As you may well know, Black preachers across all denominations came together recently to discuss the AIDS situation in the Black community. Their solution? Ask the government.
(christianpost.com) NEW YORK — A collective of Black church leaders called upon the U.S. government Tuesday to declare HIV/AIDS crisis in the African American community a “public health emergency” and introduced legislation that would address the epidemic.
Following a two-day conclave, over 150 African American leaders proposed the National HIV/AIDS Elimination Act, which they plan to introduce to Congress as early as January. The act calls on the federal government “to declare the HIV/AIDS Crisis in the African American community a ‘public health emergency’” and urges “the Secretary of Health and Human Services to use his emergency authority to redirect resources to address this emergency.” (more…)
After all the laying on of hands, faith offerings, prophecies and promises that if you send in $20 that God will do such and such for you, these ministers have proven that their ’special connection’ to God is just a bogus as The Wizard of Oz.
Billions of dollars have been poured into African nations to “fight” this disease to no avail and the best these so-called mouthpieces of God can come up with is to ask the government to do more of the same here? Is their god limited to convincing folks to build large churches with bank financing?
USELESS!!
How much do you wanna bet that part of this “plan” asks the government to funnel some of that money to their own organizations under the cloud of “AIDS services?”
Q: How do you “fight” AIDS?
A: Warn people of the consequences of risky sexual behavior. Also provide medical resources for them to check to see if they have the disease. Equipped with this information, ANY RESPONSIBLE ADULT can slow down or stop the spread of AIDS. Beyond that, IT IS UP TO THE INDIVIDUAL TO STOP THE SPREAD OF AIDS.
I will elaborate more on this issue this Sunday as this is a ‘line in the sand’ moment for me as it relates to the state of the Church.
UPDATE– I just noticed that Shay over at BookerRising is talking about the same thing.
Sphere: Related Content
October 12th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Just because a group lobbies Congress to act on an issue doesn’t mean they’re corrupt or unimaginative, or that their cause is not worthy of gov’t attention (and more specifically, public investment).
The threat of HIV/AIDS infection is very real as is its ramifications for Americans’ quality of life and our economy. Because it is a legitimate epidemic, the responsibilities of prevention and treatment are fall upon all our institutions, as they do the individuals that make up society. I’m quite sure these clergymen are (at minimum) advising their constituents as to the risks that come with certain behaviors. Still, they probably realize the limitations of their message and format. Education alone is insufficient at fighting disease; there’s a research (scientific) component that belongs with any proper plan for health.
October 12th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Just because a group lobbies Congress to act on an issue doesn’t mean they’re corrupt or unimaginative,
Preachers that petition for an increase of govt’ funding in a social issue in most cases have a vested interest in the proposal. Case in point–The Faith-based initiative.
there’s a research (scientific) component that belongs with any proper plan for health.
Right. And the global community has already ponied up billions of dollars for a solution. Petitioning the US government to pony up more cash (mind you, we are one of the top contributors in the world when it comes to finding a cure for AIDS) is nothing more than an opportunity for some in-house folks to get a piece of the action. This extra money will do nothing different than what is already being done in third world countries within Africa. Since the US is first world, what other “resources” are needed to convince folks that risky sexual behavior places them at-risk for AIDS?