wfn.org | Many Christians among Taiwan's AIDS patients

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Title: One Third of a Taiwan Agency's AIDS Patients are Christians
Taiwan Church News 2739, 23-29 August 2004
Reported by Gu Hao-jan.  Translated and Rewritten by David Alexander

The House of Grace, a Christian agency established four years ago in Taipei,
has cared for 60 AIDS patients so far. Among them 18 have died. Of those under
care currently, fully one in three is a Christian.
It is not uncommon for those in Taiwan who receive an HIV positive diagnosis
to end their lives. It has mattered little the source of the infection, and
AIDS patients are more and more unclear about how they became infected.
According to the health department, since 1984 when the first cases were
reported in Taiwan, there have been 6,255 confirmed diagnoses.  But in the
most recent 6 months 105 new cases have been added to the rolls.  Of these,
over half were under 30 years of age. Even more alarming is the fact that this
year's "AIDS intake" includes 20 percent whose condition has deteriorated
rapidly, portending a possible 1,000 new cases.
Ms. Chiou Shu-mei, a long term aids activist, says, "The church must face this
topic head on. The church must not continue to avoid discussion. She calls on
people of faith to allot more resources to care of AIDS patients, to draw
along side of them in faith, and to walk with them through this threat to
their lives.
  "Faith is important for persons with AIDS." Ms. Chiou has deeply experienced
the hope that her clients have received through faith. Current "cocktail
treatment" with drugs has enabled many to live with the condition, to look
forward to a new beginning when released from hospital care. But, she says,
faith plays an important part in all transformations, and only with faith can
there be growth.
  She would love to see clergy commit a half day each week to being present at
the House of Grace as companions to the residents, to lead in reading the
scriptures, prayer, and faith sharing. But when she has broached the subject
with ministers, she has heard a definite NO in response. Inviting clergy to
join teams is akin to going to a church to convene a discussion on AIDS work.
The House of Grace gets a cold shoulder from local congregations.
  "Churches fear pollution by the wider environment. They believe that
Christians are somehow less connected to the entire problem of AIDS." But
among those who come to her agency for help, up to one third are Christians.
If those who were part of a church for only a short time in their youth are
included, then up to half are "church related".
   "When clients feel they have no hope and are rejected by their families and
left alone by society they look to church institutions expecting to find
hope." Ms. Chiou has found one ally among the clergy, the Rev. Chen Chia-cheng
from Yi-li Presbyterian Church. He said that in his own church, whenever he
has brought up the topic of AIDS, he has met opposition.
   "AIDS has become the insurmountable human challenge of our time," he says.
Citing United Nation's statistics, he calls on the Presbyterian Church in
Taiwan to become more open in its attitudes towards concern for AIDS patients.
He would like to hear the problem addressed and discussed from pulpits, in
Sunday school classes and at special seminars. He calls on Christians to care
for and accept AIDS patients based on Christian faith. "Make a new beginning,
not just condemning people as sinners."
   He adds, "We are not God. We also are sinful people. Many AIDS patients are
not contagious. Many were infected through blood transfusions. They are
victims, not victimizers."

For More Information: The Aids Foundation +886 2 23703579
Chen Chia-cheng ili@www.ili.org.tw

Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages.
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