Book review: McGovern and Dole say hunger not a 'red' or 'blue' issue Andrew C. Thompson, Feb 23, 2006
Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Press, 2005 114 pages
The plagues represented by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have always haunted humankind. But among them, only death is technically outside of human control. The other three--war, famine, and pestilence--should be beatable, especially with the development of new medical, economic, and environmental technologies in modern times.
Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith looks at one of these plagues in particular: Famine, or more properly, World Hunger. The book is a collaborative effort by professor and ethicist Donald E. Messer and former U.S. Senators George McGovern and Bob Dole. All three men are United Methodists.
Although they are from different sides of the political aisle, Mr. McGovern (a Democrat) and Mr. Dole (a Republican) have a long history of cooperating on issues of hunger and poverty. They bring long careers of public service to bear in an explanation of how the global community has the ability to eliminate world hunger by the year 2030.
Mr. Dole points out that hunger is not a "red" issue or a "blue" issue. It is, rather, "a red, white, and blue issue" (p.52). It is an issue that should concern everyone, and perhaps particularly people of faith.
Dr. Messer provides the theological weight for the text in his bookend chapters on hunger as a religious issue that both individuals and the church are called to address.
"I believe God is calling persons of faith to join in the new world-wide movement to end hunger immediately," Dr. Messer writes. "God has been at work in the world, prompting governmental and non-governmental organizations to respond to human need" (p.17).
Both Mr. McGovern and Mr. Dole point to the ability of modern agriculture to provide more than enough food to feed all the hungry people of the earth. Both also insist that a combination of government and non-government entities is needed in the fight against hunger.
Through United Nations agencies, non--profit relief organizations and churches, global hunger can be checked, both men argue.
"Ending human hunger is our most urgent task and it is well within our grasp. Some global problems, including human conflict, intolerance and bigotry, have no easy solutions," writes Mr. McGovern. "Hunger is not one of these insolubles. It can be resolved during a generation, and it should be made the first priority of the global community" (p.25).
On a personal note, this reviewer is currently using Ending Hunger Now for a group study in preparation for a mission trip. The mission team is finding the book to be very useful in both preparation and discussion. It is filled with facts and figures about hunger and hunger relief, and there are study questions at the end of each chapter to stimulate conversation.
Currently, there are an estimated 800 million people living in hunger around the world (p.31). It is an enormous human problem. But as Dr. Messer, Mr. McGovern and Mr. Dole point out, with the right moral and political will, it is a problem that can be solved.
The plagues represented by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have always haunted humankind. But among them, only death is technically outside of human control. The other three--war, famine, and pestilence--should be beatable, especially with the development of new medical, economic, and environmental technologies in modern times.
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