For believers of God, religious faith has a paramount influence on their lives. At XX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014) in the inter-faith session the message was loud and clear from different religious leaders: homophobia is a choice, not homosexuality; and religious scriptures teach us to be compassionate, non-judgmental and accept everyone else in totality without prejudice.
Rev Phumzile Mabizela, who is one of the religious leaders openly living with HIV, had founded INERELA+ with 7 other religious leaders who were living with HIV years ago. INERELA+ is a global network of religious leaders – lay and ordained, women and men – living with, or personally affected, by HIV. “We speak about life, not judgment. We speak about prevention, not condemnation. We speak about truth” said Rev Phumzile.
Rev Phumzile Mabizela |
“INERLA is inter-faith: we also work with other African traditional religions. In Africa we have so many countries that have criminalized homosexuality. Message within religious books is that we all have been created in the image of God and nobody has the right to judge or discriminate against any other person” stressed Rev Phumzile.
Despite humungous efforts to combat HIV related stigma and discrimination, it still lurks around us and continues to not only block access to HIV related prevention, treatment, care and support services, but also fuels shame which majorly impacts quality of life and survival. When it comes to key populations such as men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender, people who use drugs (PWUDs) or sex workers, HIV related stigma grows exponentially.
Eliot Albers, Executive Director, International Network of People Who use Drugs (INPUD), said: “Stigma leads to self-hatred and self-denial. Stigma kills. The flipside of stigma is that you have to look to your own community of PWUDs for comfort, solidarity and kindness.”
Rev Phumzile added: “Within our religions we have promoted hetero-normativity over centuries. Homophobia is driven with ignorance and prejudice. In Africa, the more we criminalize same sex behaviour, more the problem intensifies because such punitive laws makes people even more vulnerable to HIV as they are afraid to seek help, care and support. INERELA+ asks you to live your own life in fullness without the fear of being discriminated. We equip you with skills to reply to those who stigmatise and discriminate against us using religious scriptures such as Bible. Let us use Bible to respond back as Bible teaches us compassion, non-judgement and accepting people in totality.”
Roy Wadia |
Rev JP Mokgethi-Health from Sweden said: “No sacred text can justify persecution and violence against anyone. Homophobia is a choice, not homosexuality.”
He further said that in many ways transsexual and transgender people are better reflections of the image of God. He argued that when the word homosexuality was created in 1830 and Bible was written ages ago, how can reference to homosexuality be in Bible? He stressed that reference to homosexuality in Bible is planted or misinterpreted and we should not be misled. He questioned “why do we use sacred text to say negative things about sexuality? Sexuality is not something to be feared but celebrated and enjoyed to the glory of God.”
Dede Oetomo |
Dede argued that perhaps interpretation of religious texts is what creates difference in opinion. He said that most traditional interpreters were perhaps men and proponents of heterosexuality that is why when feminist women interpret Islam, interpretation often comes out different.
Rev Phumzile also mentioned about a “SAVE” Prevention Toolkit launched by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. This toolkit stands apart because it not only talks about “ABC” approach to HIV prevention (A – abstinence, B – be faithful, and C – condoms). SAVE toolkit talks about: S - safer practices; A – access to treatment; V – voluntary counselling and testing of HIV; and E – empowerment.
Shale Ahmed |
Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a transgender leader who leads Astitva in Mumbai and Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) said that “the word ‘Hijra’ means ‘Kinnar’ in religious texts so we are more divine than any man because it is in Hindu scriptures. Even in Islam third gender is always mentioned. Right from my childhood I have been with religious Gurus. People may hate or love me, but I have complete faith that my Almighty loves me…”
Laxmi Narayan Tripathi |
Rev Phumzile added that: “Religion promotes justice – when people justify discrimination it is because they read religious texts selectively. We need to read religious texts in their wholeness, and it focuses on love, compassion and acceptance in totality.”
Rev Phumzile’s concluding remarks sums up the essence of this inter-faith session so well: “My faith and spirituality is very important for me in my journey. I am created in the image of God, and God wants me to live a full life and therefore antiretroviral therapy (ART) is going to work on me. Drugs alone will not help beyond a point. We need to see spirituality as a positive force.”
Bobby Ramakant, Citizen News Service - CNS
20 July 2014
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