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Interfaith Conference in Delhi Addresses the Prevalence of HIV/AIDS
Written by Dr. Robert S. Kittel, UPF-India
Sunday, September 10, 2006
The Universal Peace Federation and the YMCA teamed up to hold an interfaith conference which addressed the issue of HIV/AIDS from a moral perspective. On Sept. 8, 2006, at the New Delhi YMCA in India, representatives from six religious traditions—Hindu, Christian, Jewish, Islam, Sikh and Baha’i—along with youth activists and AIDS counselors found common ground in discussing the topic “Sexual Abstinence before Marriage and Marital Fidelity—A Solution to HIV/AIDS.”
This maiden conference had two overlapping agendas: to build a religious coalition and effectively speak to the HIV/AIDS pandemic from the viewpoint of family values. It has been long recognized that the inter-faith community is a powerful, untapped source in the fight against this global killer.
India, according to the United Nations, has the most people of any nation in the world infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (5.7 million). New Delhi denies these figures this saying they are inflated (5.2 million) and, that it is still second behind South Africa.
 Dr. J.P. Sharma giving the Hindu perspective |
 Fr. Emanuel Dominic sharing his experience in Toronto |
However, when the pandemic is looked at regionally, no one disputes the need for action. Within Asia, India has 60 percent of the HIV prevalence; in South and Southeast Asia it is 72 percent; and in South Asia alone, it is over 90 percent.
Men, women, and youth representatives from all walks of life spoke with clarity and conviction reiterating that the only proper place for human sexuality was within marriage. There were nearly 300 youth in the audience.
Mr. J.P. Sharma, a Trustee of the Shri Geeta Ashram in Rishikesh, startled the audience by saying, the “craze of sexual gratification is in our blood.” He compared this to the AIDS virus which is a blood infection and said that we have to clean our blood, physically and spiritually.
 The audience of 300 students and NGO leaders listened attentively throughout the program |
 Everyone giving the Pledge of Purity |
The small Jewish community in the Indian capital was represented by Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, the Priest of the Judah Hyam Synagogue. He said that in the Torah, the word for conjugal sex between a husband and wife was, Dalet-Ayin-Tav, meaning “to know.” He used this to note that sex was not merely a physical union of two people, but involved the heart, mind and spirit as well.
Father Dr. Dominic Emmanuel from the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese had just returned from XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada. He was surprised that even though there were over 26,000 people attending, only a few religious leaders were there. Beside some Christian clerics, he saw a few Buddhist priests from Thailand.
It was interesting to note, said Father Dominic, the amount of attention the HIV/AIDS pandemic is getting even though “it still ranks only the fifth among the killer diseases” worldwide. Cancer, tuberculosis, heart diseases and malaria still claim more lives every year than AIDS. The obvious question before everyone was, “Why are there no big conferences being held to deal with those diseases?”
Religious leaders from varying faith traditions spoke with unanimity on the importance of keeping human sexuality in the love of a husband and wife. At this confluence of inter-religious cooperation and understanding, the family transcended the barriers of caste, creed and culture. Century-old divisions were overcome as people realized they had discovered a new tool to fight AIDS—the inter-faith community.
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