As the 2012 International AIDS Conference continues this week in Washington DC, Franklin Graham shared in a blog post his thoughts on how the Church should act toward those infected with the life-threatening disease.
According to Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse, the Church should not condone premarital or extramarital sex, but it should show compassion toward victims of the disease.
In a blog written for The Washington Post on Monday, Graham says those who have contracted HIV or AIDS are often "shunned" and treated like those with leprosy were treated in Bible times.
"Yet, Jesus reached out to them, touched them, loved them, and healed them. This is the perfect representation of how the church should respond to people living with HIV/AIDS," Graham said, according to the blog.
Samaritan's Purse has been working with those affected by the disease since the 1980s, and Graham praised government officials who have recognised the church as a valuable resource in the fight against it.
In particular Graham mentioned George W Bush, whose President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief allowed faith-based organisations like Samaritan's Purse to participate in offering special health programmes.
Beginning with PEPFAR, Graham said, Samaritan's Purse has provided 1.25 million people with information about preventing the spread of HIV and has also provided HIV testing and counselling to about 2,000 people.
The best way for a person to avoid contracting the disease, Graham says, is by not having sex outside the context of a monogamous marital relationship between a man and a woman. In addition, he says, sex outside of biblical marriage is contrary to "God's standards".
