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| Date Posted |
October 08, 2010 |
| News Title |
Heading the Call to Confront AIDS |
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By Calvin O. Butts III
It is not necessarily a bad thing that everyone is talking about the recent allegations concerning Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia.
I am not referring to the gossip and speculation about whether Long had improper sexual relations with four young men of his congregation. That has yet to be determined, and we should give him the presumption of innocence.
What I am talking about is the fierce debate that has emerged about how the black church deals with human sexuality.
We all know that same-sex relationships exist in the church. We certainly have the right to our own scripturally based beliefs on the matter, but we should not deny, sweep under the rug, or be afraid to talk about it. We must deal with it.
We must be in the forefront of addressing all issues involving human sexuality that conflict with custom, tradition and beliefs within the faith-based community. In fact, some of the worst problems often involve sexual behavior among heterosexuals. Failure to deal with the broader issues of human sexuality, including homosexuality, is particularly hazardous because of AIDS. HIV and AIDS are ravaging the black community, and every individual and every institution, including the church — especially the church — must deal with it.
Those of us who hold ministerial positions have the responsibility to talk about unsafe sexual practices and encourage testing for HIV and AIDS. We must foster an atmosphere where church members do not feel stigmatized nor discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.
We must also raise awareness within our congregations that HIV/AIDS is not a gay disease. While AIDS remains strongly persistent within the gay populace, it has spread. We cannot run from statistics showing that the rising number of people with AIDS is not only men having sex with men, but includes a growing percentage of women and teens. We must confront “down low” behavior, as well as the increasing number of formerly incarcerated HIV-positive black men returning to our communities.
A study released in July by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a strong link between AIDS and income. In fact, the CDC report states that heterosexuals living below the poverty line are five times as likely as the nation’s general population to be HIV-positive. That study only told us what we already knew — AIDS is devastating the black community. Blacks are 12 percent of the population but half of new HIV infections.
It has been said that until the black community comes to grips with the broader issues of human sexuality, the AIDS epidemic is not going to subside.
In 2007, the organization that I chair, the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, brought together clergy, medical experts, community leaders and elected officials in a conclave to develop an agenda to fight HIV/AIDS. I believe that the current state of HIV and AIDS in our communities again calls for similar action — a conference on human sexuality. I recently announced that my church, the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York, would co-host it.
This conference would serve a similar purpose as the conclave, which resulted in the National Black Clergy for the Elimination of HIV/AIDS Act of 2009. Among other measures, the legislation calls on the president of the United States to declare HIV/AIDS an epidemic in the black community; directs the federal Department of Health and Human Services to make grants to public health agencies and faith-based organizations to conduct outreach programs for HIV/AIDS testing and prevention; and calls for expanded educational activities targeting black women, youth and men having sex with men.
I fully understand that discussions in the black church about human sexuality, including homosexuality and other sexual behaviors, can be either divisive or constructive. I intend for them to be the latter.
If we take our guidance on sexual matters from the Bible, then what better institution than the church to lead the way in finding solutions.
The Rev. Calvin O. Butts III is pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York, chairman of the board of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and president of SUNY College at Old Westbury.
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