The Church must engage more honestly with HIV /15.08.06
Religious leaders and politicians grappled with the issues of abstinence, leadership and the US government’s HIV funding policies on the second day of the XVI international AIDS conference.
Faith leaders chose the title ‘The challenge to deliver’ for a discussion on the role of the church in the global response to the HIV pandemic. The speakers included Christian Aid partner, the Rev J.P. Heath of Anerela+ (African Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Affected by HIV), who spoke out forcefully on the need for the Church to engage more honestly with HIV.
‘As faith-based organisations we have been involved in HIV prevention, but we have been doing more harm than good,’ said J.P. Heath. ‘We have offered care, promises to look after orphans and help with funeral fees. We must stop helping people to die and start helping them to live. We must mobilise faith leaders to say that we can live with HIV.’
There was a recognition among the religious leaders that one of their biggest challenges comes from their own faith brothers – the evangelical churches which preach that HIV is a punishment from God and that the use of condoms is a sin.
The head of the Lutheran World Federation, Bishop Mark Warner, said the church had to understand that the prohibition on the use of condoms was exacerbating the disease rather than preventing it. Abstinence as the only form of prevention was not viable when discussing HIV prevention, he said.
‘Churches must realise that the use of condoms in fighting HIV is not contrary to our moral teaching,’ said Bishop Warner.
But all agreed that to find common ground on this issue in the church was one of their greatest challenges.
The US congresswoman who is seeking to overturn its abstinence-only clauses in the US government’s PEPFAR fund said the future of women and girls was more important than ideology. Barb Lee quoted her government’s own auditing body, which had criticised the abstinence clauses as distorting prevention programmes.
There is a general consensus that abstinence is often not an option for poor women and girls who do not have the ability to demand the use of a condom. In sub-Saharan Africa the majority of HIV-positive women and young girls are infected in marriage.
The Rev J.P. Heath said that donors must listen to those on the ground who understand what is needed in their communities. He also called for more funds to fight stigma and discrimination.
‘PEPFAR is not serving our communities well,’ he said. ‘It must move away from imposing policies and rely instead on policies proven on the ground. Let the people decide what is best for them.’
© Christian Aid
