AIDS
Early Christian Responses to Epidemics Completely Unlike 1980s Response
How a person contracts a disease should not be the barometer by which Christians determine their attitude toward the sick and needy. We are to reflect the same covenantal, unconditional posture of love and concern that God freely expresses toward His children, especially visible through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus’ ministry exhibited a compassionate view…
Read MoreThe Face of AIDS Becomes a Child: Ryan White
While the 1980s televangelists were pointing at the “dirty gays” as a deserving target of God’s punishment for anal sex, children who contracted HIV/AIDS through blood transfusions got caught in the public fear-filled frenzy. In December 1984, a gradual shift began to happen in the public face of AIDS. Ryan White, a 13-year-old hemophiliac middle-schooler…
Read MoreHow I Responded to AIDS in the 1980s
In November 2011, on the thirtieth anniversary of the first reported cases of a mysterious “gay cancer” in America, I went to the Nevada Museum of Art with my friend Dean to see the documentary “We Were Here”, produced by David Weissman. The film reflected deeply personal accounts of five people living in San…
Read MoreC. Everett Koop, a Hero During the AIDS Crisis
When Ronald Reagan was elected to the presidency in 1980, names of faithful members of the conservative right were submitted to his Administration for possible appointment. Virtually all the suggestions were ignored—except the one to appoint C. Everett Koop as Surgeon General. As it turned out, Koop became the Surgeon General no one expected. The…
Read MoreAIDS Migrates from Africa to Haiti and The US
The HIV virus gets to Haiti When the Belgians withdrew 87,000 nationals from the Belgian Congo, it left 80% of the government posts unoccupied. All areas of the government suffered, including education. Colonization had elevated the role of European teachers and created a dearth of native Congolese teachers. The United Nations stepped in to…
Read MoreWhat Caused the Onset of the Pandemic Virus HIV/AIDS? Colonialism
The largest pandemic in modern history was not the 1918 flu. It is HIV/AIDS, a global pandemic without a cure. The root of the growth of HIV/AIDS was greed—the desire for more supplies and resources for European industrialization through the massive colonization of Africa at the beginning of the 20th century. To date, HIV/AIDS has…
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