August 29 marks National Faith HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a day to engage faith communities to raise awareness about HIV prevention, care, treatment and stigma. For this year’s NFHAAD, we spoke with Bishar Jenkins Jr., current AIDS United Board Member and recent graduate from Yale Divinity School, about his experience tying his faith journey with HIV advocacy:
Bishar, could you tell us a little bit about yourself, your faith, and the role faith has played in your advocacy?
I consider myself a nerdy church kid. I grew up in the Black Baptist church in New Jersey, where my grandparents served as deacon and deaconess. There wasn’t a Sunday when I was not in church with them. Faith has always been a central part of my life. I recognized very early on the power that faith and spirituality played in fueling social movements in this country, particularly movements for racial justice.
Eliminating systems of oppression is deeply rooted in my interpretation of Matthew 25. This scripture talks about serving the “least of these.” It’s imperative that we support people most marginalized in our society, particularly those without basic safety nets. Like many advocates, my work in HIV began with my own diagnosis. However, my work is not individualistic in nature. I am continually guided by the fact that my faith calls me to a relational faith. A faith grounded in the fact that we are all interconnected. My ability to thrive is directly linked to those who are sometimes barely making it and vice versa.
Could you tell us why you decided to pursue a master’s in divinity?
I felt a spiritual obligation and “calling” to attend divinity school for many years before actually attending. It became clear that my HIV advocacy was truly ministry in and of itself. I had robust policy training but I desired a faith-based lens, particularly as we are witnessing the persistence of white Christian nationalism. I sought to build out a skill set to effectively communicate across markers of difference. But not for the sake of a kum-bah-ya approach to advancing health equity, but to challenge policymakers and communities on our collective and sometimes willful abandonment of communities.
Much of the polarization in our country is deeply rooted in radically divergent theological interpretations of what our communal obligations are in society. For some, those interpretations are deeply relational and for others, it’s solely individualistic and that can be dangerous.
Faith and spirituality is also an often overlooked element of how people navigate and negotiate their health, particularly as it relates to HIV care. Faith plays a role in either facilitating people being connected to and retained in care. In other instances, it can create a monumental barrier for people to get the care they need and for people to remain in care.
HIV stigma is deeply rooted in deadly theologies about queer people, trans people, and those living with differing abilities. That propelled me into this work, because for so many people it is a matter of life and death. It certainly was for me and for so many people.
My diagnosis was significantly delayed because of the terror that paralyzed my world. I was preoccupied about what my community or peers, many of whom were church goers, would think about me potentially testing positive for HIV.
What could be done to improve the intersection of faith and HIV advocacy? What are some challenges in incorporating HIV advocacy in faith?
There is an irony that exists in some faith communities. It’s accurate to say many are terrified to talk about sex, sexuality, desire or pleasure. Yet, some of these faith communities are notoriously the sites of clandestine sexual activity. Some faith communities’ unwillingness to admit that sex is as much a reality as death creates a major barrier in eliminating HIV stigma.
Faith communities need to take a hard look in the mirror and be honest about the harm silence causes. It not only harms people living with HIV or vulnerable to HIV, but it harms everyone within our faith communities. It limits the sexual fulfillment of everyone within our communities and has real life implications for people’s vulnerability to HIV.
I also want to commend faith communities who are engaged in life affirming work on HIV awareness. Those efforts rarely get the attention they deserve.
Now what can advocates do? I think it will require us to continue showing up in faith communities. We also have an opportunity to provide support to theological seminaries and schools of divinity in helping shape the theological formation of future faith leaders on sexuality, sex, desire, and pleasure.
Any reflection on current times we are in with broader healthcare cuts, what would you hope to see from faith communities in response to this?
Faith communities need to be aroused from their complacency and in some cases, need to be revived from their cunning complicity to the forces of white Christian nationalism. Faith communities need to radically denunciate white Christian nationalism. It will require faith communities of all hues and colors to divest from this grotesque phenomenon.
There is a sinister wave of selfishness and individualism that has always existed in this country. We saw it during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we continue to see ramifications in our politics since. That phenomenon can only lead to utter inhumanity when we are not able to see people as worthy of care or as worthy of basic human rights. The ability to care for your fellow neighbor should not merely be rooted in having a faith commitment. That commitment should be rooted in being a human being with a pulse.
The interview is supported in part by We Are United, a program initiative of The Conexiones Positivas Fund in partnership with the CDC’s Let’s Stop HIV Together and Together Take Me Home campaigns. Click here to order your free at-home HIV self-testing kit or explore sexual health resources.