Called to help Africa

Evangelical leader says Christians can save AIDS orphans

Evangelical leader Tony Campolo has been a leading activist on behalf of the poor and the church's responsibility to care for victims of AIDS. He will speak at 7:30 tonight, at Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh on behalf of a local project, Zimbabwe Orphans Endeavor.

The project, called ZOE, has been feeding and clothing AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Kenya. Tonight's event is intended as a fundraiser for ZOE, which was created two years ago by United Methodist pastor Greg Jenks. A $40 admission fee will provide at least 100 servings of food and a change of clothing for one orphan in southern Africa.

Last year, ZOE volunteer Susan Graebe of Raleigh wrote to Campolo, who lives near Philadelphia, and asked him to lend support to ZOE (www.zoeministry.org). Religion reporter Yonat Shimron asked him why this issue was so important to him.

Q. How did you find out about ZOE and why did you decide to help the organization out?

A. The young woman driving this thing [Susan Graebe] heard me speak of people suffering in Zimbabwe. It was basically that connection. The need is great. This is one of the great crises of our time. All of us are trying to respond as best we can to people in desperate straits who don't have the means to care for themselves.

Q. Is the church doing a better job responding to the AIDS crisis?

A. The churches were slow in responding to start with. There were those who said stupid things -- that it was God's punishment on people who were engaging in homosexual activity. Incredibly, some religious people believed such absurdity. Now most of the people who have AIDS are women. It's a heterosexual disease. We're dealing with a situation that has created 13 million orphans in Africa. That's an incredible figure. There are 40 million people who are HIV positive in sub-Saharan Africa. Once the church got the message, it moved with great effectiveness and great enthusiasm.

Q. Can more be done?

A. We can turn things around. In Uganda, under President Clinton, the debts were canceled. The money that was going to be paid for debts was put in a special fund to address the AIDS crisis. Within five years the death rate dropped by 50 percent, and the new cases dropped by 40 percent. I've talked about caring for orphans. There are two ways of doing this. Place them in families and give them financial help or start orphanages. When we have the will and desire we can turn things around.

Q. You've been very critical of some of the leaders in the evangelical movement, people such as James Dobson and Jerry Falwell. How would you like people to know evangelicals?

A. People have images of evangelicals as anti-women, anti-gay, legalistic, condemning people. That's not the image Jesus wants us to have. In many respects, AIDS is like leprosy. Jesus made clear what the disease was not. It was not God's judgment but an opportunity for those who love God to express God's love.

Q. How do you feel about evangelicals becoming involved in environmental issues?

A. Evangelicals have tended to be conservative and that has led them to take positions that are anti-biblical. The environment is one. The God of Creation calls us to be good stewards of creation. I worry sometimes when the church becomes so tied into a political mind-set that it's more committed to the politics of a party than it is sensitive to what the Scripture teaches. The environment is one of those issues where the Bible is clear on the responsibility to care for nature. There shouldn't be any question in the minds of religious people as to what should be done about this.

Q. You've been very active in education issues. You founded the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, which has started programs in inner cities, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Africa. How do education and the Gospel go together?

A. The Gospel is the Good News. God is trying to change the world that is into the world that ought to be. Once you understand that, you have to understand that to be a follower of Jesus is to be concerned with politics, education, economics. Education has the capacity to effect change in society. If we are attempting to, in the words of the Lord's Prayer, see his kingdom come on Earth as it is in heaven, then we have to end hunger, give people decent housing, make sure people are employed and sick people are cared for. When I talk to Jewish people, I find they have the same values and commitments. Muslim people have the same desire. This is one of those issues that crosses religious lines. All of us are very committed to seeing something happening in this world that would make it what God wants it to be. Education is the primary influence to effect that change.

Q. You're 71 now. What do you see yourself doing in the coming years?

A. Making sure young people are coming along who will pick up the values I believe in and carry them out. I want to encourage young people who share the vision to do all that can be done.

Q. So you see yourself as an encourager?

A. A mentor, recruiting and mentoring young people to do the work of God's kingdom here on Earth.