wfn.org | ALC NEWS SERVICE 20 Jul 2003

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

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

ALC HEADLINES:
ARGENTINA: Solidarity Hostal accompanies people who live with HIV/AIDs
BRAZIL: Atlas of religious affiliation launched in Brazil
PANAMA: Latin American Mission convenes consultation
GUATEMALA: Sector of Evangelicals back protests for ruling that allows Rios 
Montt to run

ARGENTINA
Solidarity Hostal accompanies people who live with HIV/AIDs

BUENOS AIRES, July 14, 2003 (alc). In Argentina the HIV/AIDs pandemic 
challenges the Church to stand in solidarity. Studies have shown the people 
tend to fear those who are affected more than the disease itself. The 
Evangelical Lutheran Church has created a center for people living with 
HIV/AIDs in Buenos Aires in order to facilitate their reintegration back 
into the family, society and employment.

The Solidarity Hostal is a place for men, regardless of their age, sexual 
orientation or religious confession, said Pastor Lisandro Orlov.

The aim is not to create dependency or to offer handouts. Rather, the goal 
is to provide people with tools to create a life project that addresses 
health, treatment, relationships and job skills. Residents assume all tasks 
related to daily life. As a result, anyone who wants to live in the Hostal 
must be able to assume some of these tasks and actively integrate himself 
in the project.

Moreover, the Solidarity Hostal is a place to meet and for dialogue with 
diverse cultures, including Christians from different confessions, people 
who come from the gay world, those who use drugs, people from the 
transvestite culture or those who have been prostitutes.

Its open doors are a permanent denouncement of doors that have been closed 
by prejudice and exclusion. This is the fundamental thrust of this project, 
coordinated by Pastor Orlov and is a prophetic voice against discrimination.

The Solidarity Hostal is maintained by Christian communities that form part 
of the Lutheran World Federation. It provides a free place to stay, food 
and job training for a three month period that can be renewed if the 
resident shows clear signs of implementing the life project that was 
elaborated when they first arrived.

The Solidarity Hostal also offers human, spiritual and psychological 
accompaniment and works to prevent addiction through members of its 
volunteer team from the Ecumenical HIV/AIDs pastoral team that groups 
together representatives from more than 10 Christian Churches.

BRAZIL
Atlas of religious affiliation launched in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 15, 2003 (alc). In recent years the number of 
Evangelicals and those who do not claim any religious affiliation in Brazil 
has increased the most on the agricultural frontier between the North and 
Central-Western regions and on the outskirts of Brazils major cities.

This information is contained in an Atlas of religious affiliation and 
social indicators in Brazil, recently published by the Loyola publishing 
house and the Catholic Pontifical University (PUC) Editorial of Rio de 
Janeiro. In the first 130 pages the Atlas includes maps and statistics 
describing different religions in Brazil.

The Atlas was developed by Professor Cesar Romero Jacob and Professor Dora 
Rodrigues Hees of the PUC-Rio de Janeiro and French researchers Phillippe 
Waniez of the Institute for Development and Violette Brustlein of the 
National Scientific Research Center.

Evangelicals have been filling the gap left by the State and the Church 
(Catholic) as of the 1980s, Romero Jacob told journalist Robinson Borges, 
of the paper Valor Economico. The group that elaborated the Atlas 
concluded, religious migration has a direct relationship with the 
geographic migratory process.

On the agricultural frontiers and the outskirts of major cities the 
majority of the population are migrants, they have little or no State 
support regarding health, education or other basic needs. One typical 
example is Rondonia, which is the most Evangelical state in Brazil.

The Catholic Church lost the highest number of faithful and, according to 
researcher Ronaldo de Almeida, of the Brazilian Center for Analysis and 
Planning (CEBRAP) and professor at PUC-SP, it behaves like a type of 
universal donor. Almeida wrote an article entitled The religious 
transition in the daily life of the country in Valor Economica.

Data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) 
indicates that between 1991 and 2000 the Catholic population declined by 
one percent a year with the majority migrating to Evangelical Churches.

In 1970, 92 percent of Brazilians said they were Catholic. Ten years later 
that figure reached 98 percent and at the beginning of the new century it 
had reached 73.9 percent.

Research carried out in the 1990s in the municipality of Sao Paulo, in the 
metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro and in urban micro regions, shows 
similar results: one out of every four people has changed religions, in 
particular in the past 20 years.

Almeida questioned the theory that there is growing religious pluralism in 
Brazil, as the majority of the people go in one of two directions: they 
become Evangelical or they opt for no religious affiliation. He proposed 
that the census be revamped to introduce questions that better define the 
person who is declared religious, to establish whether they are practicing 
or not.

Almeida cited a study from the Metropoli Study Center (CEM) of Sao Paulo, 
under which close to 50 percent of those who say they are Catholic are not 
involved with the Catholic community.

He said that based on census data, it is possible to affirm that there is a 
process under which people are no longer affiliated to the institution but 
that this does not necessary compromise their private religious practices. 
Moreover, it is also possible to affirm that people move between several 
religious systems without abandoning any of them.

PANAMA
Latin American Mission convenes consultation

PANAMA CITY, July 17, 2003 (alc). The Latin American Mission invited Latin 
American Evangelical missionaries and leaders to a Consultation to be held 
September 9 -12 in this city under the theme Mission Today.

The consultation will include several presentations, debates and forums 
addressing the question What is the role of an international mission in 
todays Latin world?

International missionaries have been present for more than 100 years on 
the continent and after all the changes we have experienced in recent 
decades we want to sit down and talk and debate about the task for the next 
few years, explained the Rev. Miguel Angel DeMarco, vice president of 
Ministries for the Latin American Mission (LAM).

De Marco mentioned other changes that have been experienced on the 
continent such as liberation movements, the charismatic renewal, the 
nationalization of ministries, the emergence of many new ministries and 
an impressive increase in the number of faithful.

Speakers at the Mission Today consultation will include de Samuel 
Escobar, David R. Befus, Carlos Van Engen and Arturo Piedra, who will make 
presentations about different perspectives of reality, challenges and 
possibilities for the Evangelical movement and missions in and from the 
Latin world in the Third Millennium.

These presentations will be debated by participants. There will also be 
different forums and working groups on practical questions affecting 
international missions and the cooperation between national Churches and 
ministries and foreign missions.

  Our objective is to cooperate with the Latin Church and through this 
consultation we want to discover how to do it well, how to better interpret 
the needs and which practices are recommendable to help build the Church of 
Jesus Christ, said David Befus, president of LAM.

In the past, missions came with resources and programs. Today there is a 
strong, developed Church in a world where there are still major lacks. How 
does international cooperation fit it? This is what we want to debate in 
Panama, said Befus.

The meeting will address issues such as: International Cooperation, work in 
multi-cultural teams, Latin Missions, the Meaning of Success in Missions, 
the Next Generation of Leaders and Economic Development. General program 
coordination will be carried out by Elizabeth Sendez, professor of the 
Bible Seminary of Colombia.

LAM began its work at the beginning of the XX Century, developing different 
types of ministries. Currently it has more than 200 missionaries in 15 
countries, through some 90 national partner ministries.

GUATEMALA
Sector of Evangelicals back protests for ruling that allows Rios Montt to run

CITY OF GUATEMALA, July 17, 2003 (alc). A ruling from the Constitutional 
Court (CC) that authorized Gen. Efrain Rios Montt to register as a 
presidential candidate in upcoming November 9 elections in Guatemala 
sparked protests from groups including the Conference of Evangelical 
Churches of Guatemala (CIEDEG).

In a statement entitled God Save Guatemala From a Breakdown in the Rule of 
Law, CIEDEG energetically rejected the Constitutional Courts resolution 
to allow the presidential candidacy of Gen. Efrain Rios Montt. According 
to CIEDEG; it violates article 186 of the Constitution and puts the Rule of 
Law at risk.

Last Tuesday, by four votes in favor and three opposed, the CC overturned a 
Supreme Electoral Court and a Supreme Justice Court decision that barred 
the Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (FRG) candidate from registering. 
According to the CC the Constitutional article that bars former coup 
leaders from running does not apply to Rios Montt as it came into force in 
1985 and he spearheaded a coup in 1982.

The CIEDEG added that, in the face of the gravity of the situation the aim 
is to defend and struggle to respect democracy, the Rule of Law and the 
dignity of the people.

According to the group Rios Montt is legally barred from running because 
he is directly responsible not only for the breakdown of constitutional 
order in 1982 but also for a repressive and brutal wave of terror that left 
thousands of dead and disappeared Guatemalans.

According to the Evangelicals the CC ruling is a product of pressure and 
influence trafficking and could constitute a return to the dictators of the 
past and State violence because regardless of the Magna Charter, no 
juridical order can guarantee democratic life in the country.

Others also spoke out against the ruling. Gabriel Medrano, president of the 
Bar Association said that ruling contradicts legal precedents set in 1989 
and 1990. Nery Rodenas, director of the Archbishops Human Rights Office 
said the ruling mocked Guatemalans.

Nobel peace laureate Rigoberta Menchu said that the ruling was equivalent 
to a constitutional state coup. We have all been witnesses to the 
usurpation of the Frente Republicana Guatamalteco, she said. The Alliance 
Against Impunity lamented the existence of magistrates without honor who 
have dealt a harsh blow to the rule of law and turned their profession into 
a dirty political business, making the CC a circus.

Businessman Dionisio Gutierrez said that the damage was irreparable. He 
added that Guatemalans must be prepared because the risk of electoral fraud 
is greater.

According to some experts, however, those who are opposed to the ruling 
should turn to the InterAmerican Human Rights Commission.

Meanwhile, other candidates are not losing sleep over Rios Montts 
participation. Oscar Berger, candidate for the Gran Alianza Nacional said 
I call on the population to beat him at the polls. What could not be done 
with the law can be done with the vote.

Fritz Garcia, candidate for the Partido Unionista, said that the CC 
decision is a legal aberration but the people will make the final decision 
by soundly defeating the FRG.

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