In The News

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.

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

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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.

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?

Rev. Schuenemeyer: (No response.)

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.