The pastors told the individuals they were healed by God through an exorcism-like process. According to the NY Daily News, a pastor at the wealthy televangelist Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN), told an undercover Sky News reporter (who is HIV positive) that they have a 100% success rate. He even tells people who continue to experience symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea that these are signs of the virus leaving the body.
According to the Sky News investigation, as many as six individuals have died as a result of the churches’ guidance. Another man, Emmanuel, who stopped taking his medicine a year ago after being instructed by a pastor at his church in London, now believes he’s passed the infection on to his boyfriend.
“I feel guilty, if I’m the one who passed it onto him I’m feeling guilty. Yeah, very much guilty,” he told Sky News.
SCOAN, on the other hand, continues to defend and administer its treatment for the HIV virus, and other diseases.
I feel sorry for these victims. It’s easy to think they should have known better, but religion and religious leaders can have powerful control over people, especially when they’re desperate. It’s clear these churches are taking advantage of that desperation.
Posted: at | |