When it comes to combatting AIDS, doctors and clergy don't always see eye to eye. Physicians zero in on the virus that causes the scourge. Ministers tend to highlight the moral lapses--from social injustice to sexual behavior--that help spread the disease. They could be allies in combatting the epidemic, particularly in Africa where doctors are few and preachers many, but instead they often seem to work at cross-purposes, divided by mistrust and skeptical of one another's motives.
Enter Peter Okaalet, 52, a physician who decided in the late 1980s to go to seminary in an attempt to bridge the gap. From...