Stigma and discrimination as by-products of the HIV/AIDS affliction pose problems to a lot of clergy when defined in medical terms and standards that do not take into cognisance the spirit of Christianity. The debate of what constitutes stigma and whose truth to abide by had pastors and church leaders talking at the Francistown Christian Response Network (FCRN) and the Botswana Christian AIDS Intervention Network (BOCAIP) organised Francistown Pastors’ Workshop, which ended here last Friday. One participant noted that the mainstream has its definition of stigma, which has evidently been adopted and is now sold to them to endorse at the expense of some of the fundamental tenets of their faith. He argued that a good part of what is seen as stigma by the biomedical model (which seems to be holding sway in defining and describing all things pathological) challenges the way he looks at the world through his religion.
“It is good to stigmatise some certain behaviours as the church. For instance sex before marriage used to be stigmatised, but today it has been de-stigmatised through the promotion of condoms. Stigmatising sex before marriage was a very good regulating and controlling measure that can be of help in this particularly dangerous era of HIV/AIDSinfection increase,” he complained.
He also found problematic the issue of having such a biblically condemned activity as prostitution named in this age of political correctness as sex work.
He complained that it is liberally seen as a profession that can be said in the same breath as other noble occupations such as law, teaching and others in the name of avoiding being perpetrators of stigma. He argued that sex work could not be advocated for as a real job that anyone can just latch onto.
“For me, prostitution is not welcome. The bible spells out clearly that prostitution is a sin. The term sex worker though may be of help in doing away with stigma, but it is against the spirit of Christianity because it legitimises that which is inherently bad and needs condemnation. The bible calls a prostitute a harlot and that is what I will stick to,” he further argued.
The objective of the workshop was to equip clerical participants with counselling skills to enable them to effectively counsel the public on HIV/AIDS without becoming the stigmatiser.
As Morapedi revealed, the pastors have to be skilled so as to deal effectively with the increasing number of the sick who seek solace and spiritual help in church.
