The issue of HIV/Aids has never been an easy one for the church. Most in the religious community are torn because talk of preventing on of HIV and Aids usually means promoting the use of condoms. That is of course against the teachings of most churches because, by church teaching, sex is for procreation. Today the Council of Churches along with UNICEF opened the conversation on the HIV and Aids epidemic in Belize and how it squares with church doctrine.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This 64 page booklet will get the church talking about a topic they have historically shied away from. That topic is HIV and Aids.
Rt. Rev. Phillip Wright, Anglican Bishop of Belize
"The manual being handed out today is going to be a critical part of the way forward."
It is called the 'Faith-based manual for the response to HIV and Aids.' The book is the product of three years of work between UNICEF and the Council of Churches. The churches say it their response to the growing Aids threat. Anglican Bishop Phillip Wright is a founding member of the "COMFORTH" alliance. He says it is the church's responsibility to captain the fight against HIV and Aids.
Rt. Rev. Phillip Wright,
"More of us have to take a more vested and personal interest in this struggle and more of us have to come to term with the fact that in one way or the other, we are all affected and therefore must all play our part. The time has come my friends for the church and other religious bodies in our communities to be numbered among the more who are going to take a vested interested.
It recognizes that we can do more, we can do more in the forefront of prevention, promoting behavioral change, education and care, since it has, as the quote says, a captive audience. It is a powerful institution my friends with the potential to make major changes and major contributions in combating HIV and Aids and we heard that already this morning, the emphasis is that church really should be in the forefront, the leader in combating this dreaded disease."
Rana Flowers is UNICEF's representative in Belize.
Rana Flowers, UNICEF
"It is a key moment. The manual is a symbol of a process. The manual will be used by all the religions in Belize to train trainers who will then reach into the communities and train others who will then train others. So it is like a little web that is going to spread throughout the communities. So the manual alone, as a book, is not so important but it is the role that that manual will play in ensuring that communities are addressing HIV.
What happened here today is that religious leaders stood up and said they have been raising their voices but it has not been enough. 'We need to do more, we need to contribute in a significant way to halting the spread of HIV."
Today the representatives from those churches got a copy of the manual. Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Church Dorrick Wright picked up two copies for his church. He hadn't read it yet but he told us that the Catholic Church would only embrace the manual conditionally.
Most Rev. Dorrick Wright, Catholic Church
"I think our church, especially seeing it is part of the Council of Churches, would be receptive to this. Any thing that will help us to combat this whole HIV/Aids problem so long as it doesn't interfere with the moral teachings of our church. But we are very much concerned about the high increase and the amount of people who are suffering from Aids. I think just recently we were reminded of HIV/Aids when the Snakeman died. So it is not something that we can push out of our heads, it is something we have to face."
The manual walks a thin line on the issue of condom use. Its only comment is that "condom use is helpful from a scientific point of view." That's vague but Catholic Bishop Wright says his church's position is clear.
Most Rev. Dorrick Wright,
"Some of the means recommended to fight this thing we don't go along with. The Church's view, and I think we have to correct this because when you see the advertisement on TV, 'stick to your partner or use condoms,' it gives the idea that everybody...like this is sexual freedom; just put on condoms and you are safe. But there shouldn't be anything like sexual freedom. When you are married, that is our emphasis. But if you are a young teenager, you just can't go out there and start using people. So we would emphasizes yes, abstinence, be consistent in one person which hopefully would be your spouse."
It is a viewpoint that Anglican Bishop Wright says the manual took into consideration.
Rt. Rev. Phillip Wright,
"We tried to construct it in such a way that no one group needs to beyond their comfort zone. If you want to emphasize abstinence, and faithfulness over the use of condoms, you can still use the manual and if you are comfortable with all three, in your context the manual also provides for that."
Keith Swift,
You expect it will be embraced?
Rt. Rev. Phillip Wright,
"Hopefully so. I can't exactly speak for anyone but hopefully they will look at it as something useful and they will find in it materials that they can use."
