Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyPosts Tagged As: Kay Warren
December 28th, 2007
Kay Warren, wife of the pastor and author Rick Warren, has written a new book, Dangerous Surrender, encouraging conservative Christians to join the fight against the spread of HIV and AIDS.
Like many who have spent the last 25 years hearing how AIDS is God’s judgment against gays, I am cautious in endorsing Warren’s efforts. Part of me feels that if it takes a trip to Africa to see dying heterosexuals in order to stir your compassion, then I am inclined to think your “help” comes with too many strings attached.
Mrs. Warren is aware that conservative involvement is met with skepticism. And I believe her words illustrate both an awareness of the problem as well as a practical solution.
Did Jesus ever ask anybody, “How did you get sick?” We get stuck on the “How did you get sick? How did you become infected?” We look with everybody with HIV and assume they did something wrong and that’s why they’re sick. You will not find Jesus asking, “How did you get sick?” He just said, “What can I do? How can I help you?”
First, we need to get God’s heart on how he feels about people who are sick. Second, we need to model our ministries after the way Jesus treated people. Third, we need to come alongside and build relationships with people that says it doesn’t really matter to me whether you put yourself at risk or you didn’t put yourself at risk. The point is I’m going to care for you. My response is going to be the same.
Warren has also come up with a practical program for reducing or eliminating the spread of the virus:
If you want to S.L.O.W. down the spread of HIV:
S Support the correct use of condoms every sexual encounter.
L Limit the number of partners, because studies have also shown that the greatest risk is in multiple partners.
O This is very controversial. Offer needle exchange. Studies have shown that in some places clean needles can slow down the transmission of HIV.
W Wait for sexual debut. Studies have shown that the younger a person is at their his or her sexual encounter, the more likely it is that he or she will be infected with HIV. So if you can encourage people to wait until they’re older, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, before they have their first sexual encounter you can slow down the spread of HIV.I have an even higher goal: I don’t want to just manage HIV. My goal is to end HIV. I want the world to be rid of this evil virus.
So to STOP it requires a different strategy.
S Save sex for marriage.
T Teach men and boys to respect and honor women and girls. If men continue to treat women with such disrespect, HIV will be on our planet for a long time to come. So there’s a discipleship element.
O Offer treatment through churches. We think that those things that I told you about, those six things that churches can do, when the church is involved, it can stop the spread of AIDS.
P Partner with one person for life.
While the SLOW approach is pragmatic and relies on tested methods, I find much in the STOP half of this that smacks of heterosexism. Her program is geared solely to address heterosexual contraction of HIV and ignores the existance of gay men and women.
It is of no value whatsoever to tell a young gay man that he is to wait for marriage while simultaneously railing at him that allowing him to marry would destroy the foundations of society. And lessons on how to respect women are not going to give him tools on how to avoid infection.
Yet as the conservative church has been so very reluctant for so very long to provide the slightest care for those with HIV or AIDS, I welcome even this exclusionary approach. I am hopeful that Kay Warren’s STOP program is simply ignorant of the realities of same-sex attraction and are not a continuation of the church’s long history of barring its door to those who find themselves gay.
Perhaps in her new book she better lays out her beliefs. Until then I’ll gladly give her the benefit of the doubt and welcome the vast resources that conservative Christianity can bring to those suffering.
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