May 1, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS – The worst health crisis in the world in 700 years, the global HIV/AIDS epidemic is overwhelming in scale: 40 million people are infected worldwide (75% of them in Africa); 7,000 people die daily; each day 1,600 people are infected. Some 26 million people have already died. More than twenty years into the global AIDS pandemic, the efforts of Christian congregations and denominations have been less than minimal.

John Brooks of the ELCA News Service reported yesterday that the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recently recommended that the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopt a resolution that commits the church to a "deeper engagement" in addressing the AIDS pandemic through development of a churchwide strategy for action in the coming decade.

The council, the ELCA's board of directors, asked the assembly to request the ELCA Church in Society and Global Mission program units to take the lead in developing a strategy to address HIV and AIDS. The council recommended that a strategy be bought to it for adoption in 2008 and that the strategy be reported to the 2009 Churchwide Assembly.

Published by Fortress Press as a resource for engaging congregations in efforts in fighting this disease, Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence: Christian Churches and the Global AIDS Crisis by Donald E. Messer is aimed to awaken Christian compassion in the coming years to this fathomless tragedy.

Drawing on his own involvement in global AIDS education in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, Messer uses stories, basic factual information, and theological insights to motivate lay and clerical Christians to assume leadership and form partnerships with Christians around the world in this struggle. Messer shows how churches can partner with ecumenical organizations, relief agencies, volunteer mission programs, healthcare programs, and other agencies to engage global AIDS directly and effectively.

Acclaim for Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence

"This important book is a powerful cry from the heart authored by a brilliant and esteemed educator and religious leader. Dr. Messer has immersed his mind and soul in the cruelest tragedy of our time, the HIV/AIDS epidemic now devastating Africa, Asia, and many other places around the globe. He eloquently calls upon Christians to wake up and respond with compassion and action. To do less is to spurn the central message of the Lord and Savior-that we care for each other and especially the afflicted." – George McGovern, former U.S. Senator, and first U.N. Global Ambassador on World Hunger.

"Donald Messer's Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence provides a forthright and challenging analysis of how the teachings of Jesus Christ can be used by Christians of all denominations to mobilize in new ways in the global struggle against the global AIDS pandemic. Messer offers visionary teachings and perspectives that are essential for all people of faith who believe that together we can create a better world. Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence helps us raise our awareness so that we can talk openly about AIDS and take actions in order to bring health and life to all those who are suffering." – Dr. Paul Zeitz, Global AIDS Alliance.

"For too long the Church has been asleep to the AIDS crisis taking place across our planet. Donald Messer provides a much-needed wake-up call to Christians everywhere that not only something must be done, but it can be done – beginning with you and me. Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence is an extremely well researched look at the global AIDS crisis. It's both heart wrenching and heart touching and will stir believers everywhere to begin responding to these needs. No one who ever reads this book will look at AIDS or the third world the same way. This is a must read for every believing Christian. " – Margaret Feinberg, speaker, freelance writer, and author of twentysomething and SimpleActs of Faith.

"A passionate and well-articulated call to mission this book demands answers to questions such as, Why has the church failed to respond to the worst health crisis in 700 years? Similarly, why are Christians ‘curiously silent and tragically apathetic' in the face of more than 7,000 deaths per day? Messer's hard-hitting, plain-spoken account will be the subject of study as men and women confront the truth that this is neither a ‘liberal' nor a ‘conservative' cause – rather it is a Christian cause. Their response in prayer mission, service and advocacy cannot come soon enough." – Rev. Robert Edgar, General Secretary, National Council of Churches of Christ USA.

"A challenge to Christians to develop a moral, activist approach to combating global AIDS, Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence should be read by Christians and all people of faith, especially if they have been sitting on the sidelines. Messer argues that if we believe in fighting injustice and inequality, we must become activists in the fight against AIDS. Written in a compelling, engaging style, Donald Messer finds a workable, sensible and morally defensible common ground between conservatives and liberals, who remain polarized over aspects of AIDS prevention." – Edward C. Green, Harvard School of Public Health.

"Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence is a call for action, covering all the topics on which Christians need to be informed. Be ready to shed some tears. Be prepared to risk having your comfortable theological assumptions challenged. Messer addresses boldly and directly the sensitive topics of sexuality, homosexuality, and gender inequity, and the sometimes unhelpful attitudes of the church which too often demonstrate more love of laws than the law of love. Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence is personal and readable as it calls for a paradigm shift in the church's traditional perception of AIDS." – Ray Martin, Executive Director, Christian Connections for International Health.

Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence: Christian Churches and the Global AIDS Crisis, By Donald E. Messer, Format: 216 pp; 6" x 9"; paperback; 4-c cover; perfect bind, ISBN: 978-0-8006-3641-8, Price: $15.00, Publication Date: March 2004.

Donald E. Messer is a United Methodist theologian and author of twelve books. Currently the Executive Director of the Center for the Church and Global AIDS, Messer was President of Dakota Wesleyan University from 1971-1981and President of Illiff School of Theology from 1981-2000. He was named both President Emeritus and the Henry White Warren Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology at The Iliff School of Theology. Concern for the escalating global HIV/AIDS pandemic has prompted Dr. Messer to travel and speak in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as to initiate a Center for the Church and Global AIDS that serves as a catalyst for Christian involvement in the major issues related to global HIV and AIDS, world hunger, and clean water. A college and seminary president for 29 years, Messer holds a Ph.D. from Boston University in social ethics. In 2005 he was honoed with a "Lifetime Achievement Award" from a medical university in India for his humanitarian work. Among other awards received over the years was being named "One of American's Ten Outstanding Young Men" in 1976 by the United States Jaycees. Throughout the world, the Center supports various projects of education, prevention, care and treatment, aimed at helping to create an AIDS-free and hunger-free world.

To order Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence please call Fortress Press at 1-800-328-4648 or visit the web site at http://www.fortresspress.com/.

Fortress Press