NEWS FEATURE: Author: `Soul of Church’ at Stake in Global AIDS Fight

c. 2004 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ With an estimated 46 million people in the world living with HIV/AIDS, some Christian communities say it’s time to step up their efforts in the fight against the global pandemic. Recently, the Rev. Donald Messer of Denver, Colo., a United Methodist minister and theology professor, issued his own […]

c. 2004 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ With an estimated 46 million people in the world living with HIV/AIDS, some Christian communities say it’s time to step up their efforts in the fight against the global pandemic.

Recently, the Rev. Donald Messer of Denver, Colo., a United Methodist minister and theology professor, issued his own call to action with the release of his book, “Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence: Christian Churches and the Global AIDS Crisis” (Fortress Press).


“I hope it would be read by both laity and clergy who are attempting to understand the mission of the church in terms of what God is calling this community of faith to do at this … critical time,” Messer said.

“If the church fails to respond with the vast resources we have, it will be a tragic failure on our part. The soul of the church is at stake.”

Messer said other books about HIV/AIDS and the church are outdated and address the disease only in the context of the United States and homosexuality.

With the advent of antiretroviral drugs and public education, HIV/AIDS faded from headlines, and Western Christians became apathetic about the disease, Messer said.

“Books on the subject haven’t appeared even though the disease has swept the rest of the earth,” Messer said. “This book is an attempt to fill a gap because there’s not much outreach (from) Christians or other persons of faith.”

A wall of silence on HIV/AIDS surrounds the pulpit, according to Messer.

“You ask the average pastor when he last preached about AIDS,” he said. “Give me a copy of your sermons in the last 20 years, and you’ll discover there’s not a word (about AIDS) in any of them.”

But Christine Tucker, director of HIV/AIDS Global Response for Catholic Relief Services, says although there is more work to do, faith-based organizations have done much to combat HIV/AIDS.


“We have about 130 projects related to AIDS in about 30 countries,” she said of Catholic Relief Services. “If there is a prevalence rate of more than 5 percent, we are doing something related to AIDS.”

If faith-based organizations are silent on the HIV/AIDS issue, it’s due to a lack of information, Tucker added.

“People in the United States have not had the opportunity to learn what AIDS is doing … and how entire nations are being decimated,” Tucker said. “If they did know, then there would be a lot more clamor for faith-based organizations, the government and the international community to do a lot more.”

Christian leaders say Americans can help by providing financial support, lobbying Congress, offering prayers, and creating partnerships among the government, faith communities and the private sector.

Messer wants President Bush to keep his pledge of a $15 billion contribution over the next five years to combat global HIV/AIDS. However, the Bush administration has asked Congress for $2.4 billion for this year and $2.8 billion for 2005 _ both less than the $3 billion a year average to reach the $15 billion mark.

“I commend President Bush because he has been the most open about the global AIDS crisis and has committed himself publicly in ways that were unexpected,” Messer said. “The negative side is reality has not matched his rhetoric. He has not asked Congress to expend the money he proposed.”


In March, a group of 12 representatives from Protestant and Catholic groups met with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and members of Congress to urge them not to waver on the government’s commitment to HIV/AIDS funding.

“There are several excuses why the money hasn’t flowed faster,” said the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches. Edgar participated in the March meeting. “Those excuses are hollow when you see so many people being killed.”

Messer cites the war in Iraq as a distraction from the United Nations’ request that the U.S. contribute for $10 billion a year to HIV/AIDS programs.

“It seems like $10 billion is a lot of money, but the United States is spending at least $1 billion a week in Iraq,” he said. “So $10 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to what’s happening in Iraq.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator said the $15 billion will be delivered over the next five years as planned.

“This is a plan focused on treatment,” the spokesperson said. “We’re trying to get the infrastructure laid down in the first few years and will see those things expand in the third, fourth and fifth years. We are not spending that in equal chunks.


“President Bush has kept every promise he’s made so far. There’s no intention to back off of that commitment.”

In addition to securing funds to combat the disease, many church leaders are calling for changes in both attitudes and behavior among Christians.

“The church has to move from condemnation to compassion, from indifference to involvement, from apathy to action,” Messer said. “Who is going to provide this help if it’s not persons of faith who could commit to caring for the whole human family?”

Faith-based groups working abroad to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS must “break the taboos of silence,” especially since “the church is particularly tongue-tied on sexuality,” Messer said.

Messer and other Christian humanitarian groups are especially fond of the ABCs of prevention: abstinence, being faithful to one’s partner and using condoms.

In Uganda, church and political leaders “asked (the) people to go back to traditional values,” said Dorothy Hanson, AIDS project manager of Presbyterian Church USA. “Within 10 years, they brought the AIDS rate from 18 percent to 6 percent. That’s the challenge and hope for the rest of Africa.”


DEA/RB END MORGAN

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