http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/03/17/cameroon.pope/index.html
Excerpt:
Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit harder by AIDS and HIV than any other region of the world, according to the United Nations and World Health Organization. There has been fierce debate between those who advocate the use of condoms to help stop the spread of the epidemic and those who oppose it.
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I’m sure the blogosphere is on fire with this one right now. I have a friend who is Catholic and I asked her about this. She said it’s only for conservative Catholics. I said, “But the Pope is in Africa where millions of people have AIDS, and he’s telling them not to use condoms.” She replies, “Cannot. If people do not use condoms they will die. So they must.”
I’m not really “Anti-Pope”, I just don’t understand it. The only response I can hear is someone saying “Well, people should just not have premarital sex and all the STD’s and AIDS would be wiped out.” I suppose that might be true. But it’s not going to happen. So is the real response that lies between the lines really this: “Evil people must die. AIDS is from God to destroy people that have premarital sex.” I know for a fact there are people that think this. They have posted that on some of my religion discussion forums.
To me this is all an example of where religion is stuck in following certain rules set by it’s theology, and the outcome is ridiculous.
In Thailand not too many years ago a large portion of the population had AIDS, like one percent of the entire population. They did a major public awareness campaign to promote condom use and in just a few years cut those statistics dramatically.
A friend who lives in Bangkok told me that Bill Gates sponsored a prize for the country that could make the biggest change in it’s AIDS statistics. And Thailand won.
In just the last few years China has begun to sell condoms at convenience stores. Before this the condoms were only available at adult stores and “naughty” places. The idea was that no “good person” would ever use a condom. It was only to be used by someone who was sick. So if you use a condom, it means you are sick. Don’t use them, and you are healthy. There was not really an understanding of AIDS and how it was transmitted. It was thought of more like a game of chance, a random choosing of Buddha or the Gods. Do you see how this kind of thinking is so dangerous?
Fast forward to today and China has condoms available at most convenience stores and grocery stores. I don’t know statistics on the effect of this, but I would safely assume it is cutting a large dent into AIDS transmissions.
So, tell people not to have premarital sex. But they do. If they do, they can use condoms and cut down AIDS transmission. But you have a Pope telling people not to use them. So they have sex without condoms, get AIDS and die. What is the sense of that?
When I lived in America the AIDS phenomenon was a fairly distant thing. I do know some people that have died of AIDS, but admittedly most of them were gay. So we can still hide under the false banner that it’s a “gay” disease.
But I’m in China now. Closer to those third world countries where I read the news about what’s going on over here and how public perception is adding to the spread of the disease. It comes down to education and the social consciousness of different cultures as to how they act in response to AIDS.
And the pope is telling them to not use condoms. Score one for the army of God.
Yep. It is stupid.
Having said that, if I lived in Africa, I wouldn’t even use a public bathroom without a condom on. I don’t care who says it is wrong. At some point you just have to say, “You know what, I understand the church thinks this is wrong, but if I’m going to have sex in Africa, I probably ought to look out for my own well being.”
I think I could explain this one away to St. Peter.
It don’t make any sense what so ever.
The Pope is a douche.
The People are saying we can’t help ourselves, we gotta drive in the rain, dangerous or otherwise. The Aid Organisations are saying ‘here – fit these windscreen wipers – much safer than driving blind’.
The Pope is saying rubber wipers are wrong, instead don’t drive in the rain, people. Easy for him to say – he don’t drive, and can afford a chauffeur…..
If the Catholic church liqified 1% of it’s vast asset-wealth it could fund the medical teams needed to end HIV/AIDS world-wide. But they prefer to stand in jewel encrusted robes preaching from gold encrusted pulpits to the poor and downtrodden of the world.
Go figure…..
You know what… not worth getting in a tizzy over this on here. I’ll just quote what the Pope said and let everyone judge for themselves whether or not this logic makes sense.
In response to written questions from reporters, the pope said this about HIV/AIDS: “You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem.”
Yes… the distribution of condoms *increases* the spread of HIV/AIDS
The church is going out of its way to prove its own irrelevance (as usual).
My mother was a Bozoette in school…
I think a much smarter stance could be adopted without sacrificing principles. Something along the lines of “Please, it’s best not to drive in the rain… but if you must, then use these wipers.”
I agree the pope is a moron.
I do not believe the Pope is a moron. Catholic Church teaching has been and always will be that contraception is wrong. A grave moral evil. Just as a side note most all other christian religions also held the same belief before 1920 or so. So are morals relative? Should we change our views on moral issues because it’s convenient to do so? I understand that AIDS is an issue that needs to be resolved, we do need to find a cure. But at what cost and when do we change our stance on our own morals?
I like how he tells people not to fear evil spirtits and demons and the way to do this is by believing in another spirit named jesus. He does not say don’t feear them because they don’t exist he says that the only way you will be safe from demons is by using the jesus spirit against them. When grown people believe in spirits and devils and astrology I can see how the wool can easily be pulled over thier eyes. These religious wack-jobs are a bunch of brainless fruitcakes. they would still belive in Santa if someone didn’t tell them it was bullshit. Hey guess what there are no such thinks as demons and monsters people, wake the hell up before its too late. And no more religious wing nuts like Bush for president, you can see where that got us.
I think instead of a condom i’ll just blast my load in the popes face and all over his funny hat, what a clown, looks like one too with his pope clown outfit
Convenient? At what cost? Morals?
That sounds like a pretty blase attitude.
AIDS is an epidemic in Africa with millions of people dying from it.
I’m pretty sure their religion is different than yours and the Pope, and chances are, they would think it convenient to have a little help…………condoms anyone?