By Nancy Devine

Faith-based organizations will play a vital role in eradicating the stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV/AIDS, but only if they can work effectively together, and talk openly about the disease.

That was the overarching theme at an Aug. 12 interfaith event prior to the start the 16th annual International AIDS Conference in Toronto. More than 500 people were registered for the Ecumenical and Interfaith Pre-conference, organized by the Geneva-based Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance. Representatives from Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Baha’i traditions, as well as several Christian denominations, attended plenary sessions and workshops designed to enlighten, inform and engage.

 “This pandemic is a turning point that has brought people together,” the Most Rev. Gunnar Stälsett, bishop emeritus of Oslo, told a plenary session. “The ecumenical movement has worked for more than 50 years to bring us to this day. We are united in a common goal. The pandemic has been a blessing in disguise that is helping us overcome our differences to build new communities that are dedicated to service. We are here to spell out what is of God and what will best serve humanity in the coming generations.”

Dr. Peter Piot, executive director, UNAIDS, said HIV/AIDS will continue to be a world issue for a long time. He stressed that faith-based organizations play a key role in the struggle against the spread of HIV and AIDS, along with scientific research and changes in public policy.

“There are no success stories in AIDS as far as I’m concerned,” he told the delegates. “About 1.5 million people in developing countries have access to antiretroviral medications, but it’s not over. There is no end in sight. We are a world living with HIV and no one knows yet what will solve it.”

He said that faith-based organizations will be able to teach civil society a great deal about sustaining the policies and programs already in place. “We need a longer-term view in both financial and social sustainability,” he said. “Faith and religion have a strong tradition of sustainability, and we need to see HIV/AIDS in terms of decades and generations. Early on in the epidemic, religion was part of the problem. There were things we couldn’t discuss. But, I would say that in the last four years, faith-based organizations have contributed much more to the struggle against the virus.”

He also issued a challenge on the heels of the kudos, pleading with religious leaders to become “serious about the drivers of this epidemic – homophobia, the inferior position of women and the poor, and the stigma attached to being HIV-positive.

“There are no technological fixes yet, so we need your help to work hard, very hard, on societal changes,” Dr. Piot said. “In the temples, the mosques, the churches all over the world, the stigma needs to be tackled and addressed so that people feel they have access to the treatment and supports they need.”

During the closing session of the day, Bishop Mark Hanson, president of the Lutheran World Federation and presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, told the gathering it is vital that faith-based organizations let go of distrust, disregard and self-interest in order to work effectively against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

“This is not an easy thing. Our identities have been shaped by our deeply-held principals and beliefs,” he said. “When we come together, we deeply distrust the beliefs and practices of ‘the other’. The current world situation is fostering this distrust, and our political leaders do their part in fostering this culture of fear.”

The challenge is both simple and difficult, said Bishop Hanson. “We must put our fears and self-interests on the table and determine what we are willing to do in order to end this crisis. AIDS effects everyone in the world, whether we know it or not. The question is can we find our unity in our diversity? That unity will transcend our differences.”