Mercury in New Haven, CT at a WPLR Show. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Relaxing a bit after the Berlin Gala, I watch with interest a TV production about 40 years of the rock band “Queen”. Central to the story is obviously the life and death of Freddie Mercury – singer and song writer of the band. The life of a genius musician cut short through the HI virus. And there is the sudden realization, how much HIV and AIDS has robbed human mankind of the development of art and culture. As St. Paul writes about creation still ongoing, there is surely to consider that HIV might have disturbed creation in cutting down the potential in human beings to become in a lifetime what they were supposed to be. Or is the HIV pandemic part of creation, part of it laying still in labor?
As God and creation are connected, it makes more sense to talk about the body of Christ having AIDS, being in pain and suffering. And even if in Europe HIV is not that much connected to suffering, death and dying any more – worldwide millions of lives are cut short by this virus. The suffering, the stigma, the discrimination continues despite all successes in treatment. And theological, there is still so much more to learn and develop and put into our teaching than we have done before. The climate within my church has changed – at least it is allowed again to think without fear – it would be great to use this time of spring to see, what else HIV and AIDS can tell our theology.
Related articles
- Queen drummer Roger Taylor: I didn’t realise how special Freddie was.. now I think about him every day (dailyrecord.co.uk)
- Freddie Mercury: Out on Stage, Brown in the Closet (pakhlavanews.wordpress.com)
Filed under: Catholic Church, General, HIV and AIDS, Reflection, Religion and Ethics, Aids, ART, church, culture, death, discrimination, Freddie Mercury, health, hiv, HIV and AIDS, HIV/AIDS, roman catholic church, stigma, Theology
God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE 