JUAN WILLIAMS: In inner cities across the nation, AIDS is epidemic. And although African Americans make up only 13 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 57 percent of new AIDS infections. It is an epidemic about which the black church has been largely silent. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher.
Dr. DAVID SATCHER (U.S. Surgeon General): The church has had a problem because AIDS deals with two of the most sensitive areas in terms of religion, one of which is homosexuality and the other is substance abuse. Historically, the black church has had a lot of difficulty accepting homosexuality as something that happens to people who are human beings. Some people feel that AIDS is a punishment, that people get AIDS because it's a punishment for their sins.WILLIAMS: But things are beginning to change. In Detroit, for example, Rosalind Worthy runs a grassroots organization called Gospel Against AIDS, which is forcing black churches to wake up and do something about AIDS.
The Book of Hosea says, "My people were destroyed for a lack of knowledge." AIDS activist Rosalind Worthy believes that education starts at home. And for most Afro-Americans, that home is the church.
It is Sunday morning at the 1,000-member Mount Calvary Baptist Church on Detroit's East Side. And Rosalind Worthy, with her assistant Tiffany Oliver, waits to speak. Reverend Timothy Williams introduces her.Reverend TIMOTHY WILLIAMS (Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church): We're glad to have Sister Rosalind Worthy with us today of Gospel Against AIDS. Amen. Stand up, Sister Worthy.
WILLIAMS: For the past two years Rosalind Worthy has been going from church to church, begging pastors for a few minutes of Sunday morning pulpit time to talk about AIDS and to try to end the growing isolation between the church and HIV-infected black people.
Ms. ROSALIND WORTHY (Gospel Against AIDS): Every minute five children around the globe become HIV-infected.
WILLIAMS: After a short speech about what HIV is and how it is transmitted, she puts a face to the virus and introduces Tiffany, who is 25 years old, HIV-positive, and has chosen not to keep her infection a secret.
Ms. TIFFANY OLIVER (HIV-Positive): I went to school. I went to work. I was engaged. I did all I thought I was supposed to do. I was raised in the church. My mother was a nurse. My grandmother, assistant pastor. I didn't do drugs. I wasn't a lesbian or a homosexual. Please don't stereotype anybody. HIV doesn't discriminate.Ms. WORTHY: Okay.
Unidentified Woman: Thank you for inspiring us.
Ms. OLIVER: Thank you.
Unidentified Woman: God bless you. I was moved by your testimony.
Ms. OLIVER: Thank you.
Ms. MICHELLE ARRINGTON (Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church): It puts names to faces, and it sort of brings it home.WILLIAMS: That is the overwhelming reaction of the Calvary congregation.
Rev. WILLIAMS: I believe that the root of the problem stems with the church unwillingness to deal with sexuality and all of the ramifications that deal with that, to talk about sex, to educate their children about safe sex, to educate -- now here in our church, we don't pass out condoms, but we definitely talk about it.
Ms. WORTHY: So that's why we're going from church to church to church to church.
WILLIAMS: And as the black church changes, the hope is that congregations like this will help stem the tide of AIDS infections and become sanctuaries of love, compassion, and hope for the HIV-infected black community. In Detroit, I'm Juan Williams for RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY.
