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The Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Information |
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| 23.12.2003 |
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| Indonesian Bishop Urges Christians to Confront the HIV/AIDS Challenge as a Moral Question |
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Asian LWF Church Leadership Openly Discuss Emerging Concerns
BATAM ISLAND, Indonesia/GENEVA, 23 December 2003 (LWI) - Indonesian Bishop Dr Jubil Raplan Hutauruk called on Christians to confront the HIV/AIDS challenge as "a moral question to which we must respond openly as Jesus did when he was a guest in the home of Simon the Pharisee."
Jesus offered full acceptance and forgiveness to the woman who kissed his feet, but he also corrected the "mistaken morality" of society in regarding her as one to be despised and excluded, Hutauruk, head of the Protestant Christian Batak Church (HKBP) told participants in the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Asian Church Leadership Consultation on HIV/AIDS, December 1-4 on Batam, Island, Indonesia.
More than 90 representatives of the Asian church leadership related to the LWF and the Wuppertal, Germany-based United Evangelical Mission gathered on Batam Island to openly discuss the pandemic's emerging and alarming concerns.
"What is your own personal attitude towards the people living with HIV/AIDS?," Hutauruk asked during the opening worship at HKBP's Lubukbaja church on the island. In his message the bishop challenged the participants to abandon silent moral disapproval and judgement against people living with HIV/AIDS. "The HIV/AIDS pandemic in Asia must be dealt with urgently, holistically, and with love," he stressed.
Rev. Ginda Harahap, Area Secretary for Asia, LWF Department for Mission and Development spoke of the importance of "conversion" across the spectrum of church leadership, including presidents, bishops, pastors, women and youth leaders. The consultation's participants included people living with HIV/AIDS, ecumenical guests from Indonesia, a bishop from South Africa, as well as LWF Council representatives from Africa and Latin America, medical experts and other resource persons.
Greeting consultation participants, an Indonesian government representative said that the local administration responded to the growing AIDS pandemic in 1995 by establishing a special committee on HIV/AIDS prevention.
Non-governmental organizations and religious bodies are invited "to work in harmony with the Indonesian government’s local authority to help the people of Batam by sharing information, education and even help those who are infected," he said.
The government official suggested that the numbers of those who are infected is still low, but that Batam could become a high-risk area for the spread of HIV/AIDS in the future. The United Nations' AIDS agency, UNAIDS, estimates Indonesia's HIV prevalence rate at a relatively low 0.1 percent among adults who make up about 49 percent of the 231 million population.
The Church as a Caring and Healing Community
In a "Statement of Commitment" following the consultation, the representatives of the 46 LWF member churches in Asia acknowledged the opportunity provided by the meeting to focus on their own prejudices, lack of knowledge and experience with people living with HIV/AIDS, and also challenge their present practice of being church as a caring and healing community.
They expressed a commitment to profess a covenant of life that encompasses theology, biblical ethics, pastoral care, mission and diakonia, religious and socio-cultural barriers. The Asia church leadership also underscored the need to focus on education and prevention, economic globalization, and cooperation and networking. HIV/AIDS, they affirmed, is not only a health problem but it also includes spiritual, socio-politico-economic issues and their related challenges.
Hope and light were positively expressed as participants remembered those who have died from HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. Dr Christine Sadia, LWF HIV/AIDS consultant, and Ms Christine Wahyuni, a person living with HIV/AIDS, lit candles in remembrance of those who have died and those infected and affected by the impact of HIV/AIDS. Participants inscribed names of those who have died on a special memory quilt.
Although Africa has the highest number of HIV/AIDS infections, there is growing concern about a very serious pandemic in parts of Asia. More than 8 million people in the region are already HIV positive.
The Asian meeting was the third of four regional conferences planned under the 2002 LWF global campaign against HIV/AIDS, and its related Action Plan, "Compassion, Conversion, Care: Responding as Churches to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic." The first regional consultation was held in Africa in 2002, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean. Europe's will take place in 2004. (697 words)
(Thailand-based LWI correspondent Lance Woodruff contributed to this article.)
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