Black AIDS Institute - Nobody Should Have to Die Like This

NNPA Commentary Series Nobody Should Have to Die Like This

By Rev. Jeremiah Wright
First Published: 1/21/2008	Page 2 of 2 Go To: 1 2
“HIV/AIDS is spread three ways: By blood, by semen and by ignorance!” It also needs to teach preventive measures to cut down on the incidence of persons becoming infected. Further, congregations need to form HIV/AIDS ministries to serve families of people who are infected. And finally, the religious community needs to lobby the political realm just as it did back in the civil rights movement. It needs to lobby politicians to get the laws changed so that the poor and the needy can have access to anti-retroviral drugs at generic prices. Not everybody can afford the medications that Magic Johnson can afford! Until the religious community lobbies those senators who are in bed with the pharmaceutical companies to change those laws, then it is not doing what it did back in the civil rights days, when religious leaders lobbied the politicians to change the laws that kept people locked out of access to full participation in the American society. God loves everybody. God says everyone who believes in God’s Son shall have everlasting life. That includes people with HIV/AIDS, heterosexuals and homosexuals; therefore, our theological approach comes straight from the Bible. Our church has had an HIV/AIDS Ministry since the beginning of the epidemic. We train people who volunteer to work with this ministry before we turn them loose to work with families and individuals who are living with AIDS. Our training includes classes led by an epidemiologist, the Chicago Board of Health, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and chaplains who work with people living with HIV/AIDS. We run a halfway house and we provide medications and minister to families who are affected and infected. And we help people learn about and take advantage of every social service that is available to them. We also have annual seminars and workshops on safe sex. We have a Teenage Sexuality Ministry in our church and sex is a constant discussion when it comes to the educational ministry of the church. We talk about it right from the pulpit.
Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. is senior pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.	Page 2 of 2 Go To: 1 2