c. 2007 Religion News Service

Group That Targets AIDS in Black Churches Expands Focus

WASHINGTON (RNS) An organization that has worked for almost two decades to encourage black houses of worship to fight the AIDS epidemic has expanded its focus to address additional health issues.

Pernessa Seele, the founder and CEO of The Balm in Gilead, told dozens of Washington-area black religious leaders Tuesday (July 10) that her organization is also focusing on cervical cancer and hepatitis C.

“We know that HIV is not the only issue that we must address as a people,” Seele told the gathering at a Washington restaurant.

The Richmond, Va.-based organization, which relocated from New York last year, also announced plans to create the African American Faith-based Health Policy Institute through its new Washington office. That institute will provide education and advocacy training for African-American faith communities on health issues like HIV/AIDS, cervical cancer and health disparities, focusing particularly on African-American women and girls.

“We want to train people in the faith community to become more involved in holding their elected officials accountable,” said the Rev. Susan Newman, director of the organization’s Washington office, in an interview. That office opened in September.

“We need to do more than just pray. … Prayer is the first action step. The next one is to talk about what’s wrong and then make sure our elected officials are held accountable and do something about that.”

Leslie Watson-Malachi, the organization’s national policy director, said it will work with congregations and denominations to encourage them to view public policy and the promotion of good health as “a unique part of our spiritual life.”

Founded 18 years ago, the Balm in Gilead holds annual events to encourage churches to promote HIV testing, pray about their role in addressing AIDS and strengthen their work on public health issues.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Cathedral Says Sony Apology Doesn’t Go Far Enough

(RNS) After releasing a video game depicting a bloody shootout in England’s Manchester Cathedral, Sony’s public apology is too little, too late, according to church officials.

“We asked them to apologize. … This they have done. We asked them to withdraw the game. They have refused to do this,” said the Very Rev. Rogers Govender, dean of Manchester Cathedral, in a statement.

Sony did not ask permission to use the cathedral’s likeness in “Resistance: Fall of Man,” a game designed for Playstation III. A climactic shooting scene did not sit well with Anglican clergy at Manchester Cathedral, where preventing gun violence is a central outreach campaign.

Sony apologized in a July 6 letter to the editor of the Manchester Evening News.

“It was never our intention to offend anyone in the making of this game,” said David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. “We would like to apologize unreservedly to them for causing that offense.”

But clergy say the church won’t be satisfied until the game is recalled. According to the Times of London, lawyers representing the two sides are still “in conversation” about Govender’s requests, which also include a demand that Sony donate to community groups as recompense.

_ Michelle Rindels

Quote of the Day: John Shelton Reed, friend of the late Doug Marlette

(RNS) “I can’t think of a religious group he didn’t offend. He even did a cartoon that upset the Episcopalians, and you know how hard it is to upset Episcopalians.”

_ John Shelton Reed, a longtime friend of the late editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette, who died Tuesday (July 10) in a Mississippi car crash. Reed, who helped form the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina, was quoted by The Washington Post.

KRE/CM END RNS