HIV/AIDS Looking To Black Churches
Last night (7/23/2008) on CNN, Soledad O’Brien hosted a segment called Black in America. Part One addressed Black women and the family and tonight, 7/24/2008, Part Two will address Black men. Several issues were presented during this 2 hour presentation and at moments I was in tears. The portion of the presentation addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic within the Black community was most intriguing to me. Some may say HIV/AIDS have become “a Black disease.” Certainly we all know that HIV/AIDS doesn’t have a color, but for some reason Blacks outnumber many other races when discussing this disease.
Often times the Black community looks to Black churches to help untangle the horrifying studies of HIV/AIDS cases. People want to know what they can do to help people who are directly affected. Many leaders within the church will establish programs to help educate young people about sex. Some programs aren’t favored within the churches. People have mentioned that talking about sex in the church is dismissing abstinence before marriage policy or encouraging young people to have sex. But the reality is we need comprehensive sex education.
Growing up within the Washington, DC-Metropolitan area, I’ve listened to the way preachers overlook or circle around HIV/AIDS. Last night on Black in America, Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas mentioned the struggles pastors face when discussing secular issues within the church. According to scripture, abstinence-only education is favored, but the reality is people are still engaging in sex, especially unprotected sex. I valued the opinion of Bishop Jakes, he mentioned (and I paraphrase) “the Bible teachings are ideal, but we also must teach reality.”
In essence, I long for the day when more pastors, ministers, bishops, apostles, or people of the clergy are not afraid to address issues directly affecting the Black community. Black churches are an avenue of influence within the Black community. There are some Black people that tithe (10% of income given to the church) because they were told God said it. So, when will more Black churches address the HIV/AIDS epidemic? Or better yet, when will more Black churches address sexuality?
Click here to watch a small portion from the CNN Special, Black in America (please watch the video “Genes may increase HIV risk,” for more info).
July 25th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Ashley,
Thanks for your thoughtful post. The issue of sexuality in the church is one that needs to be addressed in more public conversations like this one. My organization, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice does a lot of work to raise these issues in religious communities. Specifically, we do a lot with the Black church community through our Black Church Initiative. You can learn more about what we’ve been doing to add to discussions about sexuality and HIV/AIDS in the Black church community at http://www.bci-RCRC.org. There were also some recent pieces on the issue in RHReality check, which you can read here: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/tag/national-black-religious-summit-sexuality
Thanks so much for your post, and for lending your voice to this important issue. Keep up the great work!