Sex, politics, and religion: why AIDS is a secular issue.

In this issue Rabbi Spira and Dr. Wainberg remind us of religious ethical imperatives that demand universal access to HIV treatment internationally. But who will pay? According to whose needs and whose means? They state that both the needs and the means are shared and should be addressed on a societal level. HIV treatment is a fragment of wider secular issues. Religious ethics may instruct policy-making but this must be kept a secular process to address the needs of all. When you are unsure of your company we used to be taught there are three unsafe topics to be avoided in polite dinner conversation: sex politics and religion. In each area opinions and beliefs may be as divergent as they are strongly held. The more we discuss the less anything or anybody may change. And you never know who may be offended. So better to talk about the weather--we can still disagree nothing changes and everything is done without offending someone we do not know yet. (excerpt)