In Defense Of CEPAD

Truth-telling has fallen on hard times these days. Indeed, even the ideas of truth and honesty are being replaced with a new concept of "credibility." In American political life, it seems no longer important to speak truthfully but merely to maintain believability. "Disinformation" has become the new word for lies. We are slowly becoming immune to the steady erosion of the truth.

But one recent disinformation campaign is so outrageous and insulting that it simply cannot be allowed to go by. I am referring to a series of accusations the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) has leveled against the Evangelical Committee for Aid and Development in Nicaragua (CEPAD) and its president, Dr. Gustavo Parajon.

The IRD has accused CEPAD of operating as "a government commission," because it has worked with the Nicaraguan government on projects such as the literacy campaign, a cooperative effort on the part of the government, churches, and volunteer groups that reduced illiteracy from 52 percent to 13 percent in the first year after the 1979 overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship.

The IRD also attacked Parajon, calling him "a loyal Sandinista" and alleging that he is a government agent who informs Nicaraguan State Security about everything that CEPAD discusses in closed meetings: "He recorded them." The IRD points out that most of the U.S. church money to Nicaragua goes through CEPAD and charges that the Sandinistas have "very important figures in CEPAD," including Parajon, who it claims makes sure that money is used in the government's interest.

All these charges against CEPAD and Parajon immediately became part of official White House briefings on Nicaragua, complete with information packets containing all the IRD materials. Reagan administration officials began to quote the IRD accusations word for word.

The purpose of these attacks on Nicaraguan Christians soon became clear. The IRD, in its Religion and Democracy newsletter of September 1984, said "... hundreds of thousands of our church dollars are going to organizations that support those who are persecuting Christianity in Nicaragua." CEPAD is at the top of IRD's list of such groups. The newsletter contained a petition calling on North American Christians to withdraw all financial support to "church and educational organizations which support that [Nicaraguan] government," particularly CEPAD.

Today CEPAD represents 42 denominations—almost all of Nicaragua's Protestant churches—and works in 400 cities, towns, and villages across the country. It is the largest and most credible evangelical organization in Nicaragua.

CEPAD was formed just four days after the 1972 earthquake virtually leveled the capital city of Managua. Relying on church people and resources, CEPAD was able to respond to the massive human suffering and quickly gained respect because it could distribute relief supplies without corruption.

Since then CEPAD has become one of the most effective and trusted relief and development organizations in the world. CEPAD's ministry is both spiritual and social—it carries on evangelistic campaigns as well as a comprehensive program for social development.

I have been to Nicaragua and have seen the work CEPAD does. I know the people who lead CEPAD, and I've talked with the local pastors who are the backbone of the work in rural areas around the country. I trust CEPAD's members in their integrity, their love for the people of Nicaragua, and their love for Christ.

The IRD effort to cut off CEPAD's funds shows a distinct lack of compassion for the poor of Nicaragua who are the ones most served by CEPAD's ministry. Does the IRD want to cut off the funds that make it possible for people to finally be able to feed their families, or to receive decent health care for the first time in their lives, or to build houses that are safe and sanitary, or to learn how to read?

And what about the charge that CEPAD is blindly subservient to the Sandinistas? Let's look at the record. The early policies of the Sandinistas toward the Miskito Indians were marked by gross insensitivity and grievous mistakes. Those policies were a tragic continuation of the racial discrimination long practiced by the Spanish-speaking majority against the black Indian minority.

CEPAD served as a go-between in the tensions and conflicts that arose between the new Nicaraguan government and the Miskito Indians. CEPAD became the chief advocate of the Miskitos' grievances and the voice of reconciliation. The Moravian church, of which the Miskito Indians are members, belongs to CEPAD, and through CEPAD the church was able to keep the cause of the Miskito people continually before the government.

The mediating efforts of CEPAD have been a principal cause of the widely acknowledged changes that have now come about in Sandinista-Miskito relations. The early insensitivity has been reversed and the work of reconciliation begun.

CEPAD has played a similar mediating role between the Sandinistas and some of the Protestant sects, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, who have had particular difficulties with the government. CEPAD has helped the conflicting parties to understand each other and listen to one another's grievances. Again, the disgruntled groups found a voice through CEPAD they would not otherwise have had.

In the recent dispute over the new Nicaraguan draft law and the particular issue of conscientious objection, CEPAD has made a crucial behind-the-scenes contribution. That process is ongoing, but CEPAD has presented the case for conscientious objection on behalf of concerned churches.

CEPAD is not neutral. It is clearly committed to the process of rebuilding Nicaragua. Its members and leaders stand with the government in helping the poor, but as the record shows, they are not hesitant to disagree, dissent, or push for change in government policy when that is necessary. They have consistently played the role of mediator and reconciler.

Gustavo Parajon is a Baptist minister and medical doctor. He is also a personal friend. Gustavo has given his life to serve Christ and, because of that commitment, to minister to the poor. I have rarely met a Christian with so much integrity.

Gustavo has a limp that is the result of a boyhood bout with polio, a disease that used to take the lives of thousands of Nicaraguan children. After medical training in the United States, Gustavo traveled around his country starting a network of medical clinics to serve the rural poor (Provadenic) and later forming CEPAD.

I have had the privilege of staying in Gustavo's home with his family. He and his wife, Joan, have stayed with us at Sojourners. The deep love he has for his people shows in his eyes and in his voice when he speaks of Nicaragua. He talks less about abstract politics than about concrete matters that touch the lives of his people: contra attacks on clinic workers, the rise in polio again as the U.S.-backed war erases the progress of health care efforts in rural areas, the funeral of teenage literacy teachers from his church who were brutally murdered by CIA mercenaries.

Gustavo Parajon is one of the most widely respected men in Nicaragua and in U.S. church circles. It is absolutely ridiculous and utterly shameful to accuse Gustavo of being a subservient government agent, and to charge his organization with helping to persecute Christianity in Nicaragua. The IRD owes Gustavo Parajon and CEPAD a public apology.

What emerges from this campaign of falsehood and innuendo is not the subservience of CEPAD to its government, but rather the subservience of the IRD to its government. Indeed, CEPAD has demonstrated a more independent and critical posture in relation to the government of Nicaragua than the IRD has shown toward the government of the United States. The IRD has virtually become the official seminary of the Reagan administration. With ready access to the government, lots of conservative money, and highly placed media connections, the IRD has become in the United States what it falsely accuses CEPAD of becoming in Nicaragua.

In fact the IRD's petition campaign against CEPAD is merely the religious aspect of the U.S. government's effort to strangle Nicaragua economically and overturn its government. The IRD supports the terroristic war the U.S. government is waging against Nicaragua. It has not criticized the contra brutalities against Nicaraguan civilians, including the murder of Christian clergy and lay leaders. U.S. funding for the contras should continue, according to the IRD, but funding for Christian organizations that serve the poor should cease.

The IRD would do well to heed the words of Michael Novak, a member of its board, and apply them to the behavior of the U.S. government in Nicaragua. Novak writes, "The first step in combatting terrorism is to condemn it, no matter who commits it, or whatever party or ideology. Terror is the murder, maiming, or menacing of innocent civilians, and must always be forthrightly condemned, universally, across the board."

Sojourners supports CEPAD and encourages all North American churches to increase their financial assistance to CEPAD and to all other churches and agencies in Nicaragua who are serving the cause of justice, reconciliation, and peace, in the name of Christ.

Jim Wallis is editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine.