Speaking Up For Those With No Voice. Sounds Like Something Jesus Would Have Done.

Highlights from the closing day of the 17th International AIDS Conference on the role of the church in the fight against gender inequality.

“There is a desperate need for the leadership of the Church to smarten up to gender-related issues like violence and issues of power and control,” said Tearfund’s chief executive Matthew Frost on Friday. “Gender inequality is one of the key drivers of the pandemic. The Church is in a key position to transform attitudes within the community. It cannot remain silent.”

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“It was the Church that stood on the front line against slavery, and against apartheid,” Lusi said. “Now the Church must stand up against gender injustice.”

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Earlier at an HIV pre-conference, Kay Warren of Saddleback Church had also called the Church to action on ending gender-based violence. She said like gender-based violence, the Church is everywhere.

“The Church is the hope of the world, and God’s plan for dealing with the problems of the world,” Warren said at the Ecumenical Alliance Pre-Conference. “Whether dealing with violence, poverty, orphans or AIDS – if we don’t start with the Church, we are starting at the wrong end of the equation.”