Religious Leaders: Churches Should be ‘Nonjudgmental’ about Behavior That Transmits HIV

(CNSNews.com) – Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that labeling sex outside of marriage as sinful or having multiple partners as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.”

At a telephone news conference in advance of World AIDS Day, AIDS activist groups and representatives of various religious groups said that counseling teens and others to be abstinent and restricting sex to marriage just isn’t “realistic,” and called on churches and the incoming Obama administration to deal with HIV/AIDS in a “truthful” and “medically accurate way.”

The Rev. Michael Schuenemeyer, executive for health and wholeness advocacy in the national offices of the United Church of Christ, said the church should be “nonjudgmental” when it comes to HIV/AIDS – and cited a recent workshop he attended as an example of how the Church should act.

“The young people in that workshop were so grateful that faith leaders were willing to be real with them, create a safe space for them to ask questions – to share their views, experiences and ideas, and to provide them with value-based, medically accurate information, along with the tools for making healthy and responsible decisions,” he said.

The religious leader called on churches and “faith perspectives” not to engage in what he called “stigma” and “discrimination” – and appealed to Christian tradition to make his point.

“(Jesus) sent his disciples out to heal the sick, and he encouraged people of faith to be alert and ready, saying, ‘If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into,’” Schuenemeyer said.

“In terms of HIV, we already know how HIV breaks into the body and robs the immune system of its capacity to respond to disease,” he added. “But too many people, young and old, are not effectively prepared with the information and tools they need to prevent an infection.”

But Schuenemeyer balked when CNSNews.com asked why religious groups shouldn’t label risky behavior the way religion has traditionally regarded it -- as immoral.

CNSNews.com: Let me ask you this: Outside of medical accidents -- like blood transfusions or children born to HIV-positive mothers -- is it possible for an unmarried person to contract HIV without basically someone committing an immoral act?

Rev. Michael Schuenemeyer, United Church of Christ: I think your question exemplifies why we are struggling with stigma and discrimination in our culture, because it betrays a bias about what is moral and immoral. So, I think we’ need to take a public health approach; we need to be nonjudgmental when we speak to people and we need to make sure people have accurate information.

Stigma and discrimination keeps people from getting the information that they need. It’s often fear-based. And when people are faced with judgment they don’t get what they need to respond effectively. So I think we need to take much more of a public health approach for their concern.

It’s not about whether people are engaging in moral or immoral acts, that’s a personal judgment that is being made. It’s about realizing what behaviors cause transmission and preventing those behaviors.

CNSNews.com: Isn’t ‘having multiple partners’ one of the major causes or routes for acquiring HIV, and doesn’t your religion label that as promiscuity or immorality? Shouldn’t religions counsel against sexual immorality?

Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service, did proffer an answer, and acknowledged that CNSNews.com’s questions weren’t “inappropriate” – but nevertheless dismissed them.

“None of that has anything to do with what, as far as I know, all of the world’s religions share -- and that is to meet the needs of the people in any form of economic and physical distress for any reason,” Messinger told CNSNews.com.

Messinger said labeling behavior as sinful was “an issue back in the history of HIV/AIDS in America” – way back in the early ‘80s.

“There was an early effort in this country to sort of suggest that how you contracted the virus would determine whether or not you got treatment -- and where,” she said.

“I think all secular groups, all service organizations, and all religious organizations have moved beyond that,” she added.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control, in 2005, in the United States, 73 percent of new infections occurred in males -- 45 percent were in blacks and 53 percent were in men who have sex with men (MSM).

In 2006, a more detailed analysis found that 72 percent of the HIV infections among men occurred in MSM -- men who have homosexual sex.

Among females, the predominant HIV transmission category was high-risk heterosexual contact, which accounted for 80 percent of new infections among women.

Having sex with husbands and boyfriends who had had sex with men -- or women themselves having sex with multiple partners -- accounted for the overwhelming number of new HIV infections among women.

Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that labeling sex outside of marriage as sinful or having multiple partners as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.”

1. Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that worshipping a GOD other than Jehovah as sinful or as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.”

2. Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that making a graven image as sinful or as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.”

3. Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that taking the name of YHWH in vain as sinful or as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.”

4. Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that breaking the Sabbath as sinful or as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.”

5. Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that dishonoring your parents as sinful or as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.”

6. Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that killing that slug who offends you as sinful or as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.”

7. Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that humping your neigbor's wife/husband as sinful or as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.”

8. Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that labeling taking someone else's stuff as sinful or as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.”

9. Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that lying in court as sinful or as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.”

10. Religious leaders and AIDS activists told CNSNNews.com Tuesday that lusting after your bubbies new boat as sinful or as immoral behavior is “biased” – something society has “moved beyond.”

indulgence, instead of abstinence;
vital existence, instead of spiritual pipe dreams;
undefiled wisdom, instead of hypocritical self-deceit;
kindness to those who deserve it, instead of love wasted on ingrates;
vengeance, instead of turning the other cheek;
responsibility to the responsible, instead of concern for psychic vampires;
man as just another animal…more often worse than those that walk on all fours, who because of his divine spiritual and intellectual development, has become the most vicious animal of all;
all of the so-called sins, as they lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification;
Satan is the best friend the Church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years.

Religious Leaders: Churches Should be ‘Nonjudgmental’ about Behavior That Transmits HIV

Alrighty then!!!

Genesis 13:13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

Genesis 18:20-21
20. Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21. that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

Genesis 19:4-7
4. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.
5. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
6. Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
7. and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.

Psalms 12:8 The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.

Ain't this just FABULOUS?? More?

Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.

2 Peter 2:13b Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.

Ezekiel 16:49-50
49. "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
50. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

2 Peter 2

1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
3. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5. if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6. if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7. and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8. (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9. if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11. yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.

But there IS hope!!!

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape.....

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