Doug Wilson Says ‘The HIV Virus Is Harmless’
“If by AIDS you mean that the HIV virus is present in your body, then I would refer you to the book Inventing the AIDS Virus by Peter Duesberg. It is quite possible that your situation does not warrant abstention from sex at all—but only because the HIV virus is harmless.”1 — Doug Wilson
OPINION: Ideas have consequences. In the mid-2000s, Peter Duesberg’s discredited claim that HIV does not cause AIDS led to tragic results in South Africa. An estimated three hundred thousand people died when President Thabo Mbeki embraced Duesberg’s theory and consequently “rejected offers of drugs and other forms of assistance to combat HIV infection in South Africa.”2 The harm extended beyond those who died, as an estimated thirty-five thousand children were born HIV-positive during this time—infections that could have been prevented with proper medical intervention.3 This is not a mere academic dispute—it is a stark reminder that when influential figures promote falsehoods, lives are at stake.
I first learned of Doug’s views on HIV from a fellow missionary who had served in an African country ravaged by AIDS and had witnessed the devastating impact firsthand. He told me he was “horrified and so angry” when he read Doug’s endorsement of Peter Duesberg’s debunked—and dangerous—claim. And rightly so.
When a minister of the gospel insists on promoting a disproven medical theory, they create a stumbling block for those they are called to serve (Romans 14:13). As proclaimers of the Truth, if we adhere to falsehoods in areas outside the revealed Word of God, our witness can be severely damaged. If a pastor believes something so clearly untrue on a temporal matter, why should anyone trust their message on eternal matters? This doesn’t mean that a pastor should never disagree with the medical establishment. However, I believe that a disagreement should stem from a clear conflict between God’s Word and medical conclusions—not merely from the pastor’s own medical expertise, or, as in Doug’s case, lack thereof.4
Because Doug has chosen to propagate this ill-informed advice for decades, there is a very real possibility that he has inadvertently caused the death of people who regard his views as authoritative. In doing so, I believe he has failed to meet the requirements for elders as laid out by Paul, that they must be “above reproach,” “respectable,” and “well thought of by those outside the faith” (1 Timothy 3:1–7, NET). The arrogance of holding such a position, knowing that if he were wrong it could result in the loss of lives, is beyond comprehension. The Holy Spirit says: “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion” (Proverbs 18:2, ESV). And Scripture also warns us of the heavy responsibility placed on those who teach: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1, NET).
Instead of taking strong positions on matters outside theology, pastors ought to rather leave those opinions and debates to experts in those fields, if only for the sake of not causing people to stumble, and thereby reject the gospel message because they have shown themselves to be untrustworthy in other areas of life. Our primary mission is making disciples for Christ (Matthew 28:18–20), and anything that gets in the way ought to be cast aside. As Paul wrote: “For since I am free from all I can make myself a slave to all, in order to gain even more people…I do all these things because of the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:19–23, NET).
My prayer is that Doug would recognize the weight of his words and the responsibility that comes with teaching and influencing others—that he would turn from presenting opinions as facts in matters beyond his expertise, and instead devote himself fully to proclaiming God’s Word and leading people to Christ, thereby removing the stumbling block he has placed before the gospel.
Want More Context?
Here are some links to other blogs and podcasts dealing with this and other issues in more depth:
https://bredenhof.ca/2023/07/03/doug-wilson-the-bad/
https://bredenhof.ca/2023/07/10/doug-wilson-the-ugly/
https://dougwilsonsays.com/blog/to-prevail-in-conflict-is-not-possible-without-deception/
https://rachelgreenmiller.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/a-question-for-wilson-fans/
https://kaeleytrillerharms.substack.com/p/pastor-doug-wilson-above-reproach
Footnotes
Footnotes
-
Douglas Wilson, Fidelity: How to Be a One-Woman Man, Canon Press, 2012, p.145, Kindle Edition. Doug wrote this in response to the question: “A few years after marrying my wife, I was diagnosed with AIDS. I must have contracted it during my pre-conversion promiscuous years. Does this mean I must abstain from sex with my wife for my lifetime? Doesn’t my wife have an obligation to satisfy me sexually, since her body is not her own?” In addition to the aforementioned quote, Doug also states: “First, the principle. What we have here are conflicting obligations. She does have an obligation to satisfy you sexually, but you have a greater obligation to protect and nourish her.” And after addressing a few more things, he closes with the quote featured in this post.
It appears Doug originally espoused this view in Credenda Agenda Volume 8, Issue 4, which was published around 1996 (no longer published): “According to the scientific method, HIV does not cause AIDS. The virus is a perfectly harmless passenger virus that does nothing more serious than to cause dementia in AIDS researchers.” https://web.archive.org/web/20140418163705/http://www.credenda.org/archive/issues/8-4exlibris.php
He continues to hold this view as he stated in 2018: “I have not yet been persuaded that Duesberg was wrong. But I would encourage married couples in the position you describe to read up on it, and I would encourage them to read both sides—Duesberg included.”
For more information on Duesberg’s debunked theory: https://web.archive.org/web/20241115175513/https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4326726/ https://web.archive.org/web/20240302201925/https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/if-letters-were-bullets.html ↩ -
“The Duesberg business might have ended as just another quirky theory defeated by research. The history of science is littered with such dead ends. In this case, however, a discredited idea nonetheless managed to capture the attention of a national leader, with deadly results. Thabo Mbeki, then the president of South Africa, seized on the idea that AIDS was caused not by a virus but by other factors, such as malnourishment and poor health, and so he rejected offers of drugs and other forms of assistance to combat HIV infection in South Africa. By the mid-2000s, his government relented, but not before Mbeki’s fixation on AIDS denialism ended up costing, by the estimates of doctors at the Harvard School of Public Health, well over three hundred thousand lives and the births of some thirty-five thousand HIV-positive children whose infections could have been avoided. Mbeki, to this day, thinks he was on to something” (Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters, Oxford University Press, 2017, p. 1, Kindle Edition).
For more information on Duesberg’s debunked theory: https://web.archive.org/web/20241115175513/https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4326726/ ↩ -
Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters, Oxford University Press, 2017, p. 1, Kindle Edition ↩
-
Doug has a B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy and a B.A. in Classical Studies from the University of Idaho (https://web.archive.org/web/20250213080125/https://nsa.edu/contributors/doug-wilson) ↩