From the Manchester Guardian
"Christianity reaches more people than healthcare," Stephen Waititi, a former church deacon and the medical director of Milmay Centre, an HIV/Aids clinic in Kampala, pointed out recently.
What the churches say matters: not just because of their reach, but because of their authority. The message from the pulpit shapes the climate. The role of the church in the HIV/Aids epidemic is central. From the first recognition of the threat posed, above all, to the poor of the developing world, the churches have been at the forefront of the effort to provide care for the sick and to educate the healthy. The exception was the Christian evangelical movement, which by 2000 claimed not just the Ugandan president and his wife, Yoweri and Janet Museveni, but George W Bush, the president of the United States.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/katineblog/2008/oct/13/sexandreligion
3 comments:
The author makes some good points, but in the comments about Helms neglects to mention Helms' visit to Africa with Bono and the help given by Congress at his instigation. His speech to Congress was pretty moving (it was in a re-run on American public TV not long ago). Possibly the British author wasn't aware of all that. --Too bad the inroads against the disease which started soon after that lessened when the message was oversimplified by at least some churches, leaving out the important issues raised by the article. I wonder if church leaders are reading the article and if so, how they are responding.
Can I just mention that the Guardian newspaper ceased to be the Manchester Guardian in 1959. It is a London newspaper now.
simonsarmiento: Thanks. I must have emerged from some time warp since I was born in '57! Won't make that mistake again.
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