Volume 3, Issue 5
August 25, 2006

Messer Confronts Theological Implications of AIDS

Theologian Donald E. Messer, who recently retired from Iliff School of Theology, a United Methodist seminary in Denver, makes the theological claim that we are all HIV-positive. He also deals with the theological implications of the three drivers of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

With page numbers noted, here are excerpts from his 2004 book, Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence: Christian Churches and the Global AIDS Crisis:

We Are All
HIV-Positive

• “By making the beginning point for our Christian understanding of the AIDS crisis the acknowledgment that, theologically, we are all HIV-positive, we first of all acknowledge the sovereignty of God. God is the giver of life; we are not the absolute owners of our lives and destinies. God is the creator and ruler of the universe, and we have been blessed with life.” (30)
• “When we acknowledge we are all HIV-positive, we discover a new solidarity with all our brothers and sisters in Christ and stand under the parenthood and authority of God. From a Christian perspective we are all ‘members one of and another,’ and what inflicts my brother or sister also afflicts me.” (31)

Homophobia

• “The reason that the church has been ‘missing in action’ regarding global AIDS is primarily because of its theology of exclusion toward homosexual persons. Instead of focusing on God’s grief over AIDS, Christians in many places have sought to sideline God’s healing ministry by offering a judgmental rather than compassionate gospel.” (22)
• “Now HIV/AIDS is primarily transmitted heterosexually and the church remains paralyzed on the sideline, trapped by its initial exclusion and failure to remember the forgiving, compassionate spirit of Jesus. The global Christ we worship embraced especially those who were excluded at the religious table of others: women, tax collectors, Samaritans, lepers, and ‘sinners.’” (23)

Low Status of Women

• “Christianity and other world religions developed amid patriarchal societies in which women are treated as objects rather than persons. To this day, women have neither been accorded equal rights within the society nor equal rights within religious communities. The male, in most instances, has been granted authority and power over women, especially wives, and this has led to devastating consequences for women and their health and well-being.” (78)
• “The most endangered people on earth are married women because they are the most lacking in power over their own sexual lives. Some AIDS activists say that getting married is the riskiest sexual behavior an African woman can engage in! There was a shocking discovery in Tanzania: sex workers often were more effective at protecting themselves from HIV than housewives, because they had more power to insist on safer sexual practices.” (79)

Stigma and Discrimination

• “The global AIDS emergency compels us to reclaim the essence of the church. The very being (esse) of the church of Jesus Christ requires the inclusion of all God’s people. The church as koinonia—as true fellowship—is violated when some Christian believers are excluded and stigmatized and suffer discriminations because of the church’s teachings and actions. The very essence of the church is at stake when people are excluded from God’s mission and ministry.” (21)
• “Inclusiveness is not an optional ‘extra’ or ‘political correctness’ for Christians. It is not simply discretional, useful, or theologically beneficial (bene esse). Inclusiveness is a way of being, living, working and worshiping together in mission: a basic element of our faith in Jesus Christ and our Christian identity.” (21)