Aids Challenges the Spirit, Lutherans Told

SEACAUCUS, N.J. (ELCA) -- Lutherans have the theological and pastoral resources to attack the problems presented by the HIV virus, said two noted theologians addressing the fifth North American Conference on Aids Nov.6-8.
But an African Lutheran theologian told conference participants that the disease is spreading wildly on that continent and that "cultural barriers" sometimes made AIDS prevention measures difficult.
The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, preached at the service which opened the conference. Anderson said that it is "easier to accept the diseases of age," and asked "what are we do to with this enemy of the young."
The AIDS epidemic, Anderson said, has challenged the "optimistic spirit of progress that had infected the world. Anderson said scripture -- particularly the writings of St. Paul -- warns that "there are powers in this life that we cannot control and that attack the well-being of God's creation."
Christians are urged to be "patient in suffering," but not submissive to it, Anderson said. With a grave illness, he said, time -- often considered an enemy thwarting humanity's attempts to accomplish things -- becomes a great gift as the value of each moment is sharpened. Prayer at such times often is the "prayer of the Spirit," the bishop said, because "when we cannot pray, God knows us so well that the spirit prays in our place."
Lutheran theologian and historian the Rev. Martin E. Marty, Chicago, noted that in Biblical Hebrew, the root words of "healing" and "saving" are the same, and that Martin Luther contended that whatever human suffering occurs, "it is not the last word. God always has the last word." Along the way, he said, the Church -- where people are together to share joys and sorrows -- offers prayer and Sacraments as "means along the way to God's last and loving word." Marty is a faculty member at the University of Chicago.
The chilling look at the AIDS crisis on the continent of Africa was presented by Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro, head of the Lutheran World Federation's office on women in society.
"Many Africans maintain that the African traditional morality ensured the integrity of the society and individuals," she said. Old cultural practices have been abandoned, resulting in social and psychological disorder.
Kanyoro said African morality held "that spiritual powers are deeply concerned about the moral conduct of individuals and communities alike." Consequently "there are many for whom this disease is nothing other than God's punishment for the evils done by society."
When people understand AIDS this way, she said, "they do not address the scientific facts connected with AIDS."
"Although the link between AIDS and sexual behavior is now scientifically well-established, still in many parts of Africa a change in sexual behavior does not follow," said the Kenyan theologian.
In African tribes where polygamy is practiced the multiplying of sexual partners increases the possibility of exposure to the AIDS virus, and among some ethnic groups in Africa a wife may be considered as married to the husbands clan, and it is culturally permissible for brothers to share their wives sexually. Polygamy and the casual sex which sometimes accompanies such things as festive funeral rites can also spread the AIDS virus, she said.
For cultural reasons, churches were slow to begin talking about the AIDS epidemic, Kanyoro said, though this is no longer the case. "Frequent reports for the World Council of Churches unit that deals with health indicate that the churches are involved in a number of programs."
Kanyoro said that culturally appropriate education techniques would have to be used to combat AIDS in Africa. Rural areas often do not have electricity for radio or television. Print media assumes literacy. Access to radio and television is sometimes restricted to males, she said. "Oral media, face to face communication is still the most reliable means of communication, hence the importance of developing strong women's organizations -- especially in rural areas -- with the aim of creating a viable media for rural Africa."

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