Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - December 28, 2007
Kay Warren, wife of pastor Rick Warren, wondered what she had gotten herself into.
It was her first International AIDS Conference, in 2004 in Thailand. Just two years earlier, an article on how HIV was devastating African families led Kay Warren to take up the cause when very few conservative Christian leaders were doing so. She chronicles her journey into activism in her new book "Dangerous Surrender," which is a plea for Bible-believers to join the fight.
"I think there are some people who won't get past the first few chapters. It's not a light read," said Warren, whose husband wrote the multimillion-selling "The Purpose Driven Life." "For some people, it will come at the right time for them."
It was only a few years ago that evangelicals began tentatively putting their energies into combating the infection. Many conservative Christians considered the illness a punishment from God ù for same-gender sex, prostitution and drug use. AIDS activism also inevitably meant working with gay leaders whom evangelicals had been battling on the issue of same-sex marriage.
As recently as last year, the Barna Group, which specializes in researching the views of conservative Christians, conducted a survey in which two out of five born-again Christians said they had more sympathy for people with cancer than for those with HIV/AIDS.
That attitude has been changing. International Christian relief groups such as World Vision have been bringing U.S. pastors to visit AIDS-ravaged communities in Africa.
U2 frontman Bono, citing his own faith, barnstormed the United States, pressing President Bush and other U.S. government leaders to do more to stop the pandemic.
Three years ago, Kay and Rick Warren began organizing the annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church at Saddleback Church, the congregation they started in Lake Forest, Calif. Bill and Lynne Hybels of the Willow Creek Association of churches are offering an annual Courageous Leadership Award to churches with the best programs to combat the disease.
"I think there has been a sea change," said Steve Haas, vice president for church relations at World Vision. "James 1:27 states that pure and unadulterated religion is this: that you take care of the orphans and widows in their distress. The greatest orphan and widow creator of all time is upon us. It's called AIDS."
Yet, Haas and Kay Warren say everyday evangelicals are only starting to accept the idea.
A common belief is that supporting people with HIV condones sinful behavior. Kay Warren tells them, "It's not a sin to be sick."
In her book, Warren describes her travels to Mozambique, Cambodia, the Philippines, Rwanda and elsewhere, meeting AIDS orphans and women who got HIV from unfaithful husbands, and learning of the vulnerability of child prostitutes. The majority of people with HIV worldwide are women.
"If people are infected, they need to be embraced and valued, and receive the love of relationship in the church," Warren said in an interview, wearing an AIDS red-ribbon lapel pin wrapped around a cross. "Churches can reduce the stigma."
A small number of detractors have also focused on the Warrens' willingness to invite abortion rights supporters ù Sen. Barack Obama last year and Sen. Hillary Clinton this year ù to participate in the AIDS summit. The Warrens, who avoid partisan politics, had invited every presidential candidate. Only Clinton attended, while others sent videotaped messages.
Not everyone welcomes the support of conservative Christians. Gay activists, who for years waged a lonely, difficult struggle to help people with HIV, have been suspicious. Many wonder whether evangelicals are "coming in looking for Christian scalps," Haas said.
Warren writes that she understands the concern "when we show up 25 years later and tell them we would like to serve them." But she said she is slowly building relationships with gay-led AIDS organizations. Haas said pastors who travel overseas with World Vision often return and start HIV/AIDS ministries in their own neighborhoods.
"I think we had to earn our stripes," Warren said. "Some immediately embrace us. Others wonder if this is the cause of the month. Others are fearful and suspect we have hidden agendas."
Beyond providing care, the Warrens have also entered the contentious policy debate about how to end the pandemic. They have developed an approach, which they copyrighted so it cannot be misrepresented or misused, called S.L.O.W./S.T.O.P.
It is a complicated acronym: To slow the spread of HIV, they support correctly using condoms, limiting the number of partners, offering needle exchange even though Kay Warren says it's still not clear how effective that is, and waiting for sex. "I don't know how anyone can reasonably say that virginity isn't a protection against HIV," she said.
To stop the virus, the Warrens advocate saving sex for marriage, teaching men and boys to respect and honor women and girls, offering treatment through churches, and partnering with one person for life.
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