Religious Groups Work to Translate Sex-Education Message

Some ministers fear the program will encourage minors to have sex, said the Rev. Penny Willis, the coalition's director of multicultural programs.

But, she said, "it's not a program that says you should tell your child to use birth control. It's a program to give your child the tools they need" to make responsible choices.

The coalition trains church members to offer the class and relies on biblical verses to spark discussion about sexual issues.

A lesson on applying spiritual context when making decisions about sexuality uses the Genesis story of Jacob's son Joseph. Sold into slavery by his brothers, he rebuffs the advances of his Egyptian master's wife.

"How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" he asks her.

The curriculum for Latino youths uses the same verses but will make reference to Latin culture instead of African American culture, said Perez, who is translating the revised curriculum into Spanish.

For example, just as the curriculum for black teens weaves in the seven principles of Kwanzaa, the African American holiday that celebrates such virtues as faith, purpose and self-determination, the Latino curriculum will celebrate cultural heroes who exhibit similar virtues.

As part of the classes, teens are supposed to ask their parents about sexuality. But students in Perez's Latino classes tell her their parents get embarrassed and often avoid the conversations.

"That's one of the reasons a large number of kids cannot get enough information about sex from their parents," Perez said. "We should not blame the parents. They never learned from their parents how to talk about it. They don't know how to start."

Grace Delgado, 18, who first took the class when she was 16, said she never could have had a discussion with her father, Diego Delgado-Miller, an Episcopal minister in New York. "He did not want to hear anything about it."

Now, she said, she has an "open dialogue" with her father about all such sensitive topics.