Churches around the world have an integral part to play in the eradication of the AIDS pandemic, said Rick Warren, bestselling author of The Purpose Driven Life. “Government has a role,” he said. “But it is highly overrated. Non-governmental organizations and business also have a role, but if we're ever going to eradicate the pandemic then we cannot do it without churches.”
Warren, who spoke at the Ecumenical Pre-Conference, said churches have a greater advantage in responding to HIV/AIDS than the United Nations or any other resource. “We have the widest distribution in the world. There are millions of villages that do not have a school, a doctor, a hospital, but do have a church.”
Recent disasters like the tsunami in southeast Asia and flooding in New Orleans proved churches could distribute aid faster than governments or NGOs by mobilizing the local church. “We have the biggest pool of volunteers — 2.3 billion — in the world. And we speak more languages than the United Nations.”
Despite his optimism, there was much discussion on the role faith-based organizations have played in the past. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, said faith-based organizations have contributed more in the past four years than in the previous 20, but there is still much to do. While it was acknowledged that faith-based organizations were very active on the ground level, there was much criticism of church leadership which often fails to recognize, appreciate and support these efforts. This disconnect between membership and leadership was deemed systemic during various workshops and plenary sessions.
Faith-based organizations were also criticized for letting doctrines get in the way of care. Traditional religious anxiousness and judgementalism over sex and sexuality and the use of condoms were cited as factors. Faith leaders were criticized for articulating moralistic positions often at odds with public health realities. There was also criticism that a silo mentality exists among denominations preventing a more effective delivery of services.
Dr. Milton Amayun, a senior adviser with World Vision, said there is plenty of funding through the Global Fund for AIDS and other agencies, but faith-based organizations “simply need to learn the tricks by gearing up their strategies and skills in proposal writing.”
Amayun said “too many Canadians and Americans do not see the struggles, they are not burying the dead. But, I know if they are exposed to it, if they go to Africa they come back changed. I wish there was more of that movement.”
Rev. Bernard Ntahoturi, Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of Burundi, echoed Warren's call to the World Council of Churches in August saying the Global Fund should be distributed through churches since they have the best access to affected populations.
The central committee of the WCC went on to state that stigma is against the will of God and churches must make themselves “HIV-competent.”
