Aug 13 2006 Bullentin Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance Faith in Action

8/9/2019 Aug 13 2006 Bullentin Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance Faith in Action

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Only four years earlier at the International

AIDS Conference in Barcelona, faith groups

were marginalized and only beginning to

mobilize resources, said Dr. Peter Piot,

executive director, UNAIDS. He noted thatthe Bangkok conference in 2004 was a turning

point where efforts really began to grow.

Looking forward to long-term strategies in

HIV and AIDS solutions, Piot joined the

Most Rev. Gunnar Stlsett, Bishop Emeritus

of Oslo, in opening the interfaith pre-confer-

ence, Aug. 12, on the eve of the 2006 Inter-

national AIDS Conference. An ecumenical

pre-conference was held Aug. 10-11.

In the beginning, faith-based organizationsengaged too slowly and in low numbers.

But in the last four years the faith-based

organizations have contributed more than in

the previous 20 years, Piot said.

AIDS has broken down some taboos regard-

ing religion in the United Nations systems,

Piot said. He noted the critical role of the

Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance in giving

faith-based organizations a voice as part

of civil society at the UNGASS meeting in

June. This was not an easy task due to the

history of culture clashes between the faith

community and the United Nations, he said.

Now the work is to gure out how to imple-

ment solutions for the generations to come,

Piot said. He said that no technology is go-

ing to x the pandemic; it is going to take

social change by addressing social injustice.

To date the global response has been haphaz-

ard, acting in crisis mode. The time is now to

develop long-term sustainable strategies, he

said. Now is the time to focus on a common

purpose: saving lives and defeating AIDS.

Stlsett, international co-president, Religionsfor Peace, and co-chairperson, Leadership

Program, International AIDS Conference,

noted that the faith-based

community has the

opportunity to build

upon centuries of

religious wisdom

to do the work

necessary to stop

(continued on page 2)

The AIDS pandemic breaks down barriersby Claudia Carthaus

INSIDE: Kay and Rick

Warren con-

front AIDS

Page 2

Religious

leaders living

with HIV

Page 3

Making and

keeping

promises

Page 4

AIDS 200

Issue no. 1

Aug. 13, 2006

Daily news and views on re

responses to HIV and

at the 16th International

Conference, Toronto, Cana

more information and articl

www.e-alliance.ch/iac_200

FAITH

inACTIO

Promises havbeen made tha

give people

hope. ... These

words must be

put into actionLinda Hartke, Ecumen

Advocacy Alliance


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Kay Warren was shocked when she at-

tended her rst HIV and AIDS confer-

ence in Bangkok two years ago. As a

new advocate for people infected and

affected by HIV and AIDS, she was

shocked not only by how many people

she met that had different worldviews

and values than she did, she was shocked

by the despair at the conference.

Twenty-three years into the pandemic

there was not much hope expressed,

only a list of failures no vaccine, no

cure and millions of deaths and orphans.

Now, two years later, she says that her

participation at the ecumenical pre-con-

ference (Aug. 1011) has been an incred-

ible moment and blessing for her.

Kay Warren and her husband, Rick, do-

nate 90 percent of their income through

three foundations addressing HIV and

AIDS, poverty and church leadership

training. Rick Warren is a best-sell-

ing author and pastor at Saddleback

Church, a California congregation of

more than 22,000 people. Kay Warrenis executive director of the HIV and

AIDS Initiative at Saddleback Church

and president of their Acts of Mercy

foundation.

Her wake-up call came four years ago

after reading an article about 12 mil-

lion AIDS orphans. It horried her that

there could be that many orphans due

to anything. She began to learn abou

HIV and AIDS and talk to experts. She

began talking to her husband, and her

passion became a passion for him as well

Much of their focus is on strengthen-ing local churches capacity to care for

those in need. Through their PEACE

Plan, they are hoping to mobilize a

billion Christians around the worl

through local churches, to care and take

responsibility for those infected and af-

fected by HIV and AIDS. Our goal is

to gure out simple ways that everyone

can do something, Rick Warren said.

Every person has to care about HIVand AIDS, Kay Warren said. If we

dont, it will just continue to gallop un-

impeded into the next generation.

(Read more online about the Warrens a

www.e-alliance.ch/iac_2006.jsp.)

Take responsibility for the next generationby Claudia Carthaus

Theology is slowing churches

response to HIV and AIDSDoes the church have to aban-

don all its morals? We have a call to

make the love of God a real and tan-

gible presence today.

Develop plans to prevent HIVtransmission after natural

disasters, churches toldNatural disasters can leave

pockets of the population more vulner-

able to HIV. Prevention must be part of

emergency response.

Too little for children, 25

years onThe next generation needs

prevention, treatment and care now

to block the spread of HIV into

the future.

Page 2

For women, it is not as

simple as ABCThe impact of HIV and AIDS

on women ties into their social, po-

litical and economic circumstances.

ABC is a black-and-white approach in

a grey world.

Read more online

Visit http://iac.e-alliance.ch/ for full stories (site includes articles in

French, Spanish and German)

Visit http://iac.e-alliance.ch/gallery for photos

Pandemic breaks down barriers

(continued from page 1)

the AIDS pandemic. All religions have

ethical stories that can be referenced by

faith-based coalitions as models of in-

spiration, he said.

The crisis has brought us together. The

AIDS pandemic is bringing every faith

together, and it shall ignite a new era in

religious history, Stlsett stated.

Although a tragedy, the AIDS pan-demic has actually been a blessing in

disguise as it has helped break down

boundaries and barriers, between reli

gions, in order to serve, Stlsett said

He suggested that the faith community

now needs to move from dialogue to

practice through cooperation, coordi

nation and unity of purpose.


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Global network of religious leaders to

be launched by Elly Wamari

The International Network of Religious

Leaders Living with or Personally Af-

fected by HIV and AIDS (INERELA+)

will be ofcially unveiled Aug. 16 at the

XVI International AIDS Conference.

INERELA+ arises from a growingneed of a global platform for religious

leaders living with or personally af-

fected by HIV and AIDS to coordinate

activity for eliminating stigma and dis-

crimination, said the Rev. Jap Heath.

INERELA+ will be an advocacy

agency working for the rights of people

living with HIV, and will move actively

towards breaking stigma and discrimi-

nation, and challenge action or inaction

around HIV and AIDS, Heath said.

We have a number of people around

the world who are already speaking of

themselves as INERELA+ members,

even though we havent launched it for-

mally, he revealed.

Heath is the General Secretary of the

African Network of Religious Leaders

Living with or Personally Affected by

HIV and AIDS (ANERELA+), from

which INERELA+ has been born.

Formed about three years ago and pri-

marily aimed at challenging stigma

and discrimination, ANERELA+ has

experienced a dramatic growth from

only three people to an active network

with more than 1,500 members and re-

gional representation in 13 countries

across the continent.

As we grew in Africa, we becameincreasingly aware of religious lead-

ers around the world, who were in the

same position we were in, Heath said.

Later, there were open calls for us to

expand this concept more broadly than

Africa. That, really, is the concept from

which INERELA+ has developed.

Heath noted that one of the major stum-

bling blocks in ghting HIV and AIDS

around the world is still stigma and

discrimination, which has kept people

from knowing their status, from ac-

cessing treatment and care and from

adjusting their behavior.

If we are going to make any future in-

roads into HIV and AIDS it is spe-

cically stigma and discrimination that

we are going to have to overcome as a

rst step.

Page 3

CHECK IT OUT

Interfaith prayer room

Sun. Aug. 13; 13:00-21:00

Mon. Aug. 14 - Thurs. Aug. 17;

08:00-19:00

Fri. Aug. 18; 08:00-14:00

North Building, Room 103A

Joint faith-based exhibit

Sun. Aug. 13; 12:00-16:30

Mon. Aug. 14 - Thurs. Aug. 18;

10:15-18:30

Exhibit area A, Booth number 4

Multifaith networking zone

Sun. Aug. 13; 08:30-18:00

Mon. Aug. 14 - Thurs. Aug 17;

08:30-20:30

Fri. Aug. 18; 08:30-12:00

Global Village, just inside the

entrance

Keep the promise - Letters to

the World exhibit

Ongoing

South Building, Level 600

Concurrent sessions - Religion

and new leadership: the challe

to deliver(World Conference of Religions

for Peace; Ecumenical Advocac

Alliance)

Mon. Aug. 14; 10:45-12:15

South Building, Session Room 2

Level 800


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+ 41 22 791 6723 + 41 22 710 2387 [email protected] on recycled paper

Ecumenical Advocacy

Alliance

150, route de Ferney

PO Box 2100

1211 Geneva 2

Switzerland

Keeping promises is an attribute of faith that can and must

be applied as people respond to HIV and AIDS and their

many related issues. Speakers challenged the 500 partici-

pants of the ecumenical and interfaith pre-conferences,

Faith in Action: Keeping the Promise, to assess their

own work while advocating for people living with HIV and

AIDS.

If our generation does not step up to the plate and recog-nize and act on the fact that we are sisters and brothers to

all who suffer, then we risk the loss of more than fortune,

culture and a way of life. We risk having our very human

identity slip between our ngers. Sister Patricia Talone,

Catholic Health Association, St. Louis, USA

We, the faith communities, are the people who are called by

God to be the caregivers, the hands, the heart, the ears, the

eyes, the feet of God in the world. The Rev. Jap Heath,

African Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Per-

sonally Affected by HIV and AIDS (ANERELA+), Johan-

nesburg, South Africa

Faith leaders should actively involve people living with HIV

in developing workplace policies, liturgies or working to

launch initiatives to tackle AIDS. Andy Seale, Joint Unit-

ed Nations Programme for HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS)

Davids biblical response to Goliath is like the response to

HIV and AIDS. God has already provided the resources,

and people of faith must recongure the battleeld and use

those resources to slay the giant. The Rev. Adam Taylor,

Sojourners, Washington, D.C.

People of faith from all religions need to discern their com-

mon values and join hands for this common endeavor, to

eliminate stigma and discrimination, to stop the further

spread of HIV and to provide compassionate, non-judgmen-

tal care, support and treatment for all those affected by the

pandemic. Father Alex Vadakumthala, Catholic Bishops

Conference of India, New Delhi

I publicly promise to stand in solidarity with you and letthe commitments made here and articulated here shape my

leadership and my rhetoric. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Lu

theran World Federation and Evangelical Lutheran Church

in America, Chicago, USA

We are responding to Tim and Freds lives. Bishop

Albert Frederick Mutti, United Methodist Church, Kansas

City, Missouri, USA, shared his experiences and those of

his wife, Etta Mae, as two of their sons died of AIDS-related

illnesses. Through the Global AIDS Fund, the couple is

working to keep their churchs promise and their personal

promise.

Before I was HIV positive, I stigmatized. I know that I can

say that the stigmatizer does not know when they are stig

matizing. The Rev. Patricia Sawo, ANERELA+, Kitale

Kenya, focused on the promise many churches have made to

do away with the stigma and discrimination linked to HIV

and AIDS.

Views expressed in this bulletin are not necessarily those of theEcumenical Advocacy Alliance.

Produced by t he Ecumenical Media Team, [email protected], Mobile: 1.416.825.2256

Photos, stories, audio and video available for free use with at tribution atwww.e-alliance.ch/iac_2006.jsp.

The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance is a broad international net work of churches andChristian organizations cooperating in advocacy on global trade and HIV and AIDS.

Cover photo Jedrzej Chelminski/EAA, remaining photos Melissa Engle/EAAInterfaith AIDS ribbon logo donated by Andy Marino / Marinodesign LLC

Faith in action: Keeping the promiseby Frank Imhoff

Aug 13 2006 Bullentin Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance Faith in Action

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