Religion Press Release Services

News Release
July 5, 2006
Contact: Marjorie Signer, 202-628-7700 ext 12, msigner@rcrc.org

Reverend Carlton W. Veazey, the Baptist minister who established The National Black Religious Summit on Sexuality, has called on other African American ministers to take immediate action to address the health crisis in the African American community. He issued a call to action as more than 500 clergy, religious educators, parents, guardians, and youth prepared to gather July 12-14 for the 10th annual National Black Religious Summit on Sexuality, at Howard University School of Divinity, 1400 Shepherd Street NE, Washington DC.

“Clergy who continue to ignore the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the harmful effects of teen pregnancy are failing their congregations and, in effect, abdicating their role as spiritual advisors,” said Reverend Veazey, a minister in the National Baptist Convention, Inc.

“Every minister and youth educator must be actively engaged in education about sexual responsibility,” he said.

Thirty-eight percent of the more than half a million Americans who have died from AIDS are African Americans. Seventeen percent of African American teens under age 20 have given birth, compared to the national average of 10.3 %. HIV/AIDS and teen pregnancy can weaken families and contribute to the cycle of poverty.

The National Black Religious Summit on Sexuality, a project of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC)’s National Black Church Initiative, is launching its second decade with an expanded program. Reverend Veazey, President and CEO of RCRC, will announce plans for providing faith-based sexuality education in states with African American teen pregnancy rates above 15%, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, South Carolina, and Tennessee. He will also announce plans for a project to reach at-risk teen girls and boys in urban areas with high rates of teen childbearing and HIV/AIDS.

Since The National Black Church Initiative was established in 1996, more than 700 churches from historically Black denominations have taken part in faith-based sexuality education and dialogue. The program has been so effective in opening dialogue about sexuality that it has been replicated in Cape Town, South Africa, an area hard-hit by the AIDS pandemic.

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