Communities of faith work to eradicate causes of AIDS

Manuel Quintero, BANGKOK, Tailandia, July 16, 2004

  A joint document from leaders of the world’s major religions that participated in the XV Taxi Heathrow Airport International Conference on AIDS expressed their commitment to eliminate the causes of the HIV and AIDs pandemic on an international scale. 

The document affirms that these religions will fight against gender inequality, prejudice affecting those whose life style or orientation is different from that of the majority, economic injustice and the unequal distribution of wealth.

The joint statement, adopted by Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim leaders who attended the event was the fruit of months of work and delicate negotiations aimed at keeping doctrinal differences from creating obstacles for the road to consensus.

However, this fragile consensus nearly broke down when delegates who participated in a meeting with religious leaders argued in favor of the inclusion of some controversial themes, including gender inequality and the use of the condom.  

The emphasis that some Evangelical and the Roman Catholic Churches placed on two aspects – abstinence and fidelity –  from the tripartite strategy supported by the US government - leaving aside the use of the condom, was the subject of harsh criticism during the Bangkok meeting.

One participant, Dutch Raol Fransen said that the “emphasis on this strategy is an example of the imposition of a dishonest morality of one generation on another,” and added that the “key to prevention does not lie in ideologies but offering in young people options.”

The Bush government has earmarked $15 billion for a world program to combat AIDS but one third of this money is for Christian organizations and other religious organizations that promote abstinence as a way of containing the epidemic.

Some Evangelical Churches reject the use of the condom as they believe it leads to promiscuity. Others allege that in many societies women do not have control over their sexuality and therefore fidelity is a man’s prerogative. As a result, the emphasis on fidelity only serves to perpetuate gender inequality and the vulnerability of women to HIV and AIDS.

While discipline leads many dissenting voices to remain silent, the use of the condom continues to be highly disputed within the Catholic Church. 

According to a news story from the UCAN agency, in a meeting with Catholic participants attending the conference, a priest who works in Africa said that the Catholic Church’s position regarding the condom is scientifically erroneous. This position, he said is “damaging” the good work carried out by Catholics in local communities.

Another priest who works in Latin America said “Enough lies. Let us tell the truth about condoms and recognize that a change in behavior will not take place over night.”

Overcoming stigma and value judgments

At a prior conference in Barcelona in 2002, non government organizations and civil society institutions involved in the world struggle against AIDS, were harshly critical of religious leaders for their attitudes which, they said, have encouraged discrimination against people with HIV and AIDS.  

In Bangkok, on the other hand, key personalities such as Dr. Pier Piot, director of the UN AIDS program, did not hesitate to emphasize the positive role of faith communities in attending the sick and the enormous potential of religious leaders to influence the attitudes and behaviors of communities, which contributes to preventing the disease.

But others, like Professor Dennis Altman, a recognized international figure in the battle against AIDS, criticized what he called the “hypocrisy” of the majority of governments and religious leaders. Altman also denounce the way that “fundamentalists in all confessions perpetuate gender inequality that feeds the epidemic.”

The document from the religious leaders recognized that the response of the community of faith to the epidemic was frequently motivated by prejudice, ignorance, fear and value judgments. As a result, leaders committed themselves to overcoming the stigma, discrimination, rejection and fear regarding HIV and AIDS and to rejecting the negative position of some religious leaders who said that AIDS is divine punishment or retribution as well as to address those religious practices that increase the vulnerability of women and girls.  

If the community of faith contributed to the appearance of the stigma, it will now be stigmatized for its intolerance and rejection of many men and women affected by the disease. It must, as Dr. Mercy Odoyuye said in an ecumenical gathering prior to the conference, return to its original reason for being, which is to support and sustain the life that God has created.

Stigmas die hard. However, if the promises and commitments of religious leaders in Bangkok are translated into concrete events, the community of faith will have done what is necessary to erase its own stigma, offering its valuable support to eradiate the causes of the most deadly epidemics in the history of humanity.