HIV/AIDS and the Deafening Silence of the Black Church

Mandisa Thomas of the Black Non-Believers of Atlanta (BNOA) will be our guest host this Sunday. Blacks account for over 500,000 cases of HIV out of the 1.1 million cases in America. The AIDS diagnosis for Blacks is 9 times than that of whites. Per the Kaiser Foundation, in 2009 only 33% of African Americans claim that they have heard of AIDS as compared to 62% in 2004. Black Americans have been disproportionately affected by HIV/IDS since the epidemic beginning, and that disparity has deepened over time. In the Black community, HIV impacts women, youth, gay, and bi-sexual men the most. Why has the Black church not stepped up to educate and assist the community that it claims to represent, love, and reside in?