spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

is clear how HIV/AIDS is linked to the spiritual realm, moral behavior is centralized, the
doctrine of salvation is being redefined, and social groups are empowered by Pentecostal
churches to address the pandemic. These elements will be explored in the following paragraphs,
because they play a crucial role in African Pentecostal constructions of AIDS.
Perhaps the most characterizing feature of Pentecostal conceptualizations of HIV/AIDS is the
localizing of illness in the spiritual realm. Adogame (2007:478) observed that “African
Pentecostals employ an indigenous hermeneutic of spiritual power but cast it within new
conceptual frames of reference”. The African indigenous perception of health as a person’s state
of being in which (benevolent) spirits are actively involved, has been transformed under the
influence of Christianity: spirits are now by definition malevolent spirits who want to harm
human beings. The only refuge for human beings is the benevolent power of God, but there is an
ongoing warfare between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, and if the human being
fails to be vigilant, he or she might become the victim of spiritual demonic attacks. This means
that illness (and everything else that opposes health and wealth) emanates from the power of the
devil. In African Pentecostalism, HIV/AIDS has become the personification of demon spirits,
HIV-infected people are the victims of spiritual battles, and HIV prevention programs are
permeated with the warfare motif (Smith 2004:429; Adogame 2007:478; Asamoah-Gyadu
2007:311; Attanasi 2008:205).
In accordance with the construction on health being something to be protect from the evil powers
of the devil is the focus on spiritual vigilance as an important part of HIV prevention. Christian
morality is perceived as a shield against infection and illness, for a moral life will ward off the
actions of the devil. Immoral behavior, on the other hand, means that one becomes easy prey for
spiritual demonic attacks. Abstinence before marriage (or even ‘secondary abstinence’ for those
who become born-again Christians at a later stage in their life), and faithfulness in marriage are
so vigorously promoted that they have become paramount to Christian morality in the context of
HIV/AIDS. The ABC approach (Abstinence, Be faithful, and Christ) is the core of the
Pentecostal prevention discourse, despite severe criticism by those who think the ABC approach
is too moralistic, naïve and simplistic to be effective in the reduction of HIV infections. Their
main argument is that such an approach narrows HIV/AIDS down to a sexual disease, and it
obscures the complexity of political, economical, social and gender aspects of the pandemic
(Garner 2000; Smith 2004; Sadgrove 2007; Parsitau 2009). Moreover, the ABC approach may
paradoxically contribute to risky behavior of adolescent Pentecostal believers. The idea that
born-again Christians are safe from HIV-infection, and therefore do not need to use a condom
(with its insinuation of infidelity), creates a real obstacle in the process of personal risk
108