Roadmap needed for interfaith response to AIDS

Participants at an interfaith prayer service preceding the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada, view an altarpiece made by South African women affected by HIV and AIDS. Photo: K. McNeely/CWS

August 18, 2006

People of faith can no longer allow themselves the luxury of segmented and separated responses to AIDS, a senior Catholic cleric told an interfaith gathering as the 16 th International AIDS Conference got underway in Toronto.

It was time to create a “roadmap for cooperative actions” among faith communities, said, Special Advisor for HIV and AIDS with Caritas Internationalis Father Robert J. Vitillo.

Vitillo added that the call of the late Pope John XXIII for his bishops to read the signs of the times “might be an indispensable exercise for us as people of faith at this moment in the evolution of the HIV pandemic.”

Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Mark Hanson told the group of Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Baha’i, and Hindus that although there are obstacles to interfaith collaboration, “HIV and AIDS is an issue where we find our unity within our diversity.”

“We come as people of faith whose identity has been shaped by deeply held convictions and practices. That makes collaboration very difficult because we tend to distrust the faith and religious practices of the other,” Hanson added.

Faith leaders share their perspectives on how well religious communities have kept the promises made at the 2004 International AIDS Conference, held in Bangkok. Photo: K. McNeely/CWS

The audience applauded when Hanson criticized world leaders for fostering an environment of distrust for the sake of their ideologies. “We live in a time when the reality of terrorism is now becoming the defining reality for decisions made and that fosters a culture of fear amongst all of us”, he said.

Principal of Chiang Mai Sangha College Phramaha Boonchuay said Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and other religions include “important teachings about loving kindness and compassion towards the other.” He credited this shared understanding of compassionate response as the basis for collaboration on AIDS projects among 60 temples, mosques, and churches in the Asian Interfaith Network on AIDS he chairs.

Reverend Canon Gideon Byamugisha, an Anglican priest from Uganda who is HIV positive, and Saddleback Church pastor and best-selling author of The Purpose-Driven Life Rick Warren challenged churches to play a more vital role in the global response to HIV and AIDS.

“We leave this place more aware of the links between broken promises and broken lives,” said Byamugisha, who founded the African Network of Religious Leaders Living With and Personally Affected by HIV and AIDS and serves as a resource person for World Vision International. “We leave this place aware that there is a difference between cosmetic contribution and total commitment.”

Thousands of delegates fill the streets of Toronto to rally for AIDS treatment. Photo: Lise Beaudry/IAS

The opening session of the 16th International AIDS Conference, which followed the interfaith gathering, celebrated advances following the 2004 conference in Bangkok. But there were also protests expressing a demand for more action and delivery on promises made.

Governor General of Canada Michaelle Jean emphasized that stigma and discrimination must end completely. As a person of Hatian origin, she reminded participants of the pain of stigma that was directed at the nation of Haiti in the early days of the discovery of the disease. Jean emphasized the need to work together without discrimination.

Keynote speaker Bill Gates hammered home the fact that stigma must be abolished. “Stigma makes it easier for political leaders not to act to save lives,” he said, emphasizing the urgent need to put into the hands of women the power to prevent AIDS.

Mark Wainberg of the AIDS conference’s planning committee strongly criticized the absence of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Because of his absence, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf did not attend the conference, Wainberg pointed out.