Black ministry leader challenges Obama's sex-ed message

Black ministry leader challenges Obama's sex-ed message

Age-appropriate sex education for kindergarteners is prompting a black Christian ministry leader to speak out against presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois).

Dean Nelson, executive director of the Network of Politically Active Christians, is calling Obama's views on sex and abortion out of touch with those of mainstream Americans. This remark follows Senator Obama's recent address to Planned Parenthood in which he stated that sex education for kindergarteners, provided it is "age-appropriate," is "the right thing to do." Obama also affirmed his healthcare proposal would include universal abortion coverage.

Nelson says Obama has a radical view of what "age-appropriate" sex education should entail.

"I believe for thinking Americans this is just another example of how far out of the mainstream Senator Barack Obama's views really are," the Christian activist notes. "I mean, first supporting partial-birth abortion, which Americans overwhelmingly oppose. Second, his support for universal government-controlled healthcare -- and now sex-ed for kindergartners? I think that most parents want their children starting school learning ABCs not S-E-X," remarks Nelson.

Nelson believes that abstinence education, not comprehensive sex education, is a more effective tool in curbing the soaring out-of-wedlock birth rates in the U.S. He says that ever since comprehensive sex education has been introduced into the school system, pregnancy rates and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) have been on the rise. But only since abstinence education has been introduced has there been a measurable decline.

The Network of Politically Active Christians is an arm of Wellington Boone Ministries, based in Norcross, Georgia.