e-Review archive
Global Connection
September 2004
 

Poverty figures should galvanize United Methodists, leaders say

Sept. 1, 2004     News media contact:   Tim  Tanton * (615) 7425470*  Nashville {N04390} United Methodist News Service Census figures showing more Americans living in poverty and going without health insurance should push United Methodists to rededicate themselves to addressing two critical issues in this election year, according to denomination leaders. Two bishops and a top church agency executive are calling on congregations to reach out to poor people living in their areas and to pressure local, state and federal lawmakers to enact anti-poverty programs and provide health insurance to all people. They add that now is not the time to back off the Council of Bishops' Initiative on Children and Poverty, which the episcopal leaders began in 1996 to draw attention to the plight of the poor and children and to learn more about the causes of poverty. The U.S. Census Bureau reported Aug. 26 that one million more people were living in poverty and another one million without health insurance in 2003 than during the previous year. Both figures rose for the third straight year, census officials said. full story

Relief agency calls on church to help with hurricane response

Sept. 3, 2004     News media contact:   Tim  Tanton * (615) 7425470*  Nashville {04400} United Methodist News Service The United Methodist Committee on Relief is calling on the church to help with hurricane relief efforts in Florida. With winds estimated at 120 miles per hour, Hurricane Frances was expected to hit the state’s east coast Sept. 4. Frances was dropped from a Category 4 to a Category 3 storm by Sept. 3, but weather forecasters said it could regain its strength and possibly become the worst hurricane to hit the state in more than a decade. Florida prepared for the attack by ordering 2.5 million people to evacuate—the largest evacuation in state history, according to news reports. Meanwhile, UMCOR and the church’s Florida Annual (regional) Conference are still responding to Hurricane Charley, which struck Aug. 13 on the Gulf Coast, leaving 27 people dead and billions in damages. full story

Church responds to Hurricane Frances' devastation

Sept. 7, 2004     News media contact:   Kathy  Gilbert * (615) 7425470*  Nashville {04402} United Methodist News Service Hurricane Frances roared over Simpson Memorial United Methodist Church in Riviera Beach, Fla., like a "wild animal," taking off half the roof and filling the sanctuary with rain. "The wind flipped half of our roof off and put it on top of the other half," said the Rev. Cleveland English, pastor of the predominantly African-American church. Rain poured in through the damaged roof and ruined everything inside the sanctuary, English said. With yet another storm predicted to hit Florida, he said he is not sure when cleanup can begin. "I have been in a lot of storms, but this was something else," he said. English was at the parsonage a few miles from the church when Frances roared through. "It sounded like a wild animal trying to get in. With the help of the Lord, our roof held together." full story

UMCOR hurricane response continues with grants, volunteers

Sept. 16, 2004    News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New York {04418} United Methodist News Service NEW YORK (UMNS) — More than 80,000 Floridians have received assistance from the United Methodist Church as they try to recover from the multiple hurricanes of the season. The United Methodist Committee on Relief and the denomination's Florida Annual (regional) Conference have provided equipment and volunteers for cleanup, as well as monetary grants. Thirty tractor trailers full of cleanup supplies, emergency food and building materials from UMCOR and other United Methodist disaster relief depots have converged on the hardest-hit areas. Volunteers have borrowed church vans and rented commercial trailers to redistribute supplies. Volunteers from 22 states are removing debris, repairing roofs, and clearing out mud and water in hurricane-devastated Florida homes. Nearly 30 percent of the state's United Methodist church buildings have sustained damage. full story

Church should speak against racial profiling, agency leaders say

Sept. 15, 2004    News media contact:   * ( ) * {04413} United Methodist News Service WASHINGTON (UMNS) - A report that 32 million people have been victims of racial profiling practices since September 2001 should move United Methodist churches to speak out on injustices against racial and religious minorities, according to two denomination leaders. The unlawful use of race in police, immigration, and airport security procedures has expanded since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America, and threatens to affect an estimated 87 million people in the United States, according to the report by Amnesty International USA. The report, "Threat and Humiliation: Racial Profiling, Domestic Security and Human Rights in the United States," was released at a press conference Sept. 13 at the National Press Club. The Rev. Chester Jones, top staff executive of the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race, said the sheer number of people reporting that they've been racially profiled "is out of control for any nation." full story