Religion and HIV/AIDS

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The relationship between religion and HIV/AIDS has been an ongoing one, since the advent of the pandemic. Many faith communities have participated in raising awareness about HIV/AIDS, offering free treatment, as well as promoting HIV/AIDS testing and preventative measures. [1] [2] [3] Christian denominations, such as Lutheranism and Methodism, have advocated for the observance of World AIDS Day to educate their congregations about the disease. [4] [3] Some Churches run voluntary blood testing camps and counselling centers to diagnose and help those affected by HIV/AIDS. [2]

Contents

Controversies, in some faiths, have mainly revolved around LGBT people and condom use, while other religions are affirming of LGBT individuals and actively participate in the dissemination of condoms as a means of disease prophylaxis. [5]

Religious attitudes towards HIV-positive people and AIDS

Christianity

Lutherans must confront stigmatization by approaching theological and scriptural interpretations with deep grace and a constant frame centered on people, not issues. Grace leads to compassionate community providing space for the whole life of someone living with HIV or AIDS. As Lutherans, we profess our faith as grounded in grace alone, therefore we are called to be a grace-filled church for the world. We must provide compassion, hospitality and dignity for people living with HIV, and talk about destigmatizing our perceptions specifically on how people contract HIV.

Living Lutheran, a publication of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [6]

Many Christian denominations and Christian charities provide services for people living with HIV/AIDS. [2] One example is the "Drug Resources Enhancement against Aids and Malnutrition" (DREAM), program promoted by the Christian Community of Sant'Egidio.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America annually observes World AIDS Day to "remember all who have been and continue to be affected by HIV and AIDS" and "to raise awareness and recommit to a faithful and dedicated response." [3] Lutherans have held conferences on being "catalysts for ending discrimination of people with HIV or AIDS through destigmatization". [6] The United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India runs voluntary blood testing camps and counselling centers to help those affected by HIV/AIDS. [2] These outlets also "provide training for nurses and paramedical staff, distribute information to the villagers, host AIDS' awareness rallies, educational puppet shows and video documentaries about the disease." [2]

The United Methodist Church teaches that individuals with HIV/AIDS should be welcomed and cared for; it supports ending discrimination against people living with the disease and supports education and awareness on HIV. [7] To this end, Methodist churches have held conferences to achieve these aims, which included many church members receiving HIV testing to express solidarity with those affected with the human immunodeficiency virus. [8]

The United Church of Christ (UCC), a Reformed denomination of the Congregationalist tradition, promotes the distribution of condoms in churches and faith-based educational settings to combat the pandemic. [5]

Jerry Falwell regularly linked the AIDS pandemic to LGBT issues and stated, "AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals, it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals." [9]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prohibits HIV-positive individuals from serving as church missionaries, unless the disease is in remission. [10]

Islam

The question of Islam and AIDS has arisen in recent years as the HIV/AIDS epidemic has grown stronger, with awareness and efforts to prevent the spread of the disease. [11] Many Muslims view the AIDS epidemic through what is called the "prism of sin", and as the consequence of sinful behavior, such as prostitution, sex with multiple partners, homosexuality, drug usage or promiscuity. [11] Awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is growing among the Muslim community and efforts are being initiated to prevent its spread. The Muslim Awareness Programme (MAP), based in South Africa is a faith-based organization that promotes HIV/AIDS prevention strategies based on the moral teachings of Islam. These activities include the promotion of abstinence from all sexual activity outside marriage; refraining from drug use, and instilling faithfulness within marriage. In their view, the Islamic position on morality, chastity and the sanctity of marriage needs to be shared with the world. Islam cites sex with multiple partners, sex outside marriage, other promiscuous sexual behaviors and homosexuality as immoral and as a result of this some Muslims consider this behavior the main cause of HIV/AIDS, believing that promoting abstinence and chasity is the key to ending or at least containing the epidemic.

Judaism and Jewish thinkers

As opposed to the Catholic Church and some other denominations or religions, today, there isn't any central Jewish religious authority that is acceptable by the vast majority of religious Jews or by most Jewish religious movements.

Orthodox Judaism links between immoral sexual behavior and AIDS. Immanuel Jakobovits, Baron Jakobovits, former Chief Rabbi of England, a prominent figure in 20th-century Jewish medical ethics [12] maintains in his article "Halachic Perspectives on AIDS" that "... from my reading of Jewish sources, it would appear that under no circumstances would we be justified in branding the incidence of the disease (...) as punishment ... we have not the vision, that would enable us to link, as an assertion of certainty, any form of human travail, grief, bereavement or suffering in general with shortcomings of a moral nature... It is one thing to speak of a consequence, and it is quite another thing to speak of a punishment ... if you warn a child not to play with fire, lest he gets burnt, and the child then gets burnt, then the burning may not be a punishment for not listening, but it certainly is a consequence. ... I think we should declare in very plain and explicit terms indicating that our society violated some of the norms of the Divine Law, and of the natural law, and that as a consequence we pay a price, and an exceedingly heavy price. This certainly is Jewish doctrine ..." [13]

In Jewish Orthodox society, having AIDS is considered a mark of disgrace. [14]

Conservative and Reform Judaism emphasize the importance of bikur cholim , the responsibility to care for the sick:

"The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism calls upon all of its congregations to reach out to individuals infected with the AIDS virus, their families and their friends by providing acceptance, comfort, counseling, and sympathetic and empathetic listening; and ... affirms that those infected with the AIDS virus must be protected from all forms of illegal discrimination, such as discriminatory housing, employment, health care delivery services and synagogue services." [15] Rabbi Marla J. Feldman, Director of the Joint Commission on Social Action of the Union for Reform Judaism: "However, we must look past the incomprehensible statistics and long lists of facts and recognize the Divine image within the faces of the individual people infected and affected by this disease. The responsibility lies with each of us to protect and care for these victims ..." [16]

Prevention

Christianity

Catholicism

The Catholic Church opposes condom use between heterosexual couples because it is an artificial form of contraception that does not rely on the functions of the body (and thus also God's will) to determine whether a conception will occur or not, and the Church believes it also serves to implicitly and inexcusably encourage premarital and extramarital sexuality (and recourse to abortion if the condom fails).[ citation needed ]

Pope John Paul II strongly opposed the use of artificial birth control, and rejected the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV. [17] Pope Benedict XVI stated in 2005 that condoms were not a sufficient solution to the AIDS crisis, [18] and then in 2009 claimed that AIDS "cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems." [19] The Moscow Patriarchate gave support to Benedict XVI's position. [20] In response to Benedict XVI's statements, the United Church of Christ issued a statement encouraging condom distribution at places of worship. [21]

On November 20, 2010, when questioned about the rampant HIV spread in Africa, Pope Benedict XVI suggested that the use of condoms in male prostitution is not a moral solution to stopping AIDS, but could represent a first step in assuming moral responsibility "in the intention of reducing the risk of infection." [22] Vatican City clarifies, after Benedict's statement sows confusion, that the position of the Church on condoms has not changed. It is merely a statement that in homosexual relations, where unnatural contraception is not the main concern, condoms can be seen as moral responsibility in preventing HIV infections. [23] On November 23, 2010, Benedict furthermore stated that the concept of condoms as a lesser evil in preventing HIV infections can be applied to women as well. The use of condoms is the first step in taking responsibility and attempting to prevent the infection of one's partner. The Pope does not say anything about condoms being acceptable as unnatural birth control, only as a responsible approach. [24]

Lutheranism

The United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India runs voluntary blood testing camps and counselling centers to diagnose and aid individuals that could have HIV/AIDS. [2] These initiatives are aimed at helping individuals who speak an array of languages and have no access to public health centres. [2] The Church has translated Grace, Care and Justice, a handbook published by the Lutheran World Federation, into Hindi, the official language of India, as well as the regional languages Tamil and Telugu, to disseminate information regarding the "prevention, transmission and care provision" of HIV/AIDS. [2]

Teams from Lutheran World Relief provide healthcare to people affected by HIV/AIDs in Nairobi. [1] Multiple months of drugs are provided to patients during their visits to Lutheran World Relief clinics. [1]

Reformed

The United Church of Christ (UCC), a Reformed denomination of the Congregationalist tradition, promotes the distribution of condoms in churches and faith-based educational settings. [5] Michael Shuenemeyer, a UCC minister, has stated that "The practice of safer sex is a matter of life and death. People of faith make condoms available because we have chosen life so that we and our children may live." [5]

Buddhism

In Thailand, some Buddhist monks encourage the use of condoms for HIV prevention. [25] As part of Mechai Viravaidya's pro-condom campaign, Buddhist monks have offered blessed condoms for couples. [26]

Treatment

At an ecumenical service, the World Council of Churches (WCC) issued a call to action focused on "reducing stigma and discrimination; increasing access to HIV services; defending human rights and ensuring testing and treatment for all, including children". [27] [28]

The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America were all tested for HIV/AIDS in order to raise awareness of the disease, and to promote testing for the pandemic. [29] This has helped to reduce the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. [29] Teams from Lutheran World Relief provide healthcare to people affected by HIV/AIDs in Nairobi. [1] Multiple months of drugs are provided to patients during their visits to Lutheran World Relief clinics. [1] The Ministry Among People in Poverty (MAPP) Committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church "encouraged all the bishops to support and be involved in local events on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, including raising awareness about AIDS prevention, testing, treatment, care, stigma and discrimination." [29] 93.1% of clergy, a study found, were willing to share their knowledge about HIV/AIDS with their church congregations. [30]

Other Christian churches, such as the Lutheran Church and the United Church of Christ, actively distribute HIV/AIDS medication and promote HIV/AIDS testing, as well as prevention. [1] [31]

According to the African Health Policy Network, the Synagogue Church Of All Nations led by televangelist Temitope Balogun Joshua, has encouraged individuals to cease taking HIV medication and solely rely on faith healing to cure the disease; the Hackney-based Centre for the Study of Sexual Health and HIV reports that several people have stopped taking their medication leading to a number of deaths. [32] The Synagogue Church Of All Nations advertise an "anointing water" to promote God's healing, although the group deny advising people to stop taking medication. [32]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS in the United States</span> HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States

The AIDS epidemic, caused by HIV, found its way to the United States between the 1970s and 1980s, but was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in homosexual men in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco in 1981. Treatment of HIV/AIDS is primarily via the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs, and education programs to help people avoid infection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS in Africa</span>

HIV/AIDS originated in the early 20th century and has become a major public health concern and cause of death in many countries. AIDS rates vary significantly between countries, with the majority of cases concentrated in Southern Africa. Although the continent is home to about 15.2 percent of the world's population, more than two-thirds of the total population infected worldwide – approximately 35 million people – were Africans, of whom around 1 million have already died. Eastern and Southern Africa alone accounted for an estimate of 60 percent of all people living with HIV and 100 percent of all AIDS deaths in 2011. The countries of Eastern and Southern Africa are most affected, leading to raised death rates and lowered life expectancy among adults between the ages of 20 and 49 by about twenty years. Furthermore, life expectancy in many parts of Africa is declining, largely as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with life-expectancy in some countries reaching as low as thirty-nine years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrence Higgins Trust</span> British HIV and sexual health charity

Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns about and provides services relating to HIV and sexual health. In particular, the charity aims to end the transmission of HIV in the UK; to support and empower people living with HIV, to eradicate stigma and discrimination around HIV, and to promote good sexual health.

Prior to the 20th century, the three major branches of Christianity—Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism —generally held a critical perspective of birth control. Among Christian denominations today, however, there is a large variety of views regarding birth control that range from the acceptance of birth control to only allowing natural family planning to teaching Quiverfull doctrine, which disallows contraception and holds that Christians should have large families.

HIV/AIDS has been a public health concern for Latin America due to a remaining prevalence of the disease. In 2018 an estimated 2.2 million people had HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean, making the HIV prevalence rate approximately 0.4% in Latin America.

The Caribbean is the second-most affected region in the world in terms of HIV prevalence rates. Based on 2009 data, about 1.0 percent of the adult population is living with the disease, which is higher than any other region except Sub-Saharan Africa. Several factors influence this epidemic, including poverty, gender, sex tourism, and stigma. HIV incidence in the Caribbean declined 49% between 2001 and 2012. Different countries have employed a variety of responses to the disease, with a range of challenges and successes.

The very high rate of human immunodeficiency virus infection experienced in Uganda during the 1980s and early 1990s created an urgent need for people to know their HIV status. The only option available to them was offered by the National Blood Transfusion Service, which carries out routine HIV tests on all the blood that is donated for transfusion purposes. The great need for testing and counseling resulted in a group of local non-governmental organizations such as The AIDS Support Organisation, Uganda Red Cross, Nsambya Home Care, the National Blood Bank, the Uganda Virus Research Institute together with the Ministry of Health establishing the AIDS Information Centre in 1990. This organization worked to provide HIV testing and counseling services with the knowledge and consent of the client involved.

Staying Alive is an MTV international initiative to encourage HIV prevention, promote safer lifestyle choices and fight the stigma and discrimination that fuels the HIV epidemic. Staying Alive is the world's largest HIV mass media awareness and prevention campaign in the world. It produces TV programming in the form of concerts, documentaries, public service announcements, TV film, film competitions, and others. It also has a website with celebrity content talking about safe sex.

Angola has a large HIV/AIDS infected population, however, it has one of the lowest prevalence rates in the Southern Africa zone. The status of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Angola is expected to change within the near future due to several forms of behavioral, cultural, and economic characteristics within the country such as lack of knowledge and education, low levels of condom use, the frequency of sex and number of sex partners, economic disparities and migration. There is a significant amount of work being done in Angola to combat the epidemic, but most aid is coming from outside of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS in Malawi</span> Impact of the immunodeficiency virus in the African nation

As of 2012, approximately 1,100,000 people in Malawi are HIV-positive, which represents 10.8% of the country's population. Because the Malawian government was initially slow to respond to the epidemic under the leadership of Hastings Banda (1966–1994), the prevalence of HIV/AIDS increased drastically between 1985, when the disease was first identified in Malawi, and 1993, when HIV prevalence rates were estimated to be as high as 30% among pregnant women. The Malawian food crisis in 2002 resulted, at least in part, from a loss of agricultural productivity due to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Various degrees of government involvement under the leadership of Bakili Muluzi (1994–2004) and Bingu wa Mutharika (2004–2012) resulted in a gradual decline in HIV prevalence, and, in 2003, many people living in Malawi gained access to antiretroviral therapy. Condoms have become more widely available to the public through non-governmental organizations, and more Malawians are taking advantage of HIV testing services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS in Mozambique</span>

Mozambique is a country particularly hard-hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to 2008 UNAIDS estimates, this southeast African nation has the 8th highest HIV rate in the world. With 1,600,000 Mozambicans living with HIV, 990,000 of which are women and children, Mozambique's government realizes that much work must be done to eradicate this infectious disease. To reduce HIV/AIDS within the country, Mozambique has partnered with numerous global organizations to provide its citizens with augmented access to antiretroviral therapy and prevention techniques, such as condom use. A surge toward the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS in women and children has additionally aided in Mozambique's aim to fulfill its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Nevertheless, HIV/AIDS has made a drastic impact on Mozambique; individual risk behaviors are still greatly influenced by social norms, and much still needs to be done to address the epidemic and provide care and treatment to those in need.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS in Rwanda</span>

Rwanda faces a generalized epidemic, with an HIV prevalence rate of 3.1 percent among adults ages 15 to 49. The prevalence rate has remained relatively stable, with an overall decline since the late 1990s, partly due to improved HIV surveillance methodology. In general, HIV prevalence is higher in urban areas than in rural areas, and women are at higher risk of HIV infection than men. Young women ages 15 to 24 are twice as likely to be infected with HIV as young men in the same age group. Populations at higher risk of HIV infection include people in prostitution and men attending clinics for sexually transmitted infections.

UNAIDS has said that HIV/AIDS in Indonesia is one of Asia's fastest growing epidemics. In 2010, it is expected that 5 million Indonesians will have HIV/AIDS. In 2007, Indonesia was ranked 99th in the world by prevalence rate, but because of low understanding of the symptoms of the disease and high social stigma attached to it, only 5-10% of HIV/AIDS sufferers actually get diagnosed and treated. According to the a census conducted in 2019, it is counted that 640,443 people in the country are living with HIV. The adult prevalence for HIV/ AIDS in the country is 0.4%. Indonesia is the country in Southeast Asia to have the most number of recorded people living with HIV while Thailand has the highest adult prevalence.

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Edward C. (Ted) Green is an American medical anthropologist working in public health and development. He was a senior research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health and served as senior research scientist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies for eight years, the last three years as director of the AIDS Prevention Project. He was later affiliated with the Department of Population and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins University (2011–14) and the George Washington University as research professor. He was appointed to serve as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (2003–2007), and served on the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council for the National Institutes of Health (2003–2006). Green serves on the board of AIDS.org and the Bonobo Conservation Initiative. and Medical Care Development.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burnett Foundation Aotearoa</span> New Zealand national HIV prevention and healthcare organization

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Initial events and trends in the discussion of HIV and AIDS in mass media contributed to the stigma and discrimination against those affected with the disease. Later discussion, sometimes led by HIV+ individuals themselves, moved toward advocacy and education on disease prevention and management. The UNESCO report on Journalism Education says, "Well researched television content can create public awareness about HIV prevention, treatment, care and support can potentially influence the development and implementation of relevant policies."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS in South African townships</span>

South Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic, which is among the most severe in the world, is concentrated in its townships, where many black South Africans live due to the lingering effects of the Group Areas Act.

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