The New Peril of Silence: Confronting the Disregard for the Spirituality/Sexuality Connection in the African American Community

Sex is not just an activity, rather it is God’s design for a powerfully, pleasurably, private experience to be enjoyed in marriage. This biblically based teaching tool attempts to bridge the gap between acquiring information in general to dealing specifically with how the disregard for the spirituality/sexuality connection negatively impacts African Americans in ways unlike other ethnicities. It is driven by the revelation of long-past sexual immorality which held the writer in spiritual bondage. Many years after she had confessed and forsaken that lifestyle, she was silent about the pain and shame, and did not recognize the connection between her sexual activity and her spirituality. Feeling a disconnect that surfaced more often than she’d like to admit, in 1996 she asked the Lord to show her heart to her. The response was ＂You were a closet prostitute.＂ Questioning the connection of her heart to the request made and the response the Lord gave, she reviewed her past sex life and saw how she benefitted from her sexual involvement especially during her collegiate years. Within a month of this revelation and her agreement with the sinfulness thereof, she was challenged with the idea of sharing the danger of being silent and disregarding. the link between spirituality and sexuality in the African American community. Some twenty years after the revelation, the first edition of the manuscript was published, omitting ethnicity. Observing the continuing downward spiraling of conditions that are negatively impacting African Americans, and particularly those that are related to the disregard for the spirituality/sexuality connection, the author was troubled by the thoughts of publishing more negative information about her people. However, facts are facts and statistics are statistics, and the Lord was specific in His original pronouncement of the ethnicity she was to address. Her own story and testimony, although she is aggrieved thereby, are included in demonstration of God’s hearing and answering prayer, and in appreciation for His grace mercy, love and forgiveness. A major emphasis in this edition is on the Gospel as presented in Scripture in one format or another throughout the book because it has the greatest potential for encouraging movement beyond discussion to the formulation of action plans, actually doing something about sexual and any other issue negatively impacting spirituality.