For immediate release 1 August 2008
Bishop washes feet of HIV-positive women as act of humility, repentanceEngaging in an act of "humility and repentance," a world church leader began his presentation to an international ecumenical AIDS conference by washing the feet of two women living with HIV.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Chicago, and president of the Lutheran World Federation, Geneva, washed the feet of Herlyn Marja Uiras and Sophie Dilmitis.
Uiras, Churches United Against HIV and AIDS in Southern and Eastern Africa, and Dilmitis, World YWCA, Geneva, were presenters at the Ecumenical Pre-Conference taking place in Mexico July 31-August 2. More than 500 people are attending the conference which precedes the International AIDS Conference, beginning Augst 3.
Hanson was part of a plenary session addressing stigmatization and discrimination against people living with HIV or AIDS. He said washing the womens' feet was the only way he could begin his remarks with integrity.
"I am absolutely convinced that we as religious leaders, and we in the religious community that so shunned and shamed people with HIV and struggling with AIDS . must begin first by engaging in public acts of repentance. Because absent public acts of repentance, I fear our words will not be trusted," he said.
Many participants expressed appreciation to Hanson for his act, but Hanson told the audience the point of his action was to focus attention on Uiras and Dilmitis, and people living with HIV or those with AIDS.
He told the story of an HIV-positive woman who became a Lutheran pastor. He said he hoped for the day when full participation of people living with HIV in communities of faith is an expectation, not an exception.
Male heterosexual religious leaders must be willing to talk openly and vulnerably about their own sexuality rather than about that of people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered, Hanson said. Human sexuality must not be a "church defining, church dividing issue," because the "good news" of Jesus Christ defines the church, he said.
Religious leaders hold the key to doing away with stigma and guilt, Dilmitis said. She asked the audience to imagine high-profile religious leaders speaking out on proven methods to prevent HIV and AIDS, such as condoms.
Dilmitis who has been living with HIV for 14 years, said her faith in the power of religious leaders was restored when she visited a church in Stommen, Norway, that accepts people with HIV and drug users, and offers spiritual and emotional support. "The energy of acceptance and love I felt there was godly and this is how relationships should be between people living with HIV and religious leaders," she said.
She suggested four strategies for building relationships between religious leaders and people living with HIV: speaking out about HIV; accepting, understanding and empathizing with people living with HIV; acknowledging that people of faith are sometimes stigmatized; and learning more about HIV.
Stigmatization and discrimination is "more devastating that the disease itself," said Emilio Alvarez Icaza Longoria, president, Commission on Human Rights, Mexico City. He said the exercise of human rights is directly affected by stigmatization and discrimination. Such behavior, "goes against the principle of human dignity," he said.
People of faith should advocate for the right to health care for all people, Longorias said. "The right to public health is not just about not getting sick. It has to do with the best possible health," he said.
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