Colombian Churches Document Their Suffering and Their Hope

A few months ago the Peace Commission of the Protestant and Evangelical Council of Churches and Justapaz released the second edition of A Prophetic Call [pdf] which documents human rights abuses suffered by the protestant and evangelical churches in Colombia in 2006. Below is a short video presentation of the report.

For far too long, protestant and evangelical Colombians, roughly 10% of the Colombian population, have been a nearly invisible minority. Courageously, they have begun to document their suffering as well as their hope-filled response to the violence in Colombia.

...Bono Too

While we're on the pop-culture watch: El Tiempo reported earlier this week that Bono stated he "is aware of the poverty in Colombia" and intends to visit (along with his band U2).

West Matters...

OK, this has nothing to do with Colombia, but it's not everyday that your favorite public intellectual, former professor at your alma mater, son of a Baptist minister, is named MTV's Artist of the Week.

Circus Sincelejanus

Last week I attended the last day of the Corralejas here in Sincelejo. Corralejas are a wacky, wild and dangerous free-for-all mixture of the running of the bulls, a traditional bullfight and a western rodeo... or something like that. They are popular all over Colombia's Caribbean coast with Sincelejo's considered the biggest and best. The nine days of Corralejas, coinciding with the parades, parties and beauty pageants associated with the "Sweet Name of Jesus" festival makes for Sincelejo's largest cultural event each year. The Corralejas have been going on for some 150 years and though undoubtedly cruel, Corralejas bulls are not killed.

The circuses of the Roman Empire must have been something like this. The "haves" up in the stands, the "have nots" doing what they can to impress the crowd and make a buck. The amateur bullfighters who do something impressive (like get gored) are allowed to go up into the stands to ask for money.

Here's a little video footage I shot...