文章基本信息

标题：Religion, politics and rock 'n' roll
作者：Adamson, Nicole
期刊名称：The Lutheran
印刷版ISSN：0024-743X
出版年度：2005
卷号：Sep 2005
出版社：Augsburg Fortress Publishers

Religion, politics and rock 'n' roll

Adamson, Nicole

Lutherans may be pro "bono" when it comes to helping others, but the ELCA and rock band U2 have little else in common.

With the exception of one thing ....

While Bono and U2 rocked out against poverty at the Live 8 concerts, Lutherans and others met to address similar concerns prior to the July 6-8 G8 Summit. The meeting was part of the ONE campaign, an effort by Americans to direct an added "ONE" percent of the U.S. budget to fight global AIDS and poverty.

Peter Rogness, bishop of the St. Paul Area Synod, and David Beckmann, an ELCA pastor and president of Bread for the World, Washington, D.C., met in London with more than 30 delegates of U.S. and U.K. churches for an ecumenical forum. The religious leaders sought to "make poverty history" by pressuring world leaders to drop the debt, maintain trade justice, and provide better and more international aid.

"There is great passion and energy coming out of the churches in England on these questions," Rogness told the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, after returning from the conference. "Now there is a growing interest in America for the churches to be more visibly present on these issues too."

Kathy Gerking, assistant to the bishop of the Southeastern Iowa Synod, and Cathy Brechtelsbauer, a member of St. Mark Lutheran Church, Sioux Falls, S.D., traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland, as two of 25 delegates with Bread for the World through the ONE campaign. Gerking and Brechteisbauer took part in training sessions, rallies and idea forums with anti-poverty activists from around the world.

"It was great to meet with all these people who came from different perspectives and different levels of expertise," Gerking says. "The more you are in touch with people engaged in the issue, the more you see hope. You think, 'This is our time. We can do this.'"

Nicole Adamson

Adamson is The Lutheran's summer intern.