I think the article below belongs to here. It seems that Bono has spoken on the issue.
The People
2nd March, 2003
Bono Blasts Christians' AIDS Stance
By Eamonn O'Hanlon
Bono has sparked fury across America's Bible Belt after he
accused church leaders of ignoring the plight of millions of African
AIDS victims.
He claimed Christians were being encouraged to turn a blind eye to
the crisis by preachers with little understanding of the disease.
The U2 star told U.S. magazine Christianity Today that while he
remained deeply committed to God, he was appalled by the
churches' response to AIDS.
"Somewhere in the back of the religious mind is this idea that
people with AIDS have reaped what they sowed."
"There is a kind of sense that these people, well, they got it
because they deserve it. The crisis has brought out the best in the
church -- but if we are honest it has also brought out the worst," he
claimed.
The Dubliner made his comments as part of his on-going crusade of behalf of the 28 million people who are HIV-positive across Africa.
He has already had talks on possible relief measures with a host of world leaders including U.S. President George Bush and Pope John Paul II.
Bono claims an extra $10 billion a year from the world's wealthiest nations would buy enough antiretroviral drugs to prevent 10 million new AIDS infections.
He said it was vital church groups put prejudices aside and woke up to the appalling scale of suffering.
He claimed traditional Christian teaching was bring turned on its head, with AIDS victims regarded with less compassion than fraudsters and conmen.
"There should be civil disobedience on this," he told the magazine.
"Million of children and millions of lives are being lost to greed, to bureaucracy, and to a church that has been asleep. It sends me out of my mind with anger.
"This is why I am doing this interview -- to implore the church to reconsider grace, to put an end to this hierarchy of sin.
"All have fallen short. Let's stop throwing stones at people who've made mistakes in their life, and let's start throwing drugs."
Christianity Today -- widely read in America's deep south -- attacked Bono's comments in a toughly-worded editorial which accused him of hypocrisy.
"Bono's full-throated judgments on the church prompt this question: Just how would he know?" the magazine said.
It claimed he had barely been inside a church since the 1980s and was himself ignoring years of relief work undertaken by U.S. missionaries in Africa.
"God may very well be using Bono to challenge the conscience of American evangelicals.
"It is well within God's frequently evident sense of humour to use a
brash rock star in the causes of justice and mercy," said tbe
magazine.
"If that is so, we hope that God also uses this time to draw Bono
into a deeper sense of what it means to be a Christian."
? News Group Newspapers Ltd., 2003.
Anyone know which companies we're talking about, perchance?
