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Sinkford Speaks at Washington DC World AIDS Day Event; Urges Congressional Action
(December 1, 2006) Reverend William G. Sinkford, UUA President, spoke this morning in Washington, DC, at the "For Whom the Bell Tolls: World AIDS Day" event. Sinkford and other speakers urged Congress to pass the PATHWAY Act (Prevention Against HIV Infection for Women and Youth) and eliminate earmarks for abstinence-only global AIDS prevention funding. Immediately following Sinkford's address, bells tolled in downtown churches in remembrance of those stricken by the pandemic. Each five seconds, someone around the globe dies from AIDS or is infected with HIV. William G. Sinkford's remarks:World AIDS Day gives us an opportunity to educate ourselves about how we can fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic. A problem so large and so devastating compels us to work together for political and scientific solutions, but it also calls on us to offer a spiritual response, a response that goes beyond sectarian doctrines and embraces our shared humanity. All of the world's great religions exhort us to love our neighbors. What we religious people now must ask ourselves is, "Who is my neighbor?" The global AIDS epidemic has taught us that we are all connected—black, white, and brown; young and old; male and female; gay and straight. Our neighbors live in tiny African villages, in Russian brothels, and in forgotten places all over the world where hope grows dim. We must remember them when the bells toll. We know now that the populations suffering the highest rate of new infections are youths aged fifteen to twenty-four and young married women. Our neighbors with AIDS are trapped in abusive marriages, and they are victims of civil war and genocide. The bells will toll for them today. Some of our neighbors with AIDS live in relatively peaceful regions, but they are unable to protect themselves from sexual violence and coercion within their homes. We have learned that most women with HIV are infected by their husbands or intimate partners. And because of this alarming fact, we also know that some of our neighbors with AIDS are struggling for life in neo-natal care units. We mock their sufferings when we offer international AIDS relief with strings attached, such as the "abstinence until marriage" conditions on sexuality education and disease prevention funding. Marriage is no protection against HIV, and abstinence is a luxury available only to those who have complete control over their own bodies and wills . When there is no ability to give or withhold consent, what protection does the choice of "abstinence" offer? And even in situations where consent can be given freely, abstinence education is failing to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Our policies must reflect the realities of people's lives. We know that " just say No" didn't work in the Garden of Eden, and it isn't stopping the spread of HIV today, either in the US or abroad. The bells will toll for many of our neighbors right here in the United States. So what can religious people and organizations do to help end HIV/AIDS? The Unitarian Universalist Global AIDS Coalition is working with seventy-five other religious and secular groups to support the PATHWAY Act and to repeal legislative earmarks such as the "Abstinence until Marriage" condition currently attached to US HIV prevention funding. The UU Global Aids Coalition is educating congregations so that they can work locally to fight the pandemic of HIV/AIDS. To share just a few examples, the UU congregation in Carbondale, Illinois, has established an ongoing relationship with a Zambian Hospice Center for people with AIDS. And a UU church in Louisville, Kentucky, has formed a partnership with children's home in western Kenya. They are providing the funding for schooling, healthcare and other necessities for ninety children who were orphaned by AIDS. The bells will toll for their parents and families today, too. The work done by churches and NGO's is absolutely vital, and we are committed to carrying it out. But let me be very clear—the efforts of private organizations—no matter how noble or how successful—are no substitute for an adequately-funded, scientifically-grounded, and ideology-free commitment on the part of the US government to end the threat of this disease. Our nation's response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic should not, and must not, be privatized. As we confront the human tragedy that is global AIDS, we urge our leaders not to let their private commitments to specific doctrines stand in the way of saving lives. We often hear politicians invoking "moral values." As a person of faith, I'm obligated to say that it is immoral to abdicate our responsibility for the spread of AIDS. There has been a lot of talk about the "right to life." Well, the men and women and children suffering from AIDS also have a right to life. We know how to ameliorate this epidemic. We have the medical means; we can muster the economic means. The question we must ask ourselves now is whether we have the will to do it. And that becomes a moral—a religious—question. I pray that as our leaders struggle with this question they will hear a call to compassion, that clear voice of truth that lies at the heart of all the world's sacred teachings. As we listen to the tolling of the bells, let us all hear this call. If we, and our leaders, have the courage to answer, then together we can end the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Media Coverage
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