President Jimmy Carter HIVAIDS

March 10, 2002
Remarks by President Jimmy Carter
Transcript of President Jimmy Carter encouraging faith-based groups to increase efforts to address the HIV/AIDS crisis. This speech was delivered during the Carter/Gates mission to Africa.

 

It was almost 24 years ago when I first came to this great country, and when I arrived in Lagos I was met by my friend, President Obasanjo.  The first thing he said was, "I have one request to make of you," and I immediately thought of the advanced weapons systems that my country had to sell, and if that wasn't the request I figured that he was going to ask for more USAID funds to come to Nigeria.  But his request was, "I want you to join me tomorrow morning, Sunday, in helping with a religious service."

 

He hasn't changed, but the world has changed.  One thing that we do at the Carter Center is to analyze all the conflicts in the world.  There are now about 110 on our list, about 70 of which erupt into violence every year.  Thirty of them are major wars.  We analyze the causes of these conflicts and what might be done to prevent or to end them.  It is very disturbing to me as a Christian to know that many of these wars are caused by religious belief.

 

Last Sunday my wife and I were in Sudan, a great nation torn apart for the last 19 years by a terrible conflict that has cost more than two million lives.  And the war is caused primarily by religious differences.

 

I have thought this morning about things that do not divide us but that bind us together.  There are many faiths in this world with which we're familiar, but I think there is one common commitment, whether you are Hindu, or Buddhist, or Muslim or Christian, Protestant or Catholic -- and that is we pledge ourselves to have mercy and compassion and to alleviate the suffering of the poor. 

 

You see the assignment given to me this morning if you read your bulletin.   I've been in a quandary about how to address this issue in a church.  If I was home in Plains, Georgia I would be teaching the Bible.  I do this every Sunday.  And I've tried to think about the Christian approach in a church on Sunday morning to HIV/AIDS, and my only recourse really has been to turn to the example set for us by our Savoir, Jesus Christ.  How did Jesus address the question of sex and the violation of the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not commit adultery"?  I've thought about the Samaritan woman at the well who Christ pointed out had five lovers, none of them her husband.  And I've thought about Mary Magdalene, the first woman to go into the empty tomb on Easter Sunday, and who became really the first missionary because she went and told the Disciples about the risen Christ -- and she was guilty of seven serious sins certainly including that of adultery.  We know how Jesus reacted to those women.

 

But I think that the most vivid demonstration of that is found in John 8, beginning with the 7th verse, where a woman was brought to Christ by the arrogant political and religious leaders of the day.  She had been caught in the act of adultery, and the penalty assigned to her by the law was execution by stoning.  And to trap Christ, they said, "How do you treat this woman?"  Jesus looked at her, and he looked at her accusers, and he leaned down, the Bible says, and wrote some words in the sand.  And he looked up and said that, "He who is without sin cast the first stone."  And one by one her accusers walked away, and then Christ looked at her and said, "Go and sin no more."

 

This is, I think, pertinent to the AIDS question.  I think another story comes to us from Luke 12, where 10 lepers came to Jesus and asked him to cure their affliction.  I would equate lepers in those days with AIDS victims today.  Luke 17:12 is where it begins. 

A leper was an outcast, feared by all the citizens who saw him.  They had to identify themselves by their dress and also by crying out, "I am a leper, I am a leper," when everyone came near them.  They were not only looked upon as sick and contagious, but the general presumption, never disputed, was that they had leprosy because they were sinful, that this was a punishment imposed upon them by God.  How did Christ react to this abomination for these outcasts and despised people?  He healed them.  And told them to go and be cleansed in the law so that they could live a normal life.  It is interesting that only one came back to thank Christ.  He happened to be a despised Samaritan.

 

How do we fortunate people, we rich people, we blessed and secure people, react to this blight of AIDS and the world?  We have 900,000 AIDS sufferers in my country.  We spend 10 billion dollars each year on this problem, which if you figure it out is about 10 thousand US dollars per patient.  You have 3.6 million HIV-positive people in Nigeria.  Health under reasonable control by the enlightened and dynamic and aggressive leadership of your president.  We came earlier this week from another country, which I won't name, where the president has avoided this responsibility completely, and AIDS is rampant and growing every day.  Nigeria is blessed by this leadership. But we have to remember that our duties don't just go to admiring a president or hoping the governors and ministers will take a stance against this terrible affliction.

 

Some day we Christians, perhaps all people, will be judged by the sovereign and gentle Christ.  If you look in the 25th chapter of Matthew you will find that Jesus says, I will be the judge and you will be standing before me and divided into two groups, one is a sheep and one is a goat.  The sheep will be those who ministered to me when I was on earth, when I was sick, you came and helped me; when I was hungry, you fed me; when I was thirsty, you gave me drink; when I was in prison, you visited me.  And the people said Lord, when did I ever have a chance to give you food or water or visit you? And he said as you have done it unto the least of these my brothers you have done it unto me.  And he looked at the goats who were very proud people.  They thought they were naturally in a superior position.  They had attended church every Sunday and sung hymns and enjoyed the services and ostentatiously been Christians.  And he said when I was sick, you didn't visit me, you didn't give me food and water.  And they said, Lord, we would have done anything for you.  He said, as you did not do it unto the least of these, you did not do it unto me.

 

Christ was merciful.  There would be no way that I would stand in a Christian church and say it's satisfactory or godlike or permissible to have any sex except for the one person whom we have chosen for our life's partner.  The Bible says "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and Jesus said not one jot or ten of that law will be changed.  But we know that people sin, all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, the Bible says.  We know that our God is one of forgiveness and grace and mercy and love.

 

So we should minister to those who commit sexual sins, casual sex, extramarital sex, even adultery, betraying our wives or our husbands.  There is a simple way for those who violate marital laws to prevent having AIDS.  We all know what it is, it's been publicized.  The Gates and we were with commercial sex workers yesterday morning, lovely young women, who sell their bodies 10 to 15 times a day, they told us, for money.  They know how to prevent having AIDS. And everyone in this country knows.

 

But we should remember that there is an example set for us by Jesus Christ, for those who go astray, for those who are despised, for those who suffer because of their own sins, for those who are outcasts, for those who are poor.  We call ourselves Christians, sometimes casually.  We fail to remember what the word "Christian" means.  It means little Christ. And when we think about being or claiming to be a little Christ, the responsibility in alleviating the suffering or preventing the suffering of others becomes much more vivid and personal in our minds. 

 

So my message this morning, in summary, about HIV/AIDS is for us try to be little Christs. And to deal aggressively and benevolently with love and compassion, sharing our wealth to make sure that the ignorant, the poor, the outcast, are prevented from having this terrible disease. My belief is that is the world of My Savior, Jesus Christ.