HIV/AIDS won’t be stopped without churches,
Warren tells religious leaders
By Manda Gibson

Rick Warren shares strategies for stopping AIDS at an ecumenical pre-conference before the 16th bi-annual International AIDS Conference in Toronto. PD Photo by Whitney Kelley

Slowing the HIV/AIDS pandemic isn’t enough; people around the world must work together to stop HIV/AIDS, Rick Warren told a multi-faith audience in Toronto. The audience had come from around the world for an ecumenical pre-conference before the 16th bi-annual International AIDS Conference last month.

Warren encouraged people of different faiths to work together to stop the HIV/AIDS pandemic. “I’m not an activist; I’m not an advocate; I’m a pastor,” he said. “As a pastor, my job is to care for people.”

His motivation in caring for people with HIV/AIDS is his savior, Jesus Christ, he said. But he doesn’t refuse to work with people who have different motivations.

“If you can only work with people who agree with you, you’ve ruled out a lot,” Warren said. “I’m not asking someone to agree in order to work with me. You can agree without being disagreeable. You can have unity without uniformity.”

Using the acronym S.L.O.W., Warren detailed strategies various groups have employed to slow the pandemic:

Supply condoms.

Limit the number of sexual partners.

Offer needle exchange for intravenous drug users.

Wait for sex by delaying the first sexual experience.

These strategies are popular because they are relatively easy to work on, but they’re not enough, Warren said. They only reduce risk. They don’t eliminate it.

As they continue to employ some of the S.L.O.W. strategies, people need to work together to stop HIV/AIDS in four ways, he said:

Save sex for marriage. No logical person can deny that engaging in sex only in the context of marriage would go a long way toward stopping the spread of HIV, he said.

Train men to respect women. If men around the world had a biblical view of women, lives would change for the better. “This is a spiritual issue, not a health care issue,” Warren said. “Lives can change.”

Offer treatment through churches. With 2.3 billion people around the world claiming to be followers of Christ, local churches offer a significant volunteer base for treatment and recovery from the behaviors that further HIV/AIDS, including intravenous drug use.

Pledge yourself to one partner. Labeled as a fringe idea by many groups around the world, having one sexual partner for life eliminates much of the risk of contracting HIV.

“What is the purpose of prevention?” Warren asked. “Is it alleviation or something more radical – eradication? Is it to reduce or resolve? To curve or crimp? To decrease or destroy?”

As people work together to stop HIV/AIDS, Warren says that churches are the missing element. Though governments have long been involved alongside private groups like businesses and NGOs, many churches have done nothing to stop AIDS.

“Government has a role – no doubt about that – but it’s highly overrated,” Warren said. “Businesses and NGOs have a role. But the Church … is the missing leg of the stool, and we will never, never resolve this pandemic until the Church – and I mean local churches – is mobilized.”

Churches have six things other groups lack, Warren said. They have the widest distribution, with churches in many places that have no hospital or even health clinic. They have the biggest volunteer pool. Additionally, they have credibility at the local level. “I would trust any religious leader to know their community better than anybody from the outside,” Warren said.

Also, with a 2,000-year history, the Church has the longest record of caring. And churches have the moral authority to deal with the issue. Finally, churches have the power and promises of God. “The Gospel has the power to change lives like nothing else,” Warren said.

Warren said that every church, regardless of size, can do six things to address HIV/AIDS:

Care and comfort.

Handle HIV testing and counseling.

Unleash a volunteer force of compassion.

Reduce the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS.

Champion healthy behavior. “You can’t really talk about poverty without talking about injustice, and it is amazing to me that people would try to talk about AIDS without talking about behavior since it is primarily a behavior-based disease,” Warren said. “You don’t get it out of the air. Even for those who are innocent, it was someone else’s behavior.”

Help with nutrition and medications.

Warren challenged Christians in the audience to act on their convictions. “Let’s stop apologizing for who we are,” he said. “The Church has uniquenesses, has distinctives – yes, has beliefs and convictions. And if we don’t follow those beliefs and distinctives and follow those convictions, then we may as well not even have this conference.

“If there’s no difference between what the Church does and what government does, then you don’t need churches, but I believe it can’t be done without churches.”