In the name of Allah The most beneficent and the most merciful.

1. In the name of Allah The most beneficent and the most merciful.

2. Religion Human Behaviour and AIDS By Sk.Akhtar Ahmad WWF008527, AIT AIDS

3. Outline • Introduction • What is Religion? • Religion and AIDS • Homosexuality and AIDS • Role of Religion to Controland mangement of AIDS • AidS and Islam • Circumcision and AIDS • Chrisyianity and AIDS • Buddhism and AIDS • Hinduism and AIDS • Religious Factor and AIDS • Human behavior and AIDS • CONCLUSION

4. Introduction • AIDS is threating the very existence of human kind and social sustainability. • To fight against this deadly disease science and technology tools are not sufficient. • Its requires involvement of social sources, otherwise success will be questionable.

5. Introduction (..cont) • Religion is a potential social resource. • it can perform an significant role against AIDS. • From ancient time religion play important role through beliefs, education and practices to develop human and social foundation.

6. Introduction (..cont) The dawn of modern science in the seventeenth century started revolutionary over reactions to religion and its repressive traditional values and using secularization to implement new world view.

7. Introduction (..cont) • The secularization turned the world view upside down. • The new big picture accepts no sanctity for anything, claiming free man from religious control. • The sex become amoralized, commercialized and practiced in any form without the feeling of evil doing, sin or guilt.

8. Introduction (..cont) • The secularization turned the world view upside down. • The new big picture accepts no sanctity for anything, claiming free man from religious control. • The sex become amoralized, commercialized and practiced in any form without the feeling of evil doing, sin or guilt.

9. Introduction (..cont) • Religion has lost its past influence due to two main reasons. One is pluralism and the occurrence of many other social institutions. The other is the failure of religious institutes to understand changing societies. • Now religion has been left mostly with ceremonial roles without much substantive meanings to society

10. Introduction (..cont) To regain the influences of religious teachings like in the past, it requires the integration approach with science AIDS is a test case for an integrated approach

11. What is Religion? • A specific fundamental set of belief and practice generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sections • The body of persons adhering to a particular set of belief and practices • Concern over what exits beyond the visible world.

12. What is Religion?(..cont) It operates through faith and intrusion rather than reason and generally including the idea of the existence of a single being, a group of beings, an eternal principle or a transcendent spiritual entity that has created the intervenes occasionally in the natural course of its history as well as the the idea that ritual, prayer, spiritual are expedient, due or spiritually rewarding or arise naturally out of the inner need as a human response to the belief in a such a being, principles etc.

13. World Population by Religion

14. What is Religion?(..cont) • In the past religion concentrated mostly in preaching. • the human perception and behavior are influenced by changing modern world, preaching no longer works as before. • religion needs to be meaningful in the changing world through developing new communication.

15. Religion and AIDS the conflict between religious teaching and values and the measures used to control the epidemic have still remained and controversies continuing

16. Religion and AIDS (..cont) There is a deep concern within the religious establishments that the recognition and publicizing of activities like supplying of condoms, facilities for exchanging of used needles and syringe, legalizing prostitute etc.

17. Religion and AIDS(..cont) • More than any other disease in modern history, AIDS has interpreted in a profound way with religious doctrine and practice. • Gay AIDS patients yearn to return to religion but are alienated by the fear of its stern dictates against homosexuality.

18. Religion and AIDS(..cont) Introduction (..cont) to counter the AIDS problems, the religion must conceptualize AIDS in the context of its own language. If religion does not understand AIDS problems it can not be successful to fight against it .

19. Homosexuality and AIDS) • difference between those of who are heterosexual and those who are homosexual is in the nature of their natural sexual attraction. • Heterosexual are possessing a natural sexual attraction for the opposite sex. Homosexual people are by nature sexually attracted to the same sex

20. Homosexuality and AIDS (..cont) • True homosexualsare people with a natural sexual attraction to others of the same sex. • No amount of prayer, counselling, religious healing or deliverance can change their sexuality.

21. Homosexuality and AIDS (..cont) • Sexuality is an integral part of all of us, however it has developed. • No body choose their sexuality. • Sexuality is a given part of human nature. • Homosexuals do not choose their sexuality

22. Homosexuality and AIDS (..cont) • Most of the homosexual marriage • become disaster. • There is no way for true homosexuals to change their sexuality.

23. Homosexuality and AIDS(..cont) • Though some Gay went to the Church do offer themselves in the name of God. • no positive result, rather cause some homosexual people emotional damage like depression, even suicidal thinking.

24. Homosexuality and AIDS (..cont) research carried out on behaviour of lower mammals, showed that interfering with testosterone flow during critical stages in foetal development produced homosexual behaviour in the resulting male offspring.

25. Homosexuality and AIDS (..cont) another research found that when oestrogen was introduced into the bodies of homosexual men, this produced an ovulating hormone response whereas there was no such response in the heterosexual men.

26. Homosexuality and AIDS (..cont) Another research work suggests that the two major factors that determine sexuality are genetic make-up and foetal development in the womb. But the work is not yet complete

27. Role of Religion to Control and Management of AIDS • AIDS is spreading mostly through sexual behaviors and drug injection. • Religion could play role to modifying this negative behavior of the people not by condemnation, acceptable communication approach.

28. Role of Religion to Control and Management of AIDS(..cont) • Promotion of social compassion is one of the objectives of most religions. • Religion can play leading roles in showing and promoting compassion towards AIDS patients. • Religious leaders like Imam, Nun, Monks, Priest etc. should act as a counselors against AIDS.

29. Role of Religion to Control and Management of AIDS(..cont) • Still in most of the society religious leaders are well accepted. They can promote community organization. • If community are well organized they can deal with AIDS more effectively. • Community organization also needed for human , social and environmental development.

30. Role of Religion to Control and Management of AIDS(..cont) • There is no effective as well as cheap medical treatment for AIDS. • Spiritual healing can play great roles in many diseases. • Meditation has been found to induce happiness among cancer patients and many

31. Role of Religion to Control and Management of AIDS(..cont) • For AIDS patients Meditation therapy could be done so that they can end their life with peace, if not cure. • It is said that mediation can affect lymphocyte function and thus improve immune system against infectious diseases

32. AIDS and Islam • In Islam homosexual is forbidden both men and women and the deadly diseases(like AIDS) are regarded as punishment from the God for the sinners.

33. AIDS and Islam • In related to homosexual the Quran says “if two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish them both, if they repent and amend, leave them alone for God is off-returning, most merciful” (Q 4: 16).

34. AIDS and Islam (..cont) • “if any of your women are guilty of lewdness take the evidence of four (reliable) witness from amongst you against them, and if they testify confine them to houses until death do claim them, or God ordain for them some (other) way”. (Q4:15)

35. AIDS and Islam (..cont) • In Islam regarding the sexual desire it says -if the sexual desire is greater than a wife can bear, polygamy is permitted. But that should be prior permission of the wifeand the all wives must be equally justified.

36. AIDS and Islam (..cont) • Related to shameless act by the people, the Prophet Mohammed (SM) sayings (Hadith) “I seek refuge for you in God from the five things i.e when people begin to openly commit shameless acts, they will fall victims to a plague so horrible that their elders never have seen its equal of suffering it will bring…” All most all the people were destroyed during the time of Lot for committing shameful deeds like homosexual, now the people are behaving same, the history will have to repeat.

37. AIDS and Islam(..cont) • An Islamic philosopher says, do not blame the disease(AIDS) but do blame the people who misbehave. In fact the disease is given by God. Among the patients there are two groups the sinners and the innocent. The sinners are not only punished at this age by having disease(AIDS). God punished them many times in the past.

38. AIDS and Islam(..cont) • Disease (AIDS) not only affect the sinners but also the whole group. This is because the good people do not try to stop the sinners. • No matter how horrible the disease may be. The Prophet Mohammed(SM) said that all diseases can be cured if proper drug is applied. So there is hope to cure and stop spreading of AIDS.

39. Circumcision and AIDS • Circumcision is usually linked to culture or religion particularly among the Muslims. • Several studies have indicated that circumcised men are less likely to become infected with HIV than uncircumcised men. • it has been reported that there is a greater than eight-fold increased risk of HIV-1 infection for uncircumcised men

40. Circumcision and AIDS (..cont) • Circumcision is usually linked to culture or religion particularly among the Muslims. • Several studies have indicated that circumcised men are less likely to become infected with HIV than uncircumcised men. • In a prospective study, it has been reported that there is a greater than eight-fold increased risk of HIV-1 infection for uncircumcised men

41. Circumcision and AIDS (..cont) • Report of Washington Post, dated 11/7/2000 • A recent review of published studies regarding the male circumcision and HIV revealed that, - on average, circumcised men were half to be infected with HIV than that of uncircumcised men.

42. Circumcision and AIDS (..cont) • Circumcision involves the removal of the foreskin. • The foreskin provides a vulnerable portal of entry to HIV and other pathogens. • the highly vascularised prepuce contain a higher density of Langerhans cells- the primary target cells for sexual transmission of HIV

43. Circumcision and AIDS (..cont) • a study in Uganda also revealed that the overall infection rate among circumcised men is about half that of the uncircumcised men, in the subgroup of circumcised non-Muslims • It further indicates that religion could be a protective factor, perhaps because Muslim men may have fewer casual sex partners since they can have more than one wife, or because religious instruction emphasizes frequent washing, which could reduce viral transmission.

44. Christianity and AIDS • In Christianity , the homosexual is not accepted. • The oft-quoted passage from Leviticus on the death penalty for male homosexual intercourse is commonly quoted as the Biblical sources for the advent of modern AIDS epidemic.

45. Christianity and AIDS (..cont) • Some Bible scholars believe the story of Sodomy and Gomorrah (Gen.9) which condemn homosexuality, some believe not homosexuality, but rape. • Some scholars explain that Jesus said nothing about homosexuality but he said a great deal about faith, hope and love.

46. Christianity and AIDS (..cont) • Some Christian community to stand with the AIDS victims. “Christ’s commandment to love one another as He loves us”. • The church is called by God to assist those who are suffering from AIDS, to support them, to integrate them into wider community, to protest them against discriminatory policies and practices.

47. Christianity and AIDS(..cont) • Condom use as an AIDS prophylaxis become a sensitive issue • Church(Catholic) forbids the use of the condom as a contraceptives. So the Catholic Anti-AIDS Committee does not recommend it

48. Buddhism and AIDS • Buddha's main teaching revolved around the causes for human sufferings and the way to salvation from this suffering. • homosexuality is a willful violation of ‘natural’ (hetro) sexual conduct resulting from lack of ethical control over sexual impulses. Which is against the Buddhist ethical ideals of self control

49. Buddhism and AIDS (..cont) • true origin of AIDS is homosexuality. If there were no homosexuality the AIDS virus would not have arisen, or if there only sexual activity between man and woman, the AIDS virus would not have arisen. The human beings did not play according to the rules and so the matter became complicated. AIDS has become a grave danger to human beings.

50. Hinduism and AIDS • In Hinduism, peoples belief the role of Goddess or God for occurring diseases. Usually they call the Goddess as Amma (Mother-Goddess) of that disease such as Chicken box Amma, Plague Amma etc. • the AIDS Amma (Goddess of AIDS ) has been established to protect themselves from occurring of AIDS. The AIDS Goddess or Amma nearly in to the tradition of other diseases-inspired goddess.