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Inter-faith forum on combating AIDS through religion |
| Jan 19 2009 |
December 28, 2008
PENANG: The Community AIDS Service, Penang (CASP) organised an inter-faith forum on Combating AIDS through religion on Nov 22 at the Kompleks Masyarakat Penyayang.
YB Ravindram Subramaniam, MP for Batu Uban was very concerned with children infected by AIDS. He said that sometimes parents tend to alienate their children who have AIDS. No religion, he said, would want parents to alienate their children. Therefore, he said, religions should play a part in helping parents not to alienate their children.
He also said that it is important that AIDS awareness is brought to the school. This is to instill the awareness in children at a young age.
The first speaker at the forum was Thirumurthy Kolandai, the Honorary Secretary of Hindu Sangam Penang Branch who read out passages from the Hindu scriptures touching on the transcendental soul and how it is connected to life.
Next to speak was Shila Kaur, Regional Health Officer at the International Federation Of Red Cross for East Asia. She represented the Sikh faith.
Shila started off by saying that HIV/AIDS is a ‘democratic’ disease as it does not look at whether you are a man, child, homosexual or heterosexual. She said that the Sikh faith teaches that all men are equal, no matter what condition/situation they are in, therefore one should not take on a moral high ground to ostracise HIV/AIDS victims.
She said that religion is a prescription on how to live a healthy lifestyle, and if one is to follow the code of conduct set by religions, one can learn to be healthy.
Br Gregory Chan, a lawyer, who is now a Seminarian, spoke from Christianity’s perspective.
Chan felt very touched by how the patients live despite their conditions. He stressed that as caregivers, they were there not to prepare them to die but to help them continue living.
Chan pointed out that the Christian faith basically rests on these two dimensions — love of God and love of neighbour. “When we have the assurance of the love of God, we will then tend to love our neighbour,” he said.
He used the example of the Good Samaritan, to bring up his point on how people should treat HIV/AIDS victims. Being a neighbour, he said, is to treat everyone the same, no matter who they are.
The parable of the Adulterous Woman was used as an example of not being judgemental. He said that just as Jesus did not condemn the adulterous woman, we too should not condemn the HIV/AIDS victims.
“To combat AIDS,” he said, “We must learn to combat ourselves — by looking deep within ourselves — see how we understand AIDS the disease.” He ended with a though-provoking phrase — when we deny the HIV/AIDS victims their humanity, we become inhuman.
Oo Khaik Thea, a Buddhist from the Pure Lotus of Compassion Hospice & Hospice Pulau Pinang spoke next.
Oo touched a lot on the mind. He said that to have compassion, one must also have wisdom - the wisdom to think for oneself, for example on the real meaning of charity.
“For us to show our good and positive qualities,” he said, “we must first cultivate all those qualities in our mind.” He also said that unconditional love, ‘pure meta love’ to the Buddhists must be totally non-judgmental and one should not only feel the sympathy but also the empathy.
He stressed that the mind is very important — that’s why the Buddhists stressed a lot on meditation. How one looks at things comes from the mind, he said, and consequences follow from how you think. He thus advised people to develop their mental state through meditation.
Dr Wan Nor Bt Hassan, a medical doctor in USM, talked about what Islam forbids. She also mentioned that in Islam, liquor and drug addiction are the major ‘masters of mischief’, which in one way or another, contribute to the spread of AIDS.
“As Islam is merciful and compassionate,” she said, “we do not only care for those who are infected but we also see to the prevention of AIDS.”
She said that Islam encourages prevention. If one were to follow the Islamic way of life AIDS can be avoided.
She ended with the quote, “Have compassion to the one on earth, and the one beyond will have compassion on you.”
— By Lucia Lai
Last changed: Jan 19 2009 at 5:21 PM
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