An ‘R-Rated’ Sermon About AIDS : Answer Is Chastity, Not Condoms, Pastor Says

Alarmed that Earvin (Magic) Johnson’s “safe sex” message will promote promiscuity, the Rev. John Nix-McReynolds, pastor of one of Orange County’s largest black churches, Sunday preached an unusually explicit sermon on AIDS, exhorting the congregation to practice chastity.

Black preachers around the nation have been moved to break their silence on the delicate issue ever since the basketball legend’s disclosure earlier this month that he is infected with the AIDS virus.

McReynolds, pastor of the Bible-based Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana, told the crowd that he sympathizes with Johnson but noted that the former Laker has been quoted as saying he felt the need to “accommodate as many women as possible.”

“Magic himself admits that he was sexually promiscuous. And it is this particular issue of sexual impropriety and promiscuity that has led to this dilemma in his life,” McReynolds said.

About 350 members of the predominantly middle-class, professional congregation responded with nods and cries of “Amen!”

Describing his sermon as “R-rated,” McReynolds suggested that parents might send their children under 12 to Sunday school before he launched into his sermon, which outlined five major ways in which the AIDS virus is transmitted and included frank discussions of sexual practices, such as oral and anal sex, taken from government pamphlets. He also read from a condom buyers’ guide that described glow-in-the dark colors and mint and fruity flavors.

“That doesn’t stop the activity,” he said. “That proliferates the activity.”

Although he said he understands why health workers promote condoms as a means to prevent the spread of AIDS, he said he opposes them. “That may be the message of the world, the Gay Liberation Front, ACT UP and Queer Nation,” he said. “But that is not the message of the Bible.”

The disease can also be spread through other sex practices such as oral sex, he told the congregation.

As the congregation thumbed through their Bibles reading aloud from Leviticus, McReynolds told them that oral sex and sodomy are forbidden by the Bible. “I realize that behind closed doors, you may practice many liberties,” he said. “But the line stops at sodomy.”

Until recently, black preachers were reluctant to discuss sex or AIDS, he said, because their congregations tended to respect privacy in their personal lives. In addition, he said, “there is a lot of anxiety about the truth as it relates to ethnicity.”

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, black people make up 28% of the diagnosed cases of AIDS, although they are only 12% of the population.

In Orange County, where blacks represent 2% of the population, they account for 3% of the AIDS cases, according to county statistics. Though the numbers are smaller, the rate within the community is nearly twice that of whites. The county’s cumulative male AIDS cases through 1989 show 117.8 per 100,000 for whites and 224.2 for blacks. Gonorrhea and syphilis rates are also higher for blacks.

Since Johnson’s disclosure, however, black preachers across the country have been breaking their silence and speaking about AIDS. At least one congregation in Los Angeles has distributed condoms. McReynolds said that as far as he knew, none of the six black churches in Orange County would condone the distribution of condoms.

While many AIDS activists have hoped that the church would take a leadership role in the fight against AIDS, McReynolds’ message of chastity is contrary to their beliefs.

“I think we ought to talk about saving lives,” said Pearl Jemison Smith, chair of the AIDS Coalition to Identify Orange County Needs. “Of course, the perfect way is to say nobody have sex. But it’s not realistic at all.”

When people are not given choices, she said, they tend to feel guilty, hide, and become dishonest.

“Suppose a young black man wants to have sex and is afraid to buy a condom because somebody will see him doing it. Somebody says, ‘It’s a sin, that’s what the minister says,’ ” she said.

Smith said those who cannot accept abstinence and celibacy should consider being tested for the human immunodeficiency virus, try to behave in a responsible fashion, become knowledgeable about the risks and how to protect oneself. “It’s not 100% (effective), but it’s the best we have right now.”

Following McReynolds’ sermon, Ehi Alli, 15, a junior at Tustin High School, said: “What he says is right, but I don’t think teen-agers will listen to it. They don’t want to hear it.”

His brother, Edi, 13, said he understood the sermon and agrees that sex should be delayed until after marriage. “You might get AIDS and condoms might not work,” he said.

Edi said he believes that Magic Johnson’s safe-sex message might confuse children. “They’ll think Magic Johnson says go ahead and have sex as long as it’s safe. People look up to him,” he said.