October 24, 2005
By Wendy Whiteside

NEW YORK – People of faith can end world hunger if they combine their efforts, according to a new book by a bipartisan team of veteran politicians and a theologian.

Former Senators Robert Dole, R-Kansas, and George McGovern, D-South Dakota, are major contributors to Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith, published this fall by Fortress Press, an agency of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The editor and major writer is the Rev. Donald E. Messer, a United Methodist theologian on the faculty of Iliff School of Theology in Denver.

McGovern is a member of the United Methodist Church. Dole is Presbyterian with strong United Methodist connections.

"The problem of world hunger is soluble," said McGovern at a Washington press conference launching the book. "We are calling people of faith to be part of the solution." The former lawmaker and Democratic candidate for president in 1968 is an ambassador for the World Food Program of the United Nations.

The eradication of hunger is an "imperative" that can be shared by people of all faiths, according to Messer. "This issue cuts through politics and doctrines. Christians, Muslims and Jews all share the same theological imperative for addressing the problem of hunger."

Dole believes there is a link between hunger and terrorism. "I am confident that widespread hunger is one of the contributing factors that leads to discontent and creates an environment that is conducive to terrorism," he said at the National Press Club event.

Dole was the Republican Party presidential candidate in 1996.

"This book is a clarion call to all people of faith in the eradication of hunger," said the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, who attended the book launching.

"Faith communities can do much more than provide food charity," he added. "They can also encourage international agencies, national governments, corporations and civil societies to understand that food is abundant – if economic and social systems can be revamped to allow people access to the supply and to its production."

McGovern and Dole have long shared a commitment to combating hunger. They co-authored legislation in the United States leading to programs such as food stamps; food assistance to women, children, and infants; and the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition plan.

The relationship between hunger and AIDS is also of critical concern to all three authors. In sub-Saharan Africa, drugs alone cannot turn back the disease. The strong drugs must be taken with food to produce the desired result, so doctors are beginning to prescribe food alongside the drugs.

Messer plays a pivotal role in promoting and interpreting the Global AIDS Fund of the United Methodist Church, created by the denomination's legislative assembly, the 2004 General Conference. He is a professor of practical theology at the seminary in Denver and a former director of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

Former President Bill Clinton provides an introduction to Ending Hunger Now. The book is strongly endorsed by Bread For the World, the food and anti-poverty organization that represents many religious organizations on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Information about ordering Ending Hunger Now is available at http://www.fortresspress.com/, the publisher's Web site.

United Methodist News Service
Wendy Whiteside is an executive with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.