ah religion, how you amuse me
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-17-pope_N.htm?csp=YahooModule_News
So, the pope decided to go to Affrica. (sort of like my boss just did - she climbed Mt. Kilamanjaro and managed not to bring back any form of the plauge found there in the last 20 years).
And how does the pope celebrate his 1st visit to Affrica?
by saying that condoms were not the answer in the continent's fight against HIV and AIDS.
It goes on...the pope says "You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms....On the contrary, it increases the problem."
The pope said that a responsible and moral attitude toward sex would help fight the disease.
And while I'll focus on the word "the" and say that condoms are not THE solution. But they are A solution, and one that has shown positive effects of at slowing the spread of HIV. And I don't really see any other all-encompasing plans or ideas to stop or slow this thing down, so why isn't A solution better in the short-run until THE solution can be found and fully fleshed out?
Ok, he may have a plan: "responsible and moral attitude towards sex".
But he didn't say how he was going to promote this.
He didn't say how he was going to intervene in the societies and educate people, and help them instill their faith with "no touchy" intrinsic value.
He didn't say how he was going to let people know that the person they DO sleep with under responsible and moreal attitudes doesn't have HIV. He didn't say how he was going to find an all-inclusive way to drop the 2/3 ratio of people in the sub-sahara that have HIV.
no. he just promoted the vatican's position that fidelity in marriage and abstinence from premarital sex are key weapons in the fight against AIDS.
more key, apparently, than condoms.
but morality often fails in the face of carnality. that is the quintesentialness of religion. people will sin. people mess up. and the church is there to forgive you. and get your money as penance. and allow you to forgive yourself for your humanity. thus is the church accepting man's flaws and weaknesses as being less divine than God.
So, if the church is designed around the premise that man is flawed and will therefore have moral lapses thereby doing stupid things, why won't the church allow enough forgiveness towards those lapses to give people a way to make sure they don't DIE from them? what good is forgiveness if you end up with a desease that wastes you away in one of the most misearable fashions possible?
I see little difference between telling people "honor your marriage bed" and "condoms are bad" and telling people "honor your marriage bed" and "condoms are sanitary and help prevent the spread of disease".
because promoting condoms and birth control etc, makes people "loose" ? I think that the battle of convincing people that abstinance and fidelity are key points for Catholics to adhere to maintains the same seriousness whether or not a little bit of latex is involved. But in situation 1, you indirectly allow an epedemic to continue to spread while appearing to believe that NO good Catholic ever strays from the path (idealistic much?); and in situation 2, you allow those who stray from your flock a method of continuing to LIVE, so they can come back to confession and you can tell them how terrible they are and make them tithe as penance.
*i wish to disown the people too involved in politics to see beyond them*