From today’s Ecumenical News International:
UN, NGOs told Faith-Based Organizations crucial in AIDS fight
Geneva (ENI). Up to 40 per cent of health care in poor countries is delivered by private religious institutions according to the first systematic study of faith-based organizations and HIV/AIDS.
From the press release:
A new Web-based resource providing detailed information and evaluation of more than 200 nonprofit organizations in the United States is now available for use by charity managers, philanthropists and the public. The Samaritan Guide, developed by the Acton Institute’s Center for Effective Compassion, is a searchable database composed of applicants for the annual Samaritan Award and has organized the directory according to location and area of service.
During last week’s Symposium, Acton communication staff had the opportunity to interview two African religious leaders on a variety of issues facing their continent, including the $40 billion in debt relief proposed to the G8 nations.
There’s an interesting discussion going on over at Mirror of Justice about Catholic Social Teaching and the Preferential Option for the Poor: here, here, and here.
In response to the title of this post, you might reply: “Who cares?” I’ll tell you why you should perhaps care who these guys are and where they are. Matt and Brandon are two Michigan natives who have committed to running across the continental U.S. These two Christians (Brandon is a freshman at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, and Matt teaches at Montego Bay Christian Academy in Jamaica) are making the run for charity, Water for Children Africa.
This post at a blog hosted by the Ratzinger Fan Club, Against the Grain, gives a brief overview of the “preferential option for the poor” in Catholic Social Teaching. In the process, Christopher writes,
With the G8 countries preparing to cancel $40 billion in debt owed by several African countries, a fresh start is promised. But what has really changed?
Check out Acton commentary related to African aid and debt forgiveness at our “Aid to Africa” special section. Here you can find an interview with the Rt. Rev. Bernard Njoroge, bishop of the diocese of Nairobi in the Episcopal Church of Africa, and a member of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, and Chansi Chanda, chairman of the Institute of Freedom for the Study of Human Dignity in Kitwe, Zambia. In this insightful interview, these two African leaders discuss the debt cancellation agreement and the moral nature of business.
The One Campaign, an advocacy group formed by international relief agencies that is promoting greater U.S. spending on foreign aid, has drawn support from prominent evangelical Christians and a pack of celebrities including U2’s Bono. But Anthony Bradley observes that the campaign, with its focus on greater governmental action rather than personal sacrifice, “promotes a depersonalized and sterile form of help characteristic of the secular appeal to radical individualism.”
Read more on The Free and Easy Charity of the ‘One Campaign’…
A quote from a speaker at the CRC’s Synod 2005, endorsing the Micah Challenge and the ONE Campaign.
He also intimated that churches could never hope to match the $40 billion pledged recently to cut aid debt for African nations.
Two years ago the Head Start battle focused on effectiveness: Were low income kids truly better prepared for starting school because they had participated in the program? No solid answers emerged, but like so many other Beltway debates, the substance issues abate once the funding crisis is passed.
Now Head Start is the focus of yet another brouhaha. Legislation attached to H.R.2123 by Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) ensures faith-based organizations receiving federal Head Start early childhood program dollars are not forced to surrender their religious identities if they want to be Head Start providers. In other words, churches could still provide Head Start programming without having to throw a tablecloth from the fellowship hall over any religious symbols in the building and fear prosecution if they hired teachers and recruited volunteers from among church members.
