wfn.org | ALC Noticias Sept 25 2005 Argentina Columbia Cuba Peru

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

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

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CONTENT

ARGENTINA: It is essential that there be indignation and action regarding
the issue of the illegitimate foreign debt
ARGENTINA: Countries of the South paid $1.3 trillion in foreign debt
between 1982 and 1990
COLOMBIA: Women from different Churches meet to debate gender issues
CUBA: Pastor analyzes phenomenon of the home churches
PERU: Evangelicals should unite and support their own political candidates

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ARGENTINA
It is essential that there be indignation and action regarding the issue of
the illegitimate foreign debt

Buenos Aires, Sept. 23 (ALC). It is essential that there be indignation
about the issue of the foreign debt and that it be transformed into action,
said the former finance minister of Ecuador Rafael Correo, during the
consultation "Illegitimate Foreign Debt - From Prophetic Denouncement to
Political and Juridical Advocacy" held in this city from September 20 -23
at the initiative of the Lutheran World Federation.

Correa affirmed that calls to cancel the illegitimate foreign debt are
growing in the first world at the initiative of people and organizations of
good will who are calling on their governments to change their positions on
this issue.

The Ecuadorian leader proposed the creation of an "International Debt
Tribunal" that would determine which part of the debt is illegitimate and
how much and how countries should pay, not with financial criteria but with
justice and sustainability.

"The illegitimate foreign debt is what goes against the law, as it is taken
behind the backs of citizens or goes against public interest, "he said.

According to a note from communications consultant Dergarabedian&Kohler,
Correa lamented the lack of an international financial system that defines
the illegitimacy of the debt in an impartial manner, like the "Bankruptcy
Law" applied to citizens in the first world, when a judge decides how much
someone should pay without affecting their basic right to life.

Only regional integration can achieve the refinancing of the illegitimate
debt in adequate payments and without compromising the growth of debtor
nations, he said. "If In Latin America we joined our reserves we would have
the capacity to finance ourselves and this is a type of national
liberation," said the former Ecuadorian Finance Minister.

He said that the World Bank and the InterAmerican Development Bank seek to
collect some $800 million from countries in the region while they offer
$350 million rather than refinancing.

Correa resigned as finance minister in August due to discrepancies with
President Alfredo Palacio after he expressed support for the president of
state oil company Petroecuador, who had sought to rescind a contract with a
foreign oil company.

Doctor in Economics, married and 42 years old, Correa participated in the
meeting convened in Buenos Aires by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
with the auspices of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI).

The meeting included diverse political and theological discussions and was
attended by European and Latin American legislators.

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ARGENTINA
Countries of the South paid $1.3 trillion in foreign debt between 1982 and 1990

Buenos Aires, Sept 22 (ALC). Between 1982 and 1990 countries in the south
paid $1.3 trillion to rich northern nations for the foreign debt but the
total did not decline but increased to the point where it is now possible
to speak of a perpetual, illegitimate and hateful debt.

The statement was signed by leaders from Lutheran Churches and social and
political organizations in Latin America, the United States and Europe, who
met in this city from September 20 - 23 to promote the cancellation of the
"illegitimate foreign debt."

"The more we pay, the more we owe," continued the declaration that warns
that the foreign debt together with the free trade agreements and the
militaristic trend are three expressions of the voracity of the economic
system that "is not capable of seeing the human being."

Pastor Juan Pedro Schaad, leader of the Evangelical Church of the River
Plate (IERP), Salvador Bishop Medardo Gomez, president of the Lutheran
Communion of Churches of Central America, Kjell Nordtokke, director of the
Mission and Development Department of the Lutheran World Federation
participated in a press conference Wednesday.

The consultation entitled "Illegitimate Foreign debt, from the prophetic
denouncement to Political and Juridical Impact," was convened by the LWF,
an organization with 140 Churches and 66 million faithful in the world and
with the sponsorship of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) that
brings together 150 Christians from 21 countries in the region.

The foreign debt constitutes a tool of economic, political and military
control and domination in the hands of the most powerful countries in the
world that use this modern mechanism against poor people said the document.
"In the name of God, this blood and oppression must stop," it said.

The document expresses "pastoral concern for a people who no longer support
the weight of paying the supposed debt" and lobbies on people to "resist
and construct a society based on inclusive justice for all."

The actions agreed upon in the meeting, according to communication
consultant Dergarabedian & Kohler correspond to the areas of the economic,
public policies, judicial processes related to the debt at a national and
international level and seek to impel a request.

The "advocacy Program about the Foreign Illegitimate Debt," that depends on
the Latin America LWF Office is run by Pastor Angel Furla, former president
of the Evangelical United Church of Argentina. This program seeks to raise
the awareness and train people at a grassroots level, as well as research
and programming the acceptance of the concept of the illegitimate hateful
debt in all bodies involved n the issue of the foreign debt.

National legislators Mario Cafiero and Claudio Lozano, economists Claudio
Katz y Héctor Giulano, and pastor Juan Pedro Schaad (Evangelical Church of
the River Plate) y Ángel Furlan (Evangelical United Church of Argentina)
are some of the speakers who participated n the event.

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COLOMBIA
Women from different Churches meet to debate gender issues

Bogotá, Sept. 21 (ALC). Despite the progress for women in the country, the
weight of a history of submission and not being valued for who they are,
has not allowed them to love themselves enough or to learn to freely
decide, said psychologist Monica Duran during a workshop held in this city
with 66 women from different Churches.

"Learning to value our bodies, contributes to loving ourselves as women"
said Duran who told participants they must learn to decide "about their
lives, their bodies and their future."

According to Lawyer Isabel Agatçon sexist discrimination constitutes a
barrier for women's self determination. However, there have been important
conquests for women such as the cancellation of guardianship that gave men
the exclusive authority in the home and considered women to be minors.

The meeting held on Saturday the 17 brought together women from the
Lutheran, Presbyterian, Mennonite, Methodist, Catholic, Anglican,
InterAmerican and Free Evangelical Church, who decided to dedicate a date
to "grow in corporal, intellectual, sentimental and spiritual aspects,"
said Amparo Beltran, coordinator of the Sorority, Ecumenism and Democratic
collective that impels the Grassroots Center Communications Center for
Latin America (CEPALC).

Agatçon recalled the "subversive" aspect of Civil Law because throughout
history women have been submitted and discriminated against, because there
have always been others who have decided for them, their husbands,
boyfriends, brothers, the State or the Church.

Biblical theologian Marlene Amaya introduced participants to the Song of
the Songs that emphasizes human love as a reflection of God's love,
recovering the positive aspect of eroticism.

Luz Dary Guerrero led women on a trip toward their bodies. "They made us
love our body and discover it is beautiful even though they have not told
us we are pretty," said one of the participants.

In Colombia, the Day of Love and Friendship is celebrated on this day and
one of the organizers affirmed that "we dedicate this day to ourselves in
an act of love,."
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CUBA
Pastor analyzes phenomenon of the home churches

By Jose Aurelio Paz

Havana,  Sept. 19 (ALC). "The secret of the surprising growth of the
Churches in Cuba is linked to the small groups that met in neighborhoods,
in rural communities, in new urbanizations and even in jails, constituting
the so-called home churches or prayer cells," said Pastor Francisco Rodes
in an article published in the Tribuna Ecumenica bulletin.

The Baptist pastor and current director of the Karios Center in the city of
Matzanzas carried out an analysis of the new forms of evangelism in Cuba,
based on work entitled "Challenge of the present for the Cuban Church."

In the most recent issue of Tribuna Ecumenical, the informative bulletin of
the Cuban Council of Churches (CIC), Roca addressed a nerve center ofCuban
Church reality.

Based on the affirmation by Chilean theologian Pablo Richard that the
movement of the followers of Jesus was "born in homes," Rodes said it is
"not strange that this model of Church close to the people is especially
attractive to the Cuban of today."

"The lack of trust of the institution, of clerics and professional pastors,
installed in a traditional Church formality, frequently foreign to the
joyful and irreverent character of the Cubans, means that attending a
Church seems like something from another era. However, these meetings in
neighborhoods, in their neighbors houses, in an atmosphere of spontaneity
helps them break any anti-religious prejudices they could have," said Rodes.

The Cuban leader then cited other elements that helped the phenomenon. The
fact that the Word of God is not presented from the pulpit but in a small
group by someone who speaks the language of the street and is aware of the
concerns of the community. The spontaneity of their prayers that gather the
concerns and of the people and the individual nature of the requests for
sick neighbors or those in difficulty, also helps.

He added that it creates the right environment for a real and effective
solidarity where people seek collective solutions to family crisis and
consolation for people in need.

However, he also spoke about the dangers inherent in this "style" as many
of these home Churches have become institutionalized and do not differ from
a regular Church. "Others operate like a link in a chain where the center
is far from the community. In these cases they correspond to a rising
denominationalism in our society, occasionally accompanied by a Church
bureaucracy only interested in having the machine work and achieving
numeric and economic success," he added.

He warned about the penetration covered up of powerful economic groups that
offer economic benefits to grassroots pastors in exchange for an
unconditional submission to their directors. This is a factor that
"distorts the good spirit of the communities," he said. As a result the
proclamation of the Word becomes a proselytist obsession that only
intimated people in order to gain adepts," he said.

Despite these shadowy elements that can be perceived, said the Cuban
pastor, the final balance is very positive in terms of a prototype of a
Church that has demonstrated its effectiveness to help the people find a
meaning for their lives in faith, at a time when people have lost many of
the certainties that encouraged them.

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PERU
Evangelicals should unite and support their own political candidates

By Estuardo Zevallos

Lima, Sept 19 (ALC). Evangelical voters are deciding who the presidents are
in many countries of the region but "it is time that the Churches join to
support their own candidates," said Nicaraguan pastor and legislator
Guillermo Osorno in the First Latin American Summit of the Assemblies of
God held September 13 -16 in this capital.

The religious leader deplored the fact that Evangelicals persist in the
error of not recognizing politics as a "space where we must participate,"
while the Christian vote brings traditional and independent politicians to
power who "do not contribute to progress and transformation in Latin America."

The ideal would be to begin to form Christian political parties to bring
our own candidates and proposals but this will be achieved when we reach
maturity, said Osorno, president of the Evangelical Nicaraguan Christian
Way party.

He said that participation in politics is not an issue that is foreign to
the Church but a gift that God has given men to bring peace and justice to
the nations. He indicated that countries in Latin America are rich in
resources but live impoverished by injustice and the uncontrolled ambition
for power and wealth on the part of its governors.

Osorno gave Finland as an example, considered the most just nation on earth
where 92 percent of the population is Christian and its president, congress
representatives, mayors and officials are also Christians. It is one of the
world's richest nations although it does not have significant natural
resources, he said.

The First Latin American Summit of the Assemblies of God brought together
more than 200 participants from the region and the United States. The
meeting addressed the Church's political participation, the theology of
prosperity, the value of the denominations, the mega-Churches and a
self-evaluation of Pentecostalism, among others.

The event was organized by the Rev. Rodrigo Espinoza Celadita, national
superintendent of the Assemblies of God of Peru with the support of the
Rev. Jeremias Bolaños of Honduras, representative of the Executive
Committee of the Assemblies of God of Central America (CELAD) and the Rev.
Fransicos Buono of Argentina, representative of the Confraternity of the
Assemblies of God of South America (CADSA).
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