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ELCA Presiding Bishop's Statement for World AIDS
Day 2006
Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.
On December 1, World AIDS Day, the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA) joins with millions of people in hundreds of
countries to take up this theme. Through our support of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDG), we are part of a global
commitment to stop AIDS by 2015.
Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.
Churches and faith communities are an essential part of the
solution because people of faith play a critical and important
role in stopping AIDS in this generation. Religious leaders are
keeping the promise by making public and specific commitments,
promises that are reflected not only in our leadership,
rhetoric, advocacy, and vulnerability, but also in our budgets
and priority decisions.
What promises? Religious leaders and faith communities must
commit to:
- Involve people living with
HIV and AIDS, especially women and youth, in all dimensions
of our work
- Protect the human rights of
people living with HIV or AIDS
- Raise awareness that HIV and
AIDS are not "out there," but impact and affect faith
communities themselves
- Provide public leadership
and hold each other publicly accountable for a comprehensive
response that includes providing direct human services,
engaging in community organizing, shaping public policy, and
calling for corporate social responsibility
What does "keeping the promise"
mean for religious leaders? It means:
- Acknowledging and repenting
of our failures and fears
- Being transparent about what
we have done or not done to keep these promises
- Reflecting our commitments
in what we teach in our seminaries, schools, colleges and
universities, and lay training centers
- Listening to and learning
from people who are living with and affected by HIV and AIDS
- Holding others, including
governments, accountable for their promises which means
committing ourselves to learning and teaching
Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.
Our promises as Christian religious leaders are grounded in our
faith in God, who is steadfast in love, constant in mercy, and
persistent in justice, and in Jesus Christ, who is God's promise
of faithfulness in human flesh. We are called to follow Jesus as
disciples, to stand in solidarity with those whom society deems
to be marginalized, to offer healing to those who are
vulnerable, and to lay down our lives in love for our neighbor.
Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
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