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Poverty
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

December 2, 2005

ELCA Presiding Bishop Wants Funding Increase to Eradicate Global Poverty
05-236-AL*

     WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding
bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),
Chicago, joined 12 other religious leaders representing
Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith traditions in a meeting Dec.1
with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The faith leaders
met with Rice to urge the Bush administration to increase funding
for international development assistance to combat global poverty
and to discuss the importance of the current round of trade
negotiations on all people living in poverty.
     Hanson and the other faith leaders called on the
administration to fulfill its promises to substantially increase
U.S. assistance to developing countries as part of the Millennium
Development Goals and other poverty-focused programs. In
requesting an additional $5 billion for such assistance in fiscal
year 2007, Hanson said, "It is now time for the administration to
work with Congress to ensure that it appropriates the funds
necessary to meet the president's promise."
     Currently, the United States spends less than 0.5 percent of
its federal budget on reducing global poverty.
     Hanson and several other Christian leaders met in March 2004
with Rice and other members of the Bush administration in an
effort to secure funding for poverty-focused development
assistance in fiscal year 2006.
     "Last year's meeting involved only Christian religious
leaders, but this year we came together as leaders of many faiths
to speak with one voice," Hanson said. "There is an emerging,
powerful convergence developing among people of faith over the
issue of global poverty. Our faith traditions are now uniting as
one in a grassroots effort to bring pressure on the world leaders
to end global poverty.
     "This is a spiritual issue," Hanson continued. "Our sacred
texts call us as people of faith to acts of love, mercy and
justice. This is also a moral issue. It is about how we live
responsibly in the world, particularly as people with wealth in
the face of abject poverty."
     People living in poverty will be affected by the results of
the upcoming Doha Development Round of trade negotiations, he
said. "As people of faith, we are paying attention to issues of
trade, particularly as they relate to the impact on those who
live in poverty," said Hanson. "I told Secretary Rice that we
want the Doha Development Round to succeed; but, for us, success
will be measured by the impact on global poverty."
     The religious leaders, led by the Rev. David M. Beckmann, an
ELCA pastor and president of Bread for the World, asked
specifically that the trade round focus on:
     + elimination of trade-distorting agricultural subsidies
     + expanded market access for poor-country products
     + freedom for poor countries to determine how they
liberalize their economies
     + increased assistance to help poor countries develop their
capacity to participate in trade
     "Trade and aid are both important," Beckmann said. "Aid can
help poor countries in trade, and changes in trade policy can
open opportunities for struggling people around the world to earn
a decent living."
     "The group thanked the secretary for the leadership that the
administration has shown on these issues," Hanson said. "We
extended the offer to continue to be in dialogue over the issues
of trade and global poverty."
     The meeting was arranged through Bread for the World, a
Washington, D.C.-based organization, supported by the ELCA and
many other church bodies, dedicated to fighting hunger worldwide
through advocacy.

     Others present at the meeting were:
+ Rabbi Frederick Mark Dobb, Adat Shalom Reconstructionist
Congregation
+ Imam Yahya Hendi, Muslim chaplain, Georgetown University
+ The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the general
assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)
+ Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
Washington
+ Imam Mohamed Magid, executive director, All Dulles Area Muslim
Society
+ Bishop Roy I. Sano, executive secretary, United Methodist
Church Council of Bishops
+ Bishop Monroe R. Saunders Jr., presiding bishop, The United
Church of Jesus Christ, Apostolic
+ Dr. H. Eric Schockman, president, MAZON: A Jewish Response to
Hunger
+ Sayyid Muhammad Syeed, secretary general, Islamic Society of
North America
+ Dr. Daniel Vestal, coordinator, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
+ Rabbi Jeffrey A. Wohlberg, Adas Israel Congregation

* Annie Lynsen is director for advocacy communications,
grassroots and network development, ELCA Washington (D.C.)
Office.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news