Methodist Church salutes Peoples Summit to be held
simultaneously with the Americas Summit
CUBA: Cuban pastors calls on US Churches to repudiate declarations from
tele-evangelist Pat Robertson
COLOMBIA: Former Ambassador Claudia Castellanos rejects accusations about
her work in Brazil
BRAZIL: Violence is a sin according to women's meeting

---------------
ARGENTINA
Evangelical Churches in solidarity with Bishop Maccarone

BUENOS AIRES, Ago 26 (alc).  The Evangelical United Lutheran Church and the
Evangelical Church of the River Plate voiced their solidarity with the
Catholic Bishop of Santiago del Estero Juan Carlos Maccarone, who was
caught up in a media scandal last week that forced him to resign.

The Evangelical Churches said that the accusations levied against the
progressive prelate are "malice on the part of those who have sought to
harm him in such an immoral way" and affirm that this "must not prevail."

Both Churches sent a joint letter to the Argentine Bishops' Conference
Wednesday, signed by Pastors Alan Eldrid, president of the Evangelical
United Lutheran Church and Federico Schäfer, president of the Evangelical
Church of the River Plate.

The Evangelical leaders voiced their solidarity with Maccarone in a gesture
of "appreciation, respect and love." He is someone, they said, that they
"learned to know and appreciate" during a series of meetings in the
framework of the Roman Catholic - Lutheran Dialogue Commission over several
years.

"We know the commitment of our brother Juan Carlos to the Gospel of our
common Lord Jesus Christ, to the search for the unity of the Church and his
profound service toward those brothers and sisters whose life and faith are
threatened," they said.

Eldrid and Schäfer manifested their desire to accompany the Argentine
Catholic Church in this difficult moment and asked the CEA to "send their
solidarity and greetings of peace to Msgr. Maccarone, brother in the faith
and faithful witness of the Gospel that unites us."

Maccarone worked as bishop of Santiago del Estero, a province in
northwestern Argentine until last Friday when he was forced to resign when
he was accused of having an alleged relationship with a 23-year-old homosexual.

The Argentine press gave broad coverage to the case and some media said
that copies of the compromising video had been sent to the Vatican, which
hastened his resignation.

-------------
ECUADOR
CLAI accuses Robertson of encouraging international terrorism

QUITO, Ago 25 (ALC). The Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI)
expressed surprise and indignation about statements made by tele-evangelist
Pat Robertson who called on the George W. Bush government to assassinate
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez and said the statements encouraged
"international terrorism."

"From a legal and political point of view these are highly dangerous
declarations that encourage international terrorism. They suggest
assassinating the president of a democratically elected republic," it added.

CLAI rejects the use of Christian values that pretend to edify faith
principles based on death and hatred and underscored that Evangelical
Churches are to be "promoters of peace with justice, of love for all and
selfless service."

"Statements like those made by Mr. Robertson cannot be characterized as
Evangelical, or find support in the Gospel. We are called to construct
peace and not be diabolical envoys of death," said CLAI.

The statement signed by the Rev. Israel Batista, general secretary of CLAI,
indicates that Robertson represents a radical Evangelical minority from the
Republican camp, with enormous influence in the Bush Government. Robertson
has been to the White House several times.

"It corresponds to the US administration to clarify the place that these
declarations have within its current policies," said CLAI.

The statement from the Latin American ecumenical body was published the
same day that the US pastor and leader of the Christian Coalition publicly
retracted his statements and said on his television program that in reality
he was not talking about murder. He apologized for what he said although he
reiterated his criticism of the Venezuela leader.

On August 22 Robertson said on his well known Club 700 television program,
watched by more than 1 million Americans, that the Bush government should
"get rid" of the Venezuela leader as he is a "terrific danger for the
United States."

--------------
ARGENTINA
Methodist Church salutes Peoples Summit to be held simultaneously with the
Americas Summit.

BUENOS AIRES, August 26 (ALC) The Argentine Evangelical Methodist Church
(IEMA) saluted the People's Summit that will be held at the same time as
the Americas Summit, to take place in November in the city of Mar de Plata,
affirming that "this expresses the resistance of American people to be
submitted to misery and marginalization."

In a message to the nation approved during the XIX General Assembly held in
Buenos Aires August 12 - 15 and published yesterday, the IEMA sustained
that the People's Summit deserves attention and commitment as it is a sign
that the "seeds of the other reality we so anxiously await could be
germinating."

The Americas Summit will be held the first week of November with the
participation of presidents and heads of state from the western hemisphere.
The meeting has raised questions among sectors that are opposed to US
President George W. Bush's visit.

The IEMA statement condemns the hegemonic forces in the current world and
affirms that they "contradict the project of life and hope of our God, deny
His sovereignty and are based on selfishness, force and treachery."

It also judged the global economic system that propitiates that "empire of
today" and is expressed in wars that destroy innocent lives and cities "in
benefit of a few."

The IEMA affirms that the social order imposed by the Empire deepens
poverty, deteriorates people's quality of life, encourages private and
state corruption, transforms states into the advocates of interests that
are removed from the people and promotes economic accords that destroy
national resources.

"We denounce as unrelated to the Christian faith the current social order
that undermines the lives and wills of the people," specified the
declaration that calls the Argentine people to rise up against adversity
and sustain the hope founded in the resurrection of Christ.

The statement includes among the signs of hope the annulment of the Final
Point Law and the Due Obedience law that covered up crimes of the military
dictatorship, the incipient economic reactivation in the country and the
appearance of new cultural expressions.

"In this context our Church affirms that the light of Christ shines in the
darkness and that the darkness has not been able to put it out," they said.

The Assembly re-elected Pastor Nelly Ritchie, as bishop of the IEMA, with
77 percent of the delegates. It elected as superintendents Pastors  Frank
de Nully Brown, Ariel Fernández, Américo Jara Reyes, Hugo Urcola and Guido
Bello.

------
CUBA
Cuban pastors calls on US Churches to repudiate declarations from
tele-evangelist Pat Robertson

By Enrique López Oliva

HAVANA, August	24 (ALC). Pastor Raul Suarez called on US Churches to
repudiate statements from the Rev. Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian
Coalition, who said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "should be
assassinated" as he poses a "terrific danger."

Robertson said Chavez would make his nation "a launching pad for communist
infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent" during his 700
Club television program Monday, broadcast internationally by the Christian
Broadcasting Network (CBN).

Suarez reminded the US government that the Churches are in the "decade to
overcome all forms of violence" and said that Robertson's call for the
murder of the Venezuela leader only serves to promote such acts before
international public opinion.

The Baptist Cuban Pastor, who is a member of the National Assembly of
Popular Power of Cuba, said that in the face of the  "ideology of death"
put forward by the US Pastor, the "ideology of life" must be lifted.

He said that Robertson's position is hardly surprising as he is a "faithful
representative of the new US religious right," that emerged in 1980 with
the confluence of religious fundamentalism and the extreme right wing
policies of the Republican Party.

It is not a coincidence, he said that governors with this mentality reject
Liberation Theology and in exchange support and fund, either covertly or
publicly, certain religious movements and denominations that "practice an
alienating and escapist spirituality."
The religious leader said that in the growth of this type of Church and its
exportation to Latin American nations, the North American Christian
Coalition and the 700 Club, owned by Robertson have played an important role.

Tele-evangelists, the electronic Church, the mega Churches, mass
Evangelism, with rare exceptions, said Suarez, seek the same objective: the
theological legitimization of the capitalist system in its most savage
expression: neoliberalism.

-----------
COLOMBIA
Former Ambassador Claudia Castellanos rejects accusations about her work in
Brazil

By William Delgado

BOGOTA, August 23 (ALC).  Pastor Claudia Rodríguez de Castellanos, former
Colombian Ambassador to Brazil rejected accusations that she had neglected
her diplomatic mission to focus on her religious work. According to the
daily El Tiempo, the accusations were levied by officials from Colombia's
Foreign Ministry.

"This is totally false. I dedicated 24 hours a day to the Embassy," said
lawyer Rodríguez de Castellanos, an Evangelical conference speaker and
International Charismatic Mission Leader, who was appointed by President
Alvaro Uribe eight months ago.

Rodríguez de Castellanos said that the criticism is not true. "In Brasilia
we do not have a Church and I personally suspended all my pastoral
activities some four years ago and my work in Brazil was that of an
Ambassador, she said.
She said that she recently resigned from the position in order to run for
Senate in upcoming elections. However, the daily El Tiempo of Bogota quoted
sources from Foreign Relations who echoed information coming from their
colleagues in Itamaraty and said that the former diplomat was harshly
criticized for her inefficiency and bad management.

"The former Ambassador did not stay in the position as she frequently
travelled and when she was in Brazil, she dedicated her time to attending
Church issues," said a high official from the ministry of Foreign Relations
who did not want to be identified.

--------
BRAZIL
Violence is a sin according to women's meeting

SÃO LEOPOLDO, August 23 (alc). Portuguese speaking women want the cry
"Enough Violence" to be heard at the IX World Council of Churches (WCC)
General Assembly, to be held in Porto Alegre in February 2006. "Violence is
a sin and God calls us to salvation," they affirmed.

Meeting in Sao Leopoldo from August 11 - 15 close to 40 representatives
from different denominations in Angola, Brazil, Mozambique and Portugal
sent a message to Churches in which they reflected on God's grace in
women's lives.

"We confirm that violence against women, whether it is physical, sexual,
psychological, economic or spiritual, is a reality in our Churches and
countries," they said in the message.

"We recognize that the globalized and neoliberal economic model feeds off
an ecological action that depredates the earth and strips humanity of its
dignity," said the statement from the women.

Physical and psychological violence form part of daily life for women from
Mozambique, said theologian Invicta Tivane. "Unfortunately in our culture
the belief still exists that husbands must beat women to show them their
love," she said.

The message from Portuguese speaking women states "We understand that
sexuality is a gift of God that humanizes us. However, it has been
appropriated by economic and cultural models that produce children's sexual
traffic and the dissemination of HIV-AIDs, dehumanizing women and children
around the world, in particular."

Women are committed to denouncing this reality and to work on preventative
actions, seeking strategies to combat sexual exploitation and the
propagation of HIV-AIDs, the statement said.

In Angola, the national coordinator of the ecumenical circle of theologians
of Angola, Eva Sebastiao Cosme, said the population is misinformed about
the risk of being infected with HIV-AIDs and for this reason the Churches
created ecumenical networks for awareness raising work.

In Mozambique, it is estimated that one out of every 10 people has
HIV-AIDs. In my country, said Tivane, there is a myth that if a man has HIV
he can be cured by having sex with a virgin. "The patriarchy creates these
myths to justify attitudes that are convenient for them," she said.

In the message, Portuguese speaking women lobbied Churches to participate
in unity in the IX WCC Assembly and assume the commitment of working to
change the reality of women and children as a sign of God's transforming grace.
---------------
Latin American and Caribbean
Communication Agency (ALC)
P.O. box 14-225 Lima 14 Peru
E-mail: director@alcnoticias.org
http://www.alcpress.org