by UrbanFaith Staff | Dec 8, 2013 | Feature, Headline News |
c. 2013 Religion News Service
(RNS) Nelson Mandela, the former South African president who died Thursday (Dec. 5), had a deep connection with religious institutions.
Mandela was educated, first at Clarkebury and then at Healdtown, Methodist boarding schools that provided a Christian liberal arts education.
“Both were important influences on his life,” said Presiding Bishop Zipho Siwa of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. “Indeed, after his time at Clarkebury, the young Mandela said his horizons had been broadened.”
In Cape Town, retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu said Mandela was mourned by South Africans, Africans and the international community as a colossus of unimpeachable moral character and integrity.
“He preached a gospel of forgiveness and reconciliation,” Tutu wrote in a tribute on Allafrica.com.
“He showed in his own character, and inspired in others, many of God’s attributes: goodness, compassion, a desire for justice, peace, forgiveness and reconciliation. He was not only an amazing gift to humankind, he made South Africans and Africans feel good about being who we are. He made us walk tall. God be praised.”
Mandela acknowledged his connection to religious institutions and faith groups at various religious meetings across the world.
“It was religious institutions whether Christian, Moslem, Hindu or Jewish in the context of our country, they are the people who bought land, who built schools, who equipped them, who employed teachers, and paid them,” Mandela told the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1999. “Without the church, without religious institutions, I would never have been here today.”
Mandela told the gathering it was religious institutions that gave his fellow prisoners and him hope during the apartheid era that one day they would prevail.
“Religion was one of the motivating factors in everything we did,” he said.
Soon after his release, Mandela visited the World Council of Churches headquarters in Geneva. The Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, the World Council of Churches general secretary described the leader’s relationship with the council as a special one.
“This is when he expressed his gratitude for the churches’ support to the anti-apartheid struggle,” Tveit said in a tribute in which he celebrated Mandela as “a liberator who by force of his remarkable personality raised the dignity of Africans after centuries of colonialism, oppression and discrimination.”
Added Siwa in a tribute Friday: “Although we are sad and mourn the passing of a father, an icon and world leader we cannot help but celebrate his life as well.”
Copyright 2013 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
by UrbanFaith Staff | Nov 21, 2013 | Headline News |
c. 2013 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS) “A higher power will deliver me.”
“If Jesus suffered, I’m going to suffer.”
“I have a daughter, why would I need an advance directive?”
That’s what elderly African-Americans have told Karen Bullock, a medical sociologist and social worker.
Race, religion and a sense of the role of the family all play into end-of-life decisions for African-Americans, “and you cannot disentangle them,” said Bullock, a professor and head of the department of social work at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C.
A new survey on end-of-life issues, released Thursday (Nov. 21) by the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, bears this out: Blacks and Hispanics are twice as likely as white Protestants, Catholics and people of no religious identity to insist that doctors do everything possible to stave off death, even in the face of incurable disease and great pain.
What’s more, the most recent statistics from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization show hospice service is overwhelmingly used (83 percent) by non-Hispanic whites. Less than 9 percent of hospice patients were black, and less than 7 percent were Hispanic.
Bullock, who is an African-American Southern Baptist, has tried to address end-of-life issues with a faith-based approach. She’s partnered with churches to talk about advance directives and decisions about aggressive treatment, palliative care (shifting from efforts to cure to pain management in incurable cases) and hospice.
Even that didn’t work.
“I could talk about a good death, but I couldn’t convince them that medical providers were truly going to act on their behalf,” she said. Hospice may be the “gold standard of care at the end of life,” but minorities are not easily convinced, she said.
Bullock points to elderly African-Americans’ historic experiences for one reason they insist on aggressive treatment even in severe pain with an incurable disease.
This is the generation that lived through segregation and that remembered the infamous Tuskegee experiment, in which black men were injected with syphilis and studied but not treated, she said.
People who overcome adversity by relying on their faith in God are unlikely to change that in their last days, she said. “They believe death is not the end for them and they will pass on to a better place.”
They also have a different understanding of suffering.
“Suffering is not being able to feed your family,” Bullock said. “Lying in a hospital bed is not suffering.”
George Eighmey made a similar observation during his 12 years as executive director of Death with Dignity in Oregon, the first of four states that have legalized physician-assisted dying for terminally ill patients.
Eighmey, who retired in 2010, said he saw no black, Hispanic or Asian people inquire about the law before it was enacted, or after when it allowed people to obtain a lethal prescription from a physician and choose the day of their death.
He began an educational outreach program to all three communities to learn their concerns. Eighmey found Asians and Hispanics often rejected physician-assisted dying because they believe it is up to family members to “care for someone to the end.”
Hispanics and blacks, he said, also brought their deeply religious faith in miracles to their end-of-life views. They believe God is in control, not human beings.
Those few minorities who did, eventually, avail themselves of the Oregon law, he said, were largely “upper-income, highly educated, fiercely independent individuals who are accustomed to having things their way — pretty much like white people who have used the law.”
These are not people waiting passively for a miracle, said the Rev. Tarris Rosell, an ethics consultant at the Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City and an associate professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center, School of Medicine.
“If the patient or the patient’s family is praying for God to intervene, then everything must be done to keep Grandma or Grandpa going.”
Rosell, who was ordained in the liberal American Baptist tradition, said arguments over whether someone should continue aggressive treatment or turn to palliative care are a major reason he’s called in for ethics consultations.
Once, he said, a family came to him when their grandfather was already sedated, on a ventilator and unable to speak for himself. Their question: “Is it permissible to stop treatment, or is that a lack of faith?”
By stopping aggressive treatment, they feared they were saying that they didn’t believe in the power of God to heal.
“The miracle may be a release from suffering in this world,” he told them. “If God intervenes in the world to bring another kind of healing, wonderful! But then you don’t need doctors and machines. Maybe it would be best to turn them off and let God do what God is going to do.
“Faithfulness does not require us to keep someone in a state of suffering, to prolong the natural dying process. It’s our job as pastors to explain that at a certain point, the optimal level of care, which they always deserved, may be in letting go.”
This is not easy to convey to people accustomed to prayers such as, “Lord, be with the doctors,” said the Rev. Elree Canty, pastor at Grace and Mercy Christian Church, a nondenominational church in Lenexa, Kan.
“You will hear people say, ‘Lord, bless the surgeon’s hand and guide his mind to find a cure.’ If you shut that down, many feel you are closing the doors to a blessing,” Canty said.
“Everyone knows somebody who was on the verge of death and held on and kept fighting and, guess what, they bounced back!”
His mother did. Eight years ago, she was fighting breast cancer. “She was very aggressive about living.”
But, Canty said, his mother, now 60, also has written down all her desires for care if she falls ill again. Just in case.
Copyright 2013 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
by UrbanFaith Staff | Nov 20, 2013 | Feature, Headline News |
The civil rights veteran started his social justice work in the 1940s, nonviolently protesting segregated lunch counters in Peoria, Ill., well before the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. started his. He became part of King’s executive staff at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta in the 1960s.
Now, as one of the last surviving members of a generation of civil rights icons, he has returned as SCLC president amid other projects, from chairing a bank to mentoring youth.
On Wednesday (Nov. 20), he joined 15 others — including former President Bill Clinton and media mogul Oprah Winfrey — in being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the president.
“The Rev. C.T. Vivian was a stalwart activist on the march toward racial equality. Whether at a lunch counter, on a Freedom Ride, or behind the bars of a prison cell, he was unafraid to take bold action in the face of fierce resistance,” according to the White House citation read before President Obama draped the red, white and blue medal around the neck of Cordy Tindell ‘C.T.’ Vivian.
In an interview, Vivian said he has collected “stacks” of awards over the years, but he hopes this one will help draw attention to the causes to which he has devoted his life.
“People will listen that wouldn’t otherwise listen and that’s what’s important,” he said. “If it doesn’t help you help somebody, then it might as well not be there.”
After the White House ceremony, he added: “It’s like the laying on of hands … when the nation says that you have served well.”
From his first “direct nonviolent action” in 1947, Vivian has been dedicated to nonviolence. “We hardly talk about it anymore,” he said, “but until we talk about it we can’t change the world.”
In Nashville, Tenn., Vivian worked closely with the Rev. James Lawson, a Methodist minister who trained him and others to resist people who opposed their desegregation efforts. Their work eventually led to the removal of “colored” and “white” signs above public drinking fountains.
“It was because of the effectiveness of our movement, and C.T. was one of our key pastors and key people,” said Lawson, who now lives in Los Angeles.
Vivian, then a pastor and editor for a Baptist Sunday School publisher, also was one of the first Freedom Riders to travel by bus in 1961 to Jackson, Miss., where he was arrested and beaten.
The incident that brought him international news coverage came in 1965 during a confrontation in front of a Selma, Ala., courthouse when Sheriff Jim Clark blocked civil rights activists’ attempts to register to vote. Vivian, who was struck and bloodied, did not back down, telling Clark: “If we’re wrong, why don’t you arrest us?”
“Many people did not have that kind of courage,” said the Rev. Gerald Durley, pastor emeritus of Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Vivian worships. “There were many with courage, but not the kind of courage that C.T Vivian demonstrated.”
Vivian now serves as the director of the Urban Theological Institute at Atlanta’s Interdenominational Theological Center, a consortium of African-American seminaries, and as board chairman of Capitol City Bank, a minority-owned bank with branches in eight locations in Georgia. Through his C.T. Vivian Leadership Institute, he fosters innovative leadership and career development for at-risk youth and college graduates.
“Dr. Vivian on numerous occasions has stated that he wants to have a ministry that deals with people where they are now versus dealing with the pie in the sky,” said George Andrews, the bank’s founder and former president.
But Vivian, who served for more than two decades on the staff of his Atlanta church, also has a reputation as a great preacher.
Joshua DuBois, the former special assistant to Obama, recalled being on the campaign trial in 2007 when Obama noticed Vivian sitting in the audience at Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Selma.
“He pointed him out and said, ‘Oh my goodness, there’s C.T. Vivian,’” DuBois said of Obama. “’That’s the man that Dr. King called the greatest preacher that ever lived.”
In February, Vivian and Durley are scheduled to visit a multicultural school outside Los Angeles, to discuss leadership development, the same skills he uses to mentor teenage boys in Atlanta every Saturday.
“I think that there are very few people who are 89 who are still out there moving at the speed of C.T. Vivian,” Durley said.
President Obama agreed Wednesday: “At 89 years old, Reverend Vivian is still out there, still in the action, pushing us closer to our founding ideals.”
The Rev. Bernard Lafayette, chairman of the SCLC, was Vivian’s cellmate when they were jailed during the Freedom Rides. They stayed up “half the night” encouraging each other by sharing puns.
“The most important thing that I learned from C.T. Vivian and Jim Lawson is that you can do something about the problem rather than just talk about how bad it was,” said Lafayette, who was schooled in the art of preaching by Vivian in the late ‘60s.
Lawson called Wednesday’s White House honor “a good step,” following on the heels of fellow civil rights activist Joseph Lowery receiving the same medal in 2009, the erection of the King Memorial on the National Mall and the placement of Rosa Parks’ statue in the U.S. Capitol.
“I think that the country makes a mistake in primarily medaling soldiers and not medaling citizens who reflect the best of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,” Lawson said. “And C.T., I think, happens to be one of the finest.”
by UrbanFaith Staff | Nov 14, 2013 | Feature, Headline News |
c. 2013 USA Today
(RNS) Americans are opening their wallets and providing financial relief to the typhoon-battered Philippines at a pace that may be the third-highest ever for an overseas disaster, but still not enough to satisfy needs.
As Philippine officials try to get aid to desperate Typhoon Haiyan victims, relief organizations from the Salvation Army to Mercy Corps are reporting strong initial donations from individual donors. Corporate donations and government aid have also been robust.
“International disasters like this where the scenes we’re seeing on the news are so overwhelming, people want to reach out and help,” says Salvation Army spokesman Ron Busroe. Donations accelerated from $300,000 Monday to about $1 million by Tuesday, Busroe says.
Patrick Rooney, associate dean at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, expects individual donations to relief agencies to top out at about $1 billion, exceeded only by the $1.5 billion donated after the 2010 Haitian earthquake and the $1.8 billion following the 2004 tsunami that devastated Indonesia. The international relief donations trail the $4.2 billion given following 2005′s Hurricane Katrina and $2.6 billion following the Sept. 11 terror attacks. (All numbers are adjusted for inflation).
Despite the outpouring of generosity, organizations such as the Philippine Nurses Association of America are scrambling to set up donor pages online. UNICEF has sent out an appeal for $34 million to help 4 million children impacted by the typhoon, saying funding is urgently needed for food, medicine, clean water and sanitation. UNICEF has taken in $4.6 million in donations the past three days, vs. $12.3 million it received from donors in the same period following the Haiti quake and $5.4 million it received within three days of the 2004 tsunami.
Save The Children, which issued an appeal for $30 million, has raised over $1 million so far. The organization is sending 12,000 blankets, 2,500 kitchen sets, four mobile clinics and other items, says spokeswoman Francine Uenuma.
Typically, 75 percent of donations come within three to six months of a disaster.
“One of the drivers is how much attention the media provides and if the attention is sustained,” Rooney says. “To the extent that it looks like there’s a need for help, people donate.”
While technology makes it easier to donate, text donations tend to be limited to $10 — well below the $50 median households give, Rooney says. “It increases the number of people who give, but decreases the amount given.”
Boston-based OxFam America has received about $1.5 million from over 10,200 donors, says spokeswoman Helen DaSilva. “We’ve seen a huge spike in people taking action,” she says. “People respond and care about what’s going on in the world.”
Oxfam, which raised about $29 million from U.S. donors for Haitian relief, hopes to provide fresh water and basics such as soap to about 500,000 Filipinos. Tuesday, an Oxfam team assessed devastated Daanbantayan, a town on the northern tip of Cebu.
“The scene is one of utter devastation,” said Oxfam team member Tata Abella-Bolo. “The immediate need is water, both for drinking and both for cleaning.”
Mercy Corps has raised more than $500,000 over the past two days. Despite a series of natural disasters overseas and in the U.S., Mercy Corps chief development officer Jeremy Barnicle says there’s no donor fatigue. Destruction and death, particularly in poverty stricken regions, spur donors, Barnicle says.
Handicap International has taken in $60,000. Elizabeth MacNairn, executive director of the organization’s U.S. operations, says 74 Philippine staffers are prioritizing efforts in the hardest-hit areas. The elderly and children with disabilities are often overlooked and cannot get to normal relief distribution points.The organization provides wheelchairs and crutches, much of it from pre-stocked sites in France and Dubai.
Still, given the large area of destruction and lack of access to hard-hit areas, the organization welcomes what it can get. “Sudden onset disasters tend to elicit a quick donor response, but needs are often massive and require a long-term response,” MacNairn says.
The Mennonite Central Committee, which raised more than $5 million in the U.S. for relief aid following the Haitian earthquake, has already received $120,000 in online donations for the Philippines, says MCC disaster response director Bruce Guenther. About $50,000 has been earmarked for food, basic hygiene items and support for assessment teams.
“Donations started quite slow, but driven by media coverage, it’s really picked up,” Guenther says. Additional funding will be provided to a 10-member team that heads to hard hit Leyte island Wednesday.
Ben Smilowitz, executive director of the Disaster Accountability Project, a watchdog organization which tracks relief efforts, notes that donor contributions for specific disasters may be earmarked elsewhere by relief organizations. Those who want donations intended for the Philippines may want to find a Philippine-based organization and donate directly via pay services such as PayPal, he says.
(Gary Strauss writes for USA Today.)
Copyright 2013 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
by UrbanFaith Staff | Oct 31, 2013 | Feature, Headline News |
c. 2013 Religion News Service
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) As attacks on Christians mount in Kenya’s coastal region, some evangelical pastors in Mombasa area no longer may be willing to turn the other cheek.
The Rev. Peter Karanja (center), of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, addresses a news conference on Wednesday (Oct 30). He said the government should see this as writing on the wall and that Kenyans are getting tired of the continuing insecurity. (Photo Credit: Fredrick Nzwili)
Worried about attacks against their churches and congregations, some pastors are asking for rifles to protect themselves from suspected Islamic extremists.
The violence intensified on Oct. 20 and 21, when two evangelical church pastors were killed inside their churches. Pastor Charles Mathole, 41, was killed Oct. 20 as he prayed inside his Vikwatani Redeemed Gospel Church. The following day, East African Pentecostal Church pastor Ibrahim Kithaka was found dead in Kilifi, about 35 miles north of Mombasa.
Christian leaders blame the attacks on increased radicalization of Muslim youth. The attacks have occurred amid protests by Muslims that they were being targeted in Nairobi’s war against terrorism.
“Our many churches are not under any protection. They do not have walls or gates. The government should issue AK-47 rifles to every church so that we can stop them from being burnt, our property from being looted and our pastors and Christians from being killed,” said Lambert Mbela, a pastor at Mathole’s church, during his funeral.
Three weeks before the latest murders, Muslim youth torched a Salvation Army church in the Majengo area in Mombasa to protest the killing of the popular Sheikh Ibrahim “Rogo” Omar and three others by unknown gunmen on Oct.4. The same church was torched last year after the murder of another prominent Muslim cleric, Sheikh Aboud Rogo Mohammed.
Some church officials say the request for arms reflects a growing frustration with the rising insecurity, but others say the move contradicts traditional biblical teachings on nonviolence, or could put churches and congregations at more risk.
“I don’t think arming Kenyan (clerics) will ensure security,” said the Rev. Peter Karanja, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, at a news conference in Limuru, near Nairobi, on Wednesday (Oct. 30).
“However, the government should see this as writing on the wall. Kenyans are getting tired of the continuing insecurity.”
Karanja challenged the government to marshal enough personnel and resources to improve security in churches, offices and homes without having to arm clergy. “What we do not agree with is that every pastor should be armed to ensure they are safe,” he said.
Interfaith initiatives in the coastal region have allowed different faiths to live in relative calm, but the attacks are threatening decades of peaceful coexistence, according to the Rev. Wilybard Lagho, vicar general of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa.
“I think we need to restrengthen interreligious dialogue. The problem is in the minds, and we need to win them back,” said Lagho, calling the request for guns a shallow solution to a complex problem.
Some Muslim leaders, meanwhile, have backed the pastors’ call for arms but said there should be a thorough vetting of who gets a gun.
“It is a good idea, but not all clerics should get the guns. Some are rogue clerics and may pose more danger to other religious leaders,” said Sheikh Juma Ngao, chairman of the Kenya Muslim National Advisory Council.
Copyright 2013 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
