By PHEPHILE MOTAU | 2024-05-07

 A manual for teaching religious leaders about sex work has been developed.

 

The manual titled ‘Religious leaders and sex workers in Southern Africa’, was developed by SANERELA. It is part of the Hands Off campaign which works directly with sex worker-led groups, police, religious leaders, service providers and NGOs to reduce violence against sex workers in Southern Africa.

 

SANERELA is the South Africa Network of Religious Leaders Living with or personally affected by HIV and AIDS.

 

 It is an interfaith network of over 600 religious leaders – lay and ordained, women and men, who are living with or personally affected by HIV.

 

The training manual seeks to equip religious leaders with further skills to help mitigate the violence, stigma, exclusion, and rejection that sex workers experience in the communities in which they live and work.

 

According to the information provided by the NGO, the manual also seeks to equip religious leaders to be able to minister to sex workers, and appreciate that ministering to sex workers is important in that it acknowledges the dignity that is inherent in all human beings.

 

The training manual provides religious leaders with tools to positively engage with and welcome sex workers into their faith communities.

 

The training curriculum includes sex workers’ rights, how criminalisation of sex work increases risk of violence and HIV infection, and how to ensure the human dignity of sex workers within communities.

 

According to the manual, it promotes the view that religious leaders can contribute to reducing violence and stigma against sex workers and the high rates of HIV that they experience. This is for the good of the sex workers themselves and for the greater good of the community.

 

Religious leaders are in a unique position to create a more supportive environment for sex work. Under Hands Off INERELA+ looks to empower its members (religious leaders of their interfaith network) to become agents of change who will help eliminate stigma and discrimination within their congregations and faith communities, and challenge stigma against sex workers.

 

It was stated in the manual that there are many stakeholders who have a role to play in assuring the dignity, safety and security of sex workers even though, for a long time, most of these stakeholders have actually been involved in increasing the insecurity and denying the dignity and safety of sex workers.

 

Law enforcement agents, health services providers and religious leaders have been cited as drivers and sponsors of the vulnerability of sex workers.

 

Among the key stakeholders are governments, policy makers, law enforcement agencies – the police and the judiciary, social workers, and health workers.

 

The manual states that these stakeholders have been involved for a long time, positively or negatively, with sex workers. 

 

“A missing stakeholder group in this list is the religious leader,” the manual states. The manual makes its departure from the norm by focusing on faith leaders and faith communities as a key stakeholder in the efforts to reduce violence against sex workers and promoting wellbeing and dignity for the communities in which they serve.

 

It recognises the reality of sex work and seeks to mobilise faith leaders and faith communities to lead in upholding the rights of sex workers. Faith leaders and faith communities are said to be well placed to empower other vulnerable people in their communities

 

“All other stakeholders agree that religious leaders have a bigger role to play in the wellbeing of sex workers, not just as clients but particularly as faith leaders,” the manual states.

 

Across all stakeholders, more than 90 per cent of respondents said they believed that religious leaders have a role to play in the safety, security and wellbeing of sex workers.

 

Professor Mbulelo Dyasi –the SANERELA+ Executive director in South Africa, said the training through the manual helped them to understand what sex work is about and what issues sex workers face.

 

“We understand that everybody has the right to live and everybody has the right to work and we see that if you preach that sex work is evil, people will listen and some might go and kill sex workers,’ he said.

Some snippets from the manual on what the Bible says about sex work:

n  Sex workers in the Old Testament

The sex worker was an accepted though deprecated member of the Israelite society, both in urban and rural life (Gen. 38:14; Josh. 2:1ff.; I Kings 3:16–27). The Bible refers to Tamar’s temporary harlotry and to the professional harlotry of Rahab without passing any moral judgment.

The visits of Samson to the harlot of Gaza (Judg. 16:1) are not condemned, but conform with his epic life. Harlots had access to the king’s tribunal, as other people (I Kings 3:16ff).

n Sex workers in the Christian

 

Bible (New Testament)

 

The Gospels never record Jesus using a euphemism for the term sex worker, so when he condemned the Pharisees, he said: “Tax

 

collectors and prostitutes will get to the Kingdom of heaven before you” (Matthew 21:32-33).

 

Jesus wasn’t soft on sin, but He understood sinners. He pointed out that fantasising about a person was spiritually equivalent to acting out that fantasy because both acts are

deliberate, and one can lead to the other. In fact, He said that inner filth can be worse than visible filth (Matthew 5:27-28; Mark 7:18-23).

Before the Roman army took over Judea in AD 6 there would have been few, if any, sex workers

 

in the very religious society of Palestine, but afterwards the presence of Roman soldiers created

a demand for them. Paradoxically, this was because the soldiers were so disciplined – unlike other armies, they weren’t allowed to rape or even to get married, so they were forced to pay for sex.

‘Such education is important’

THE Conference of Churches says this kind of education is very important. Conference of Churches Secretary General, Pastor Themba Ngozo said as long as the manual upheld biblical standards, they have no problem with it. He said the church was very hands on in issues of HIV and they worked with the ministry of health in this regard. Ngozo said until the church played a leading role in the fight against HIV, the efforts would be in vain. He said they were interested in teaching people nothing but the truth. He said it was very important for organisations to engage them, so that they could be able to mobilise people to learn. Meanwhile, Voice of Our Voices (VOOV) Director Lungile Khumalo said it was important that everyone, including church leaders, be taught about sex work, so that they could learn how to engage with them.

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