Can someone tell me why, in Africa, a country where more than 22 million people are infected with HIV, nine out of 10 children with HIV in the world live in the region, which has 11.4 million orphans because of AIDS, and 1.5 million people there died of the disease in just 2007, the Pope BANS condom use?
click here to read the article
I've never understood the religious stance on banning contraception, especially in a place where more people have a sexually transmitted disease than clean water. I'll give the Vatican props, they are the largest private supporter of HIV/AIDS treatment in Africa. However, if they put so much financial support into helping the sufferers of HIV and AIDS, why wouldn't they want to take the necessary steps to help the people in Africa slow the spread of it?
I find it ignorant and irresponsible to hold the same morals of a time when HIV and AIDS did not exist.
EDIT:
love the commentary by this guy on CNN.com
2 comments:
"Heck, some Catholic priests have abandoned their oath and have had sex."
And here's where semantics comes into play.
Priests take a vow of celibacy. THAT means he doesn't get married. Altho morality precludes having extra- or pre- or non-marital sex, celibacy is simply not getting married.
On the other hand...nuns and monks (brothers) take a vow of chastity which means NO sex of any kind.
The custom of unmarried priests (AND Popes) is about 600 or so years old. The Dark Ages refers to the very bad and immoral times the Catholic Church experienced when a Papacy could be bought and sold and immorality of all kinds ran rampant. Martin Luther really shook up the organization with his Diet (Proclamation) of Worms (pronounced WEEMS. The Reformation made those good people in the Church make a lot of changes.
Birth control is NOT a matter of faith and therefore not a mortal sin if practiced by a Catholic.
Uninhibited procreation is ridiculous in these times. There's plenty of people to preach the Word to, but preaching AIDS can be totally prevented by wearing a thin layer of latex is just as preposterous as AIDS being solely a God-Given plague on the unrighteous.
For primitive people, (those who have no idea that there are tiny organisms like germs even exist, let alone tv, radio or other modern technology) the "preaching" of abstinence may be the only understandable way to staunch the flow of AIDS and other STDS, in Third World countries. And if the "punishment" of a wrathful god for not abstaining is the only thing these poor, terrified people can understand, then so be it. Remember, a huge proportion of Third World countries still make animal sacrifices to cause the rain to come down. Education must be done on THEIR level, not ours.
UGH dump pope, he's old and think's he knows more than he does, bla
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