The purpose of this study was to investigate how clergy are dealing with HIV prevention and sexuality education of young people in their congregations. An electronic questionnaire was filled in by 142 clergy from white Afrikaans-speaking churches in the Reformed tradition. Results showed that 77% clergy believed that unmarried young people in their congregations are sexually active. More than 85% clergy agreed that it is the task of the church to provide sexuality and HIV prevention education to young congregants. However, not many clergy (13%) offered HIV prevention programmes for young people in their own congregations. The main HIV prevention message 85% of clergy were prepared to share with young congregants was ‘abstinence only’ or ‘your body is the temple of God’. Only 15% clergy (significantly more female clergy) were prepared to offer comprehensive sexuality education (abstinence PLUS) programmes. The HIV prevention message of the church should at least be in line with the lived experiences and reality of its youth in today’s society. The church can no longer afford to alienate young people through moralism only. She needs an approach that satisfies both morality and reality.
The role of schools and religious and civic organisations is extremely important in the fight against HIV. We should empower our youth with education and life skills they need to prevent themselves from being infected with HIV, and that will help them to become compassionate, caring members of a society that will be struggling with the aftermath of AIDS for a long time to come. (Van Dyk, Tlou & Van Dyk
South Africa, like other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has been hit very hard by the HIV epidemic, and especially young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are cause for great concern. What is not clear, however, is to what extent HIV is also a problem among white Afrikaans-speaking youth from faith communities. Is it a problem that is so small that it can be ignored by the church, or are the Afrikaans-speaking churches living in a fools’ paradise by assuming that HIV is almost exclusively a problem in black communities or in non-faith communities?
In their latest survey on HIV prevalence, incidence and behaviour in South Africa, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) reported an overall HIV prevalence of 7.1% among young people aged between 15 and 24 years, with an increase of 18.8% in the age group between 15 and 49 years old (Shisana et al.
Although the HSRC study sample (
In their study on the ‘spiritual wellbeing and lifestyle choices’ among Afrikaans-speaking Grade 10 learners from five schools in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, Jacobs, Viljoen and Van der Walt (
Although some controversy exists in scientific literature over the question if religious youth will be less inclined to have sex than non-religious youth (see for example Stephenson, Simon & Finneran
To assume that white Afrikaans-speaking adolescents, and more specifically church-going youth, are safe, and that sexuality and HIV prevention education is not necessary among this sub-group, would therefore be irresponsible. This begs the question if it should be the task of the church to provide sexuality and HIV prevention education to adolescents in their congregation.
The church in Africa has historically played an important role in formal education of a more general nature. During the past decades, the role of the church in providing formal education has, however, greatly diminished in South Africa. According to Jansen, Pretorius and Van Niekerk (
… the role of the Christian church is becoming more important, and the increasing complexity of the problematic issues in Africa implies that the church will have to rethink its role in education. (p. 68)
Faith communities, religious leaders and the church are increasingly regarded as important partners in providing HIV-related health services to young people, including the prevention of HIV (Gold et al.
Studies showed that young people in Africa perceived faith-based organisations (FBOs), including the church, as more acceptable and trustworthy to offer HIV prevention messages than government or foreign organisations, mainly because the church is part of the local culture (Blevins
These somewhat contradictory results may suggest that although adolescents may trust the church to provide them with sexual education they do not necessarily follow the advice of the church to remain sexually inactive until they get married. This conclusion suggests that the potential role of the church in preventing HIV infection may be more complex than assumed by many clergy.
Blevins (
Researchers, who work in the field of religion, youth and sexuality are in agreement that the main message of the church to young people on how to prevent HIV infection is generally a message of ‘abstinence only’ until marriage (Eriksson et al.
The message of ‘abstinence only’ is further in conflict with the lived experiences of many young South African churchgoers who find it extremely difficult to abstain from sex because of peer pressure, gender power relations, the influence of television and social media, the availability of drugs and alcohol, the tendency to marry at a more mature age and the perception that sex is always part of a relationship or that ‘love equals sex’ (Burchardt
A message of ‘abstinence only’ in a context where young people are already sexually active is therefore often deemed irrelevant and inappropriate and will make no difference to the behaviour of young people. Nweneka (
Blevins (
To get a fair indication of the sexual activity or inactivity of the white youth in Afrikaans-speaking churches (and thereby the potential problem of HIV within this group) and to assess the role the church can play in the prevention of HIV, a comprehensive survey among both the youth and the clergy of these churches would be necessary. The
What are clergy’s perceptions about the sexual behaviour of young people in their congregations?
Do clergy think that it is the task of the church to provide sexuality education to young people in their congregations?
What are clergy doing in their congregations to educate young people about HIV prevention?
What is the main HIV prevention message that clergy are prepared to share with their young congregants?
An empirical survey was conducted among clergy in the white Afrikaans-speaking churches in the Reformed tradition to determine how they are dealing with HIV prevention in young people in their congregations. E-mails were sent to all clergy whose email addresses were available on the Internet and in church publications. The purpose of the research was explained to clergy and if they were willing to participate in the research, they received a link to a Web address where they could complete an electronic online questionnaire.
The sample consisted of clergy within the white Afrikaans-speaking churches in the Reformed tradition. It therefore included ministers in the ‘Nederduits Gereformeerde’ (NGK), ‘Nederduitsch Hervormde’ (Herv), ‘Gereformeerde’ (Geref) and ‘Afrikaanse Protestantse’ (APK) churches in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe with available email addresses (
It was clearly stated that clergy were under no obligation to fill in the questionnaires. Because of the nature of the electronic survey, the anonymity of clergy as well as the names of their congregations was guaranteed because neither would be known to the researcher. Ethical clearance to conduct the research was obtained from the Department of Psychology and the College of Human Sciences at Unisa.
A structured electronic questionnaire developed in Google forms was used for the survey. Participants only had to click on the alternative of their choice. The questions were mainly in the format of ordinal four-point Likert scales ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’ with a few ‘Yes or No’ questions. Data from Google forms were directly exported error-free to IBM SPSS Statistics for data analysis.
Over and above demographic information (age, gender, highest theological qualification, church affiliation and city or rural congregation) each one of the research questions (see above) was addressed in the questionnaire (Do clergy think that young congregants are sexually active? Is it the task of the church to provide HIV prevention education? What are clergy doing in their congregations to prevent HIV? What is the main HIV prevention message to young congregants?).
Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed by using the software programme IBM SPSS version 24. The four-point Likert scale items were coded to range from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). The results of the individual Likert items will be reported for (1) agree or strongly agree and (2) disagree or strongly disagree.
The questionnaire was completed by 142 participants, representing a return rate of 5.6%. The mean age of the participants was 52.28 years (SD = 11.46; minimum age = 25 and maximum age = 75) with 81% being older than 40 years. Most of the participants were men (91.5%) with only 8.5% women, which is a reflection of this male-dominant occupation. Most of the participants (69%) had a Master’s degree or higher. Most of the clergy was in the NGK Church (76.8%), with 9.9% in the Herv Church, 9.2% in the Geref Church and 4.2% in the APK Church. The congregations of the participants were mostly situated in cities or major towns (65.5%) with 34.5% of congregations in rural areas. Most of the clergy (89.4%) did not have a specific portfolio in their congregation, but were involved in general ministry, while only 4.9% worked exclusively with youth, and 2.1% mainly worked as counsellors.
The only significant difference in demographic attributes of clergy was that female clergy were significantly younger (median age = 38 years) than their male colleagues (median age = 56 years),
Most (76.8%) of the clergy agreed that the young, unmarried people in their congregations are sexually active and 87.3% further agreed that the general South African statistics, suggesting that youth are sexually active from an early age, are also applicable to the young people in the Afrikaans-speaking churches.
There was great empathy with the challenges facing young people today. Most clergy agreed that young people today find it difficult to adhere to the norms of sexual abstinence before marriage and faithfulness to one partner, and they contributed this to the following factors:
disillusionment with their parents’ marriages that often include unfaithfulness and divorce (88.7%)
questioning and undermining the authority of parents, the church, people in power positions and questioning of traditions (86.6%)
a society that ‘supports’ multiple sex partners (e.g. through television and the film industry) (92.3%)
young people’s search for an own identity often leading to unhealthy sexual relationships (95.1%)
young people’s search for intimacy and acceptance by peers and others (90.1%).
Most clergy (86.6%) believed that it is the responsibility and task of the church to protect young people from HIV by providing sexuality education to young people and to specifically inform them about high-risk sexual behaviour and the prevention thereof. Most of the clergy (75.4%) also believed that the church should become involved in local schools where they could play an active role in providing sexuality education (including HIV prevention), while 22.5% of the participants felt that the church should provide guidance for parents of adolescents on how to talk to their children about sex, rather than doing it themselves. Only 13.4% clergy believed very strongly that it is not the task of the church to give sex education to young people in their congregations.
Not many clergy, who participated in the study, were involved in sexuality education for young people. Only 4.9% of clergy worked with young people (or had ‘Youth’ as their portfolio), while 47.9% did not feel equipped or empowered to give information about HIV to young people. HIV prevention programmes for young people were provided by only 19.7% of clergy, with only 13.4% of these programmes being offered in the clergy’s own congregations. HIV awareness days (like World AIDS Day on 01 December) were offered by only 17.6% clergy, with only 14.8% of these programmes or activities were offered in clergy’s own congregations. Some clergy (16.2%) gave attention to gender issues in their congregations by talking to boys and young men about having respect for the female body. Two-thirds (65.5%) of clergy said that they received no (or very little) support from church leaders and synod on how to manage HIV in their parishes.
Clergy were asked to choose the one most appropriate and theologically sound message about the prevention of HIV that they were prepared to share with young, unmarried parishioners (see
HIV prevention message to young parishioners (
HIV prevention message to young parishioners | % | |
---|---|---|
Your body is the temple of God and therefore you have to live a healthy life on all levels, also on the sexual level | 64.1 | 91 |
Total abstinence until marriage | 20.4 | 29 |
Faithfulness to one sex partner at a time with condom use | 4.2 | 6 |
Use condoms if you cannot abstain from sex | 4.2 | 6 |
Postpone sexual intercourse for as long as possible | 3.5 | 5 |
Restrict your number of sex partners | 0.7 | 1 |
Combination of abstinence, faithfulness and condom use | 2.8 | 4 |
The kind of messages about HIV prevention that clergy were prepared to share with their young parishioners can be divided into three groups (see
Clergy’s HIV prevention message to youth (
The three groups of HIV prevention messages that clergy were prepared to share with young people were:
Strict church doctrine (‘Your body is the temple of God and therefore you have to live a healthy life on all levels, also the sexual level’). The majority of clergy (64.1%) chose to give this message to young, unmarried people in their congregations to prevent HIV infection.
Abstinence only (‘Total abstinence until marriage’). The ‘abstinence only’ message was the main HIV prevention message of 20.4% of clergy.
Abstinence plus safer sex. If young people chose not to abstain from sex until they are married, 15.5% of clergy were prepared to give the following safer sex messages: Use condoms if you have sex (4.2%); faithfulness to one partner at a time with condom use (4.2%); postpone initiation of sexual intercourse for as long as possible (3.5%) and restrict the number of sexual partners to the minimum (0.7%). Some clergy (2.8%) suggested a combination of the safer sex practices mentioned above.
Negative attitudes towards the use of condoms were illustrated by the finding that only 4.2% clergy were prepared to tell young people to use condoms (see
A chi-square test revealed that female clergy were significantly more prepared to give ‘abstinence plus safer sex’ messages to young people than their male colleagues (
Clergy from the white Afrikaans-speaking churches in the Reformed traditions, who participated in the study, showed great empathy for the challenges that young people must face in today’s society. They agreed with researchers (like Bornman
Most clergy in the current study agreed that it is the task of the church to provide sexuality education and HIV prevention to young people in their congregations. A minority clergy thought that the church should only provide guidance to parents on how to talk to young people about sex and HIV prevention. This finding is in contrast to the findings of Eriksson et al. (
Clergy also felt very strongly that the church should become more involved with local schools to play an active role in sexuality education of the youth. Throughout history, the church played a major role in the development of society in southern Africa, including its schools, education and healthcare systems, and many schools had their origins through the church. However, in a report on the role of the NG Church in education, a committee of the general synod concluded that the church has lost her voice in schools in the new political dispensation and that the church neglected her responsibilities towards schools and young people (Moderamen Bylaag 2: Die rol van die NG kerk in die onderwys
Apart from its role in schools, the church can play an extremely important role in reaching out-of-school youth – a category that evades school-based interventions. Focus on the out-of-school youth is especially important because research among South African youths found that they were significantly more associated with early sexual debut, age-disparate partners, multiple sex partners, transactional sex, high lifetime number of partners, low HIV risk perceptions, inconsistent condom use and low health literacy (Stroeken et al.
Although the majority of clergy (86.6%) agreed that it is the task of the church to offer sexuality education (including the prevention of HIV) to young people in their congregations, not many clergy (only 13.4%) were involved in sexuality education of young people in their own congregations. These findings correspond with the findings of Eriksson et al. (
One would expect that clergy will make use of the opportunity provided by special HIV awareness days like World AIDS Day to talk to young people about sexuality and HIV prevention, but very few clergy (14.8%) in the current study used that opportunity. This corresponds to the lack of interest in HIV among the clergy in Eriksson et al.’s (
Clergy in this study were very realistic about the sexual activities of young unmarried people in their congregations and their risk of HIV infection and other STIs. They further strongly believed in the task of the church to provide sexuality education and HIV prevention messages. With the scientific or medical model in mind, one would expect that these positive attitudes of clergy will translate into comprehensive education programmes that have proven success in delaying sexual debut, limiting sex partners and reducing the rates of HIV infection. This is, however, clearly not the case. The religion or moral versus science dichotomy that Genuis (
The findings of this study – that almost 85% of clergy supported ‘abstinence only’, or ‘body as temple of God’ as HIV prevention messages – correspond with many other studies who also found that the main HIV prevention message of ministers to young people is to abstain from sex until marriage (e.g. Blevins
Most researchers further agree that ‘abstinence only’ messages do not protect young people from HIV and is basically irrelevant in a population where young people are already sexually active. Abstinence only messages may also stigmatise premarital sexual relationships and drive young people ‘underground’, which means that they will not have the courage to ask for help on how to, for example, negotiate condom use with partners (Smith
Sex in young people is often a complex matter involving power issues, non-sexual needs, loneliness, mental health issues, abuse, survival, social pressures and social expectations (Cohen
Only 15.5% of clergy in the current study were prepared to share a more comprehensive HIV education message for young people in their congregations. Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) (often called ‘abstinence plus’ education) entails a message of abstinence PLUS postponement of sexual intercourse for as long as possible PLUS faithfulness to one partner PLUS condom use PLUS restriction of the number of sex partners to the minimum.
Although ‘abstinence only’ and CSE seem to be two contradictory positions, they can be strategically combined to allow young people to make responsible choices without alienating them through moralism only (Francis & DePalma
Negative attitudes of clergy towards condoms were suggested by the finding that very few clergy were prepared to tell young people to use condoms because they belief that talking about condoms has no place in the church and that it will encourage young people to have sex and will lead to promiscuity (also see Eriksson and colleagues’ findings
The belief that talking about condoms encourages young people to have sex is also unfounded. Extensive research was performed on this topic and researchers came to the conclusion that there was no increase in sexual activity after adolescents were exposed to sexuality and HIV education programmes, including information on contraceptives and condom use (Kirby
Blevins (
Comprehensive HIV prevention programmes should, however, offer more than mere guidance about sexuality. It should include religious activities, which teach life skills and increase spiritual well-being, self-efficacy, self-esteem and pro-social behaviour in young people (Jacobs et al.
The power of spiritual well-being and its effect on healthy lifestyle choices in adolescents should not be underestimated. Jacobs et al. (
HIV prevention messages should be in line with the lived experiences and reality of its youth. Eriksson et al. (
Francis and DePalma (
The current study should be seen as an initial exploration on how clergy in the white Afrikaans-speaking churches in the Reformed tradition are dealing with sexuality and HIV prevention with regard to young people in their congregations. The results of the study cannot be generalised to all the clergy in the white Afrikaans-speaking churches because the sample was a convenient sample only and not a randomised sample. The sample size (142 clergy) was also relatively small. More comprehensive studies need to be conducted among clergy as well as young congregants to learn more about what they expect from the church and her leaders.
The author declares that she has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced her in writing this article.