The Saddleback Church to End AIDS in Rwanda!...except for MSM

For those who didn't make it out of bed at 5am, or whatever ungodly hour you might have to get up to make it to Banamex by 7am, you missed out on some of the best IAC swag available so far courtesy of the Saddleback Church and its leaders Rick and Kay Warren. You also missed out on some very pointed questions during the Q&A about the Church's HIV/AIDS work in Rwanda and its lack of emphasis on prevention, resistance to condom distribution, and narrow theology of sexuality.

The Warrens are the leaders of the Saddleback empire, which includes their 22,000 member church in Orange County, CA, numerous national and international programs, regular speaking tours, Rick's bestselling book, The Purpose Driven Life, and Kay's book, Dangerous Surrender. Rick will also be hosting both US Presidential candidates for a two hour "Compassion and Leadership" forum next week on network TV.

In their session, Rick and Kay explained that they see their church as forming the third leg of an AIDS-fightin' stool, which also includes governments and the business community. Unfortunately, in most of Rwanda, there are few health centers that provide AIDS care and treatment. But, as Rick and Kay excitedly announced, there are tons of churches! So why not use churches as distribution centers for AIDS medications, care, counseling, and psychological services?!?! Well, that's exactly what they're doing, in partnership with the Rwandan government.

From the mouths of Rick and Kay, who are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet, it almost sounds like a brilliant idea. Which is why it was great to get some critiques from the audience at the end. Sadly though, the Q&A was cut short and I didn't get to ask them about whether or not they're creating a welcoming atmosphere for men who have sex with men (MSM) and other marginalized populations.

The fact is, everywhere researchers have looked in Sub-Saharan African countries with generalized epidemics, they have also found higher rates of HIV infection in the MSM population. And while Rick and Kay say they care about every life, the head of their steering committee is Anglican Archbishop Kolini of Rwanda, who has called on churches in East Africa to fight against homosexuality for "the good of society." Kolini spoke at the session this morning as well, but shied away from any inflammatory statements.

So, to recap: the churches, which are the centers for AIDS care and treatment, in a country that likely has a disproportionate number of MSM living with the disease, should be fighting against these MSM.

In an unexpectedly candid talk after the presentation, Kay admitted that the Church's scriptural interpretation - that the expected standard of sexuality is one man and one woman in marriage for life - is probably hindering their work with MSM. It was nice to hear the honesty, but also a bit of a no-brainer.

In response to the criticism they took over their narrow view of sexuality, Rick and his fellow panel members continually stated that they're more interested in risk elimination strategies (abstinence) than risk reduction (condoms and other harm reduction tools) because they "don't want to just slow AIDS down, they want to stop it."

Well Rick and Kay, I would suggest that if you are truly committed to ending AIDS, you quit partnering with religious officials that spew bigotry and commit yourselves to making your programs welcoming of all people, espcially those hardest hit by the epidemic.