In the United States there is an official separation of church and state.
Individualism is encouraged.
In the Muslim community, this is not necessarily the case. It would be extremely difficult to councel the Muslim clients without better understanding how they see the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control, sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, continue to be spread mainly through unprot- ected heterosexual and homosexual activity, contaminated intravenous needles and to a lesser degree, through prenatal infection and contaminated blood products However, because AIDS was seen as a homosexual disease at the beginning of the epidemic, many Muslims think they are immune from HIV infection. Muslims need to understand that AIDS spreads through heterosexual intercourse with someone carrying the virus both from men to women and women to men. Chastity and modesty for both males and females is emphasized in the Holy Qur an and hadith.