My post yesterday on the Pope’s unhelpful comments re. condom distribution to prevent aids has, unsurprisingly, caused some controversy in some circles. One reader messaged me this response:
Quite frankly if people listened to the Pope then there wouldn’t be the problem of Aids. Aids is a problem because of sexual promiscuity. The Catholic Church’s teaching is perfectly consistent with Christ’s who calls everyone to lead a chaste life- if people abstained from sex outside of marriage then Aids would not exist. Its opposition to condoms as stated in Humanae Vitae stems from what is an accurate fact that it prevents life and encourages promiscuity. Sure I accept condoms prevent HIV and Aids but that doesn’t mean its use should be condoned- the point is to use condoms is to go against the natural law- it is to prevent life from occurring, plus it encourages sexual promiscuity. The Church as far as I can see offers the only way to battle Aids successfully whereby people are not compromised morally- that is to say to have sex within marriage with one partner as opposed to being sexually promiscuous.
I have three points in response to this:
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1 comment | tags: Africa, AIDS, religion, the Pope
The Pope was on a flight to Africa the other day and, presumably deciding there wasn’t enough misery in the continent to begin with, unleashed this gem:
“(Aids) is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems”.
As a myriad of Aids campaigners immediately pointed out in the hours following this frankly mental statement, though condoms are not the only tools necessary in the fight against AIDS they are a massive help. Indeed, the idea that condom distribution makes the problem worse is particularly barmy, akin to saying that the Heimlich manoeuvre leaves you in danger of choking. Abstinence on the other hand is fine until the abstainer, forgetting they’re meant to be perfect, commits the awful sin of having sex. Given that almost 20% of the population of Africa is Catholic – and many of the rest are Christians of some sort who are apt to take the Pope seriously – you have to wonder how many deaths will be indirectly caused by this desperately irresponsible and downright evil statement.
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5 comments | tags: Africa, AIDS, religion, the Pope
