When I was a little girl, probably 11, I sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the podium at Belmont Church to hear a special guest speaker, Tony Campolo. I was with my youth group traveling from Murfreesboro, TN to the big city of Nashville to hear this famous minister. We had front row seats.
I vividly remember Tony speaking above me because for one, he was showering the kids up front with a little spittle every time he said a stopped consonant. But, all kidding aside, I also remember that Tony had a radical sermon of agape love for those who were victims of HIV/AIDS that evening.
The tension in the room was palpable, especially among the evangelical adults. Tony was calling us to rethink our role with the gay community and to choose to open our arms to those fighting HIV/AIDS. In the late 80s, on the back of a decade when Christians and our government had shunned the community, this was almost an unthinkable sermon, calling the virus a punishment for the crime of homosexuality. Tony, of course, had an alternate teaching: love your neighbor.
I have carried this sermon, one among thousands I cannot remember, with me, and I owe my career perhaps to his calling that evening. He inspired me, even then, to begin thinking critically about my faith, my church’s teachings, and the framework of theology around me. I began to have deep sociological, psychological, and exegetical questions about the church and scripture. Eventually, I sought to untangle these questions through religion degrees at the university. This primed me to be ready to be a leader in a campaign called the Heart of America Tour in 2002 with Bono leading the way.
As a backpack-carrying twenty-something activist seeking a PhD in religion and a temp job at Thomas Nelson Publishers, I co-edited a book, The aWAKE Project: Uniting Against the African AIDS Crisis, pulling together authors from Nelson Mandela to Franklin Graham. All aligned to say that this virus was hollowing out the continent of Africa, and we needed to join forces to stop the pandemic killing millions. I wound up being asked in 2003 to lead the faith outreach nationally for Bono’s organization, DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa).
This was the beginning of my 22-year career fighting systemic poverty issues, including the infectious diseases pandemics of AIDS, TB, and Malaria.
With strong leadership from the Christian music community, pastors like Rick and Kay Warren, writers like Max Lucado, and teachers like Tony Campolo, Evangelical leaders took a stand in the early aught’s during the Bush Administration to advocate for what has become President George W. Bush’s legacy legislations: PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria.
Newsflash. To date, PEPFAR has saved more than 25 million lives and prevented millions of HIV infections. And the multilateral Global Fund has saved more than 59 million lives around the world.
It worked. The programs worked. We didn’t know that 22 years ago, but we do now on this side of the progress. We are on the path to end the triple pandemics of AIDS, TB, and Malaria by 2030. We know how to do it, but we need the political will from American people of faith to see this through.
The Global Fund has led the way to cutting by 55% the number of deaths from HIV/AIDS and has cut in half the deaths from TB and Malaria. By Half! This is epic. This is historic. This is Biblical. Our generation will be remembered for this greatness, where charity has married with medical science to save the lives of the world’s poorest.
America has led the world in giving to this lifesaving program, and we have enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress even amid polemic, divided times.
Yet, even when we are in the last 10K of this marathon to end these pandemics, I find that the church has turned inward, navel gazing, deciding that their local siloed efforts supersede their interest in supporting life-giving mechanisms an ocean away. Many have succumbed to the Make America Great Again philosophy and mantra of our former president.
In 2024, I find it harder than ever to inspire and activate pastors across the U.S. to care about vulnerable communities globally, moms and babies namely, who are victims of disease that costs less than a $1 to treat. A mosquito bite, a cold, diarrhea—these are the top killers of children worldwide.
Perhaps because of this inward focus, this is the first year that Republicans have hijacked PEPFAR Reauthorization, not allowing it to pass, spreading misinformation that the program allowed for abortions (of course, this program doesn’t have anything to do with family planning). In spite of this campaign, the funding passed in the latest omnibus funding bill with a one-year short term reauthorization.
More backlash may be in store.
Many evangelical leaders tell me these days that they don’t want to alarm their congregants by being “too political” and getting involved in advocacy. They worry they will “scare off” the “seekers,” and thus they need to not be a part of championing legislation to fight systemic poverty globally. This, of course, is a misunderstanding.
Advocacy for the world’s poorest to fight infectious disease is not about politics, it is about policy. This is a fight on both sides of the aisle, no matter which party is in office. This is about following the advice of King Lemuel’s mother in Proverbs 30: “Speak up for those who do not have a voice, for the rights of all who are destitute…defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
The 2030 Collaborative will continue to march forward, advocating for that less than 1% of the U.S. budget which goes to International Aid, saving the lives of millions through programs like PEPFAR and the Global Fund. We are optimistic that enough good people of America will continue the work of advocacy to keep these programs strong until we end these pandemics.
But, more than ever, we need leaders of faith, like Tony Campolo did in 1988, to reframe the parable of the Good Samaritan and question the definition of neighbor, carrying the torch forward to finish the race.
If you would like to join our advocacy letter and our Faith-Based Coalition for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, we welcome you to send your name, title, and organization by emailing [email protected].
