Church silence deepens Aids crisis, says bishop

A Fijian bishop has criticised the response of Pacific churches to the threatening HIV/Aids crisis in the region, saying some had made the situation worse.

At the Pan Pacific Regional HIV/Aids Conference in Auckland, Bishop Apimeleki Qiliho said churches had to actively fight the spread of Aids.

Representing the World Council of Churches at the conference, Bishop Qiliho said that in 1986 the council had put out a statement to its churches that Aids would bring challenges, and warning that through silence they would share responsibility for the spread of fear.

But he said silence from many churches had made the situation worse by not teaching communities about HIV/Aids.

"Many church conferences discussed the effects of Aids, but they felt ashamed to present these issues which they felt offended cultures, norms, teachings and their identity as Christians."

As a result the issue was not tackled, the churches just praying for the sufferers who were kept at bay.

"But they could not keep the door shut because the marginalised and excluded came knocking."

Some churches felt it was not their job to deal with the increasing number of HIV- positive Pacific Islanders.

"They felt it best left for the Government to deal with."

Bishop Qiliho said there had been progress, and last year church leaders met to discuss how they could deal with HIV/Aids and start facing up to the problem.

He commended some of the region's churches in Papua New Guinea and French Polynesia, which had identified the issues early and joined Government promotions for the use of condoms.

Others, however, demonstrated worrying rationales for their caring of infected people, he said.

"Many congregations took the view their brothers and sisters had sinned and the church should care for sinners."

Bishop Qiliho said being HIV-positive was not a sin, and churches needed to take the correct perspective.

"Our mission as Christians is to stand for the marginalised and excluded and care for them, fight for them for justice."

A significant majority of churches and their leadership still did not recognise the challenge of HIV/Aids in the Pacific.

"Our credibility as Christians depends on our response and actions ... if we do not understand the challenge we have missed the canoe."

A senior minister in Fiji's powerful Methodist Church, Rev Isimeli Sigadrodro, last year attracted flak for suggesting all HIV/Aids sufferers be isolated and cared for on a remote island.

At the conference yesterday he represented the South Pacific Association of Theological Schools, and said they were forming a curriculum to train ministers and pastors on the the HIV/Aids challenge, including changing their attitudes and discussing human rights responsibilities.

"HIV/Aids is a text of life and God's work for the church is to study and find out the meaning of it like other crises," he said.

HIV was like the new Noah flood, involving the world and creating new forms of poverty and suffering.

It represented a broken relationship between God and men and the church had to work to reconnect the links.

Carlos Perera earlier said Fiji was a homophobic country.*

"Fiji shows horrifying discrimination against homosexuals and the Methodist Church is one of the main perpetrators ... in 2003 the church issued a statement that gays be stoned to death."

Mr JVR Prasada Rao, director of regional support team Asia and Pacific UNAIDS, said taboos, stigma and cultural prejudice impeded the necessary large-scale changes in behaviour needed to tackle the problem.

Mr Rao said Government and churches needed to show stronger leadership and face the realities of sexual practices.

"The duty of leaders is to create an environment where sexuality is not taboo and information is provided in a culturally appropriate way."

Mothers with HIV
Fiji 13
Kiribati 7
Samoa 2
Tonga 2
Tuvalu 1
Vanuatu 1
Fed States Micronesia 2
Total 28
* Figures for October 2004

* CORRECTION: In the original version of this story we stated incorrectly that Carlos Perera was HIV-positive. He is not.