Anthony Petro After The Wrath Of God Analysis

After the Wrath of God demonstrates that, following the culture wars of the 1960s and 1970s, American religious groups used the AIDS crisis to promote Christian morality. Anthony Petro argues that Christians who feared the downfall of American morality painted AIDS as an “epidemic [that] provided divine evidence for God’s sexuality morality” (197). Petro’s focus on anti-gay religion during the first 15 years of the AIDS crisis, unfortunately, takes attention away from figures who had a positive approach to AIDS, such as Southern Baptists who “presented accurate…medical facts” (38-9). By concentrating on evangelical and Catholic “actors and organizations that exerted national influence,” Petro aims to tell the story of religious reactions to AIDS outside of the Christian Right (16).
A first impression of After the Wrath of God suggests it will show compassionate religious reactions, but it ultimately argues that the most outspoken groups blamed AIDS on immorality and only concerned themselves with the elimination of homosexuality.
Petro’s deconstruction of morality, citizenship, and religion is After the Wrath of God’s most instructive section. Through Foucauldian theory, Petro explains that American evangelical and Catholic groups regarded morality as “a standard…defined in advance [which] people are measured against,” such as biblical morality,
as opposed to a morality “deduced from the population itself” (5). Petro also examines moral citizenship, the idea that a citizen is a “recognized part of a national community,” and its power to place gay Americans outside society (7). Petro argues that these ideas of morality and citizenship allowed outspoken evangelicals and Catholics to execute a strong and fast moral response to AIDS while delaying or avoiding medical solutions.
At the height of the AIDS crisis, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop released his 1986 Report on AIDS. It “detailed how HIV was transmitted and candidly discussed drug use and sexuality” along with promotions of condoms and sex education (55). The media, public, and other evangelicals misinterpreted Koop’s personal stance to be pro-sex education and pro-contraceptive. By analyzing Koop’s background and public statements during the mid-1980s, particularly in Christianity Today and Understanding AIDS, Petro demonstrates that the report did not reflect Koop’s beliefs, but his obligation to public health. Petro argues that Koop’s public statements following the report not only highlight his opposition to homosexuality, but contributed to an “economy of blame” placed on gay men and sex workers (84). Despite his evangelical beliefs, Koop operated in the best interest of public health, a method not echoed by other religious figures during the crisis.
In the late 1980s, The United States Catholic Conference approved two pamphlets; the pro-prevention Many Faces (1987) and the conservative Called to Compassion (1989). As with the Surgeon General’s Report on AIDS, the public applauded Many Faces for its promotion of condom use and sex education. However, Cardinal John O’Connor, an outspoken pro-lifer who served on Reagan’s Commission on HIV, became a symbol for anti-gay Catholicism and disavowed the pamphlet. It’s quick replacement, Called to Compassion, concentrated on morality by ignoring the “shifting demographics of the AIDS crisis,” disavowing needle exchange programs, and condemning homosexual relationships (132). Petro falls short in his aim to use O’Connor as a unifying figure in his analysis of the Catholic response. As with Koop, Petro describes O’Connor’s opposition to abortion and gay rights, context for his actions during the crisis, but the high number of Catholic figures and their opposing opinions overshadow O’Connor. Nevertheless, O’Connor opposed prevention and reinforced the idea that immorality caused HIV, a position that later put him at odds with AIDS activists.
Petro’s final chapter turns away from religious groups and toward AIDS activists. In 1989, ACT UP staged a protest outside Cardinal O’Connor’s Cathedral in response to his stance on abortion, gay rights, and morality. Petro argues that while ACT UP has been examined in terms of race and gender by scholars such as Long, Dorf, and Stockdill, religion has not been considered. Interestingly, Petro concludes that due to ACT UP’s high number of religious members, the presence of Jesus on their protest signs, and possible dissatisfaction with modern religion, Stop the Church was a religious protest. Unfortunately, the protestor’s extreme actions led to negative portrayals in the media and, in Petro’s opinion, lost them the “sympathies of historical representation” (184). It is clear the Petro attempts to define ACT UP as a religious organization in order to compare and contrast it with evangelical and Catholic groups, but unfortunately this argument is not as compelling.
After the Wrath of God is an accessible analysis of religious and LGBT reactions to the AIDS crisis.
It easily communicates the origins of religious ideas regarding sexuality and morality, and the growth of religion in American politics (both conservative and liberal). Anthony Petro demonstrates that evangelicals and Catholics ignored health in order to promote their ideas of morality, while AIDS activists fought for inclusion and acceptance. The position of these religious leaders, whether in government or the church, allowed their arguments to influence American ideas of morality; ideas that are still prevalent
today.