During the age of AIDS, only little more than 30 years ago now, HIV/AIDS always meant an automatic death sentence. Gays were the usual victims. (At least in this country. In Africa, HIV is more of a heterosexual thing. In places like South America, it can affect both sexualities, more or less equally.) No, conservative Christians in this country said. It's God's wrath. Or why else would it happen and only affect that group? A slow painful death for anal sex? Okay. (I mean what if they committed genocide or torture? Whatever.) Actually, it did affect hemophiliacs with HIV/AIDS before the IgG antibody test was developed in 1985. Well, Jehovah's Witnesses would say, God is punishing them for using blood products. Well, women who were raped by HIV-positive men got it too. Well, they dressed too provocatively then, Christians might say. I mean, there still was the phenomenon of needlesticks. People in the health care industry were treating AIDS patients. And when they drew blood or gave them an injection, they'd accidentally poke themselves with the hypodermic needle. What did they do to deserve death? Actually, the Bible does say disease is caused by demons. We are supposed to use exorcism to heal it. NOT modern medicine. And the Bible also says disease is caused by human moral decay. So there.
