For Immediate Release                                                

November 25, 2002
      

Not Much to Celebrate in New Barna AIDS Survey

 

Despite their willingness to help children overseas, evangelical Christians are one of the least likely groups willing to help children orphaned by AIDS. 



SEATTLE  A new survey shows that evangelicals less likely than other Americans to help children orphaned by AIDS. 

 

The survey of more than 1,000 adults, sponsored by World Vision and conducted by the California-based Barna Research Group, found that 3 percent of evangelicals said they “definitely” would help children orphaned because of AIDS, compared with 5 percent of all respondents.

 

“Nearly 2,000 years after Jesus gave us the parable of the Good Samaritan, we are still asking the question, ‘Who is my neighbor?’ And we’re still getting the answer wrong,” says World Vision President Richard E. Stearns.  “This simple-yet-most-profound parable speaks to the AIDS epidemic.  Today, it should challenge our own community of faith, an American Church that largely is ignoring the AIDS pandemic.”

 

Evangelical Christians were one of the least likely groups supportive of HIV/AIDS causes. However, evangelicals fared better than average -- 14 percent compared with 7 percent overall -- when asked whether they would definitely help underprivileged children overseas.

 

The most likely group to support children affected by AIDS were young parents of young children who go to church every week, while the least likely was an older white evangelical male who lives in the Midwest.

 

Other findings:

 

·        “Baby Busters” (ages 18 to 37) are much more responsive to HIV/AIDS causes than “Boomers” (ages 38 to 56) and “Elders” (ages 57 and up): 47 percent of “Busters” were supportive or mildly supportive, compared with 30 percent of “Boomers” and 21 percent of “Elders.”

 

·        The sagging economy and financial hardships are having a significant negative impact on plans to help children hurting from the effects of HIV/AIDS.

 

·        Ethnically, the survey showed that white Americans were most resistant to addressing HIV/AIDS: 27 percent of whites were supportive or mildly

 

 

 

supportive, compared with 52 percent of Hispanics and 51 percent of African Americans.

 

As was the case two years ago when the survey was first conducted, public support for efforts to help those affected by the AIDS crisis is low across the board.  David Kinnaman, Vice President of Barna Research Group and director of the study, said, “One of the big surprises from this study is the fact that evangelicals -- who are typically some of the most generous donors in our country -- were particularly unmoved by the plight of AIDS orphans. However, the other story is that few Americans were particularly sensitive to the issue of such children.

 

“Americans’ awareness of the HIV/AIDS crisis is a mile wide, but their personal commitment to fixing it is an inch deep.” 

 

World Vision, the Christian humanitarian organization serving the poor in nearly 100 countries, started its first AIDS programs a decade ago, relatively early in the international response to the epidemic.  The agency’s first work included assistance for AIDS orphans and their foster families in Uganda, care for HIV-infected babies and children in Romania, and support for teens and young women escaping prostitution in Thailand. Today, World Vision is combating AIDS in several nations in Africa, Asia and other regions of the world.

 

For more information on World Vision, go to www.worldvision.org