25 Years Later: More Christians Joining AIDS Fight
Churches and Christian organizations have changed their attitude towards HIV/AIDs since the first report on AIDS was published twenty-five years ago.
Churches and Christian organizations have changed their attitude towards HIV/AIDs since the first report on AIDS was published twenty-five years ago, with many joining the fight against what experts have called ‘‘the worst and deadliest epidemic that humankind has ever experienced.’’
On June 5, 1981 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its first report of AIDS in its publication Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The report informed of five cases of young men in Los Angeles, all of whom were described as “homosexuals.”
After the release of the CDC report, stigma barriers and lack of awareness had churches out of the scene when it came to responding to the epidemic. AIDS was largely thought of as a “gay plague” or a divine punishment for drug users and those considered by many Christians and conservatives to be living deviant and sinful lifestyles.
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As scientists and secular groups raced to find a cure, churches, at large, had been missing in action in the HIV/AIDS fight.
“Just go ahead and admit it. We have largely not been there,” said Kay Warren, wife of megachurch pastor Rick Warren, when she addressed the HIV/AIDS pandemic at a landmark conference held last November. “We have to take a moment to say that we were wrong. We know that God cares about people with HIV/AIDS. We believe the Church has a significant role to play.”
“The Church has been missing in action,” added her husband, senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of the New York Times Bestseller The Purpose Driven Life. “If we are the Body why aren’t we ministering with the whole Body?”
However, more recently the Church has been waking up to the crisis and is calling on the network of Christian adherents to respond to this crisis – a crisis so large that only the world’s largest religion can fight, according to the latter Warren.
With thousands of fellow church and ministry leaders, Warren began to see the church's role in this. After shedding off their blinders to the millions that have been suffering, the church pastor got involved with conferences and seminars to first spread the news of the significant role the church has to play in fighting the AIDS pandemic at the grassroots level.
When Saddleback Church hosted the first-ever church HIV/AIDS conference in November some 1,700 pastors and church leaders were brought together from around the world to discuss what the church can do to help stop the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Prominent megachurch pastors who joined the conference included Bill Hybels of Willowcreek Church in Barrington, Ill.; Bishop Charles E. Blake of West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles; and the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of the Windsor Village of the United Methodist Church in Houston.
"I do think more churches are now emphasizing care rather than judgment," commented Dean Hirsch, president of World Vision International.
"We are all sinners” said Hirsch, in response to the many churches that associated the disease with sin – i.e. homosexuality and drug use. “What's more important to God is how we care for those who are sick and suffering, especially those with AIDS."
And the churches, as Warren pointed out, are the best choice to help solve this global ill. According to the megachurch pastor, the church has the largest participation rate with 2.1 billion followers of Christ and a wide distribution network and is the longest continual organization with a history of over 2,000 years.
“With 2.1 billion people claiming to be followers of Christ, Christianity is the largest organization, the widest network, and the biggest volunteer force, larger than any country, government, or business,” said Warren. “The Christian Church is the only truly global organization, existing in every country and in thousands of indigenous people groups that are not represented by the United Nations or any multi-national corporation.”
A recently released U.N. AIDS report estimates that 38.6 million are living with HIV worldwide and approximately 4.1 million were infected in 2005 and 2.8 million died last year because of the disease. Moreover, according to projections by U.N. population researchers, AIDS could kill 31 million people in India and 18 million in China by 2025. In Africa, researchers say the number could reach 100 million by 2025.
To date, the disease has killed more than 25 million people and infected 40 million others.
“The Church is going to speak out and not only speak out but the Church is going to stand up and the Church is going to move into action and see the greatest crisis on the planet become the greatest opportunity to show the love of Jesus,” concluded Warren in the last session of the Saddleback Conference.
Over the last 25 years, as the Church and the world became more informed of the epidemic, HIV/AIDS campaigns have been launched by Christian organizations including Church World Service, Lutheran World Relief, The Salvation Army, Christian Reformed World Relief, World Vision, and Catholic Relief Services, among others.
Numerous Christian groups have also voiced their concerns over the epidemic and called for greater attention and response to the deadly disease. At the recent 2006 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS, Christian groups provided a strong voice in highlighting concerns over the vagueness of the U.N. draft political declaration for the High Level Review on HIV/AIDS as well as urging changes to the international AIDS response.
Last week’s U.N. high-level meeting concluded with the adoption of a declaration on global commitment to achieve one of the Millennium Development Goals of universal access to AIDS prevention, treatment and care by 2010.
The new U.N. blueprint included a resolve for 20-plus billion dollars needed annually from 2008, rapid development of microbicides, better drugs and vaccines and ensuring access to them, a long-term response to the crisis management approach, and a response embedded in social change which involves the low status of women, sexual violence, homophobia and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination.
Christian Post Reporter Lillian Kwon in the United Nations contributed to this story.
