when are people going to stand up and tell the pope to keep his mouth shut? Earlier this week the pope decided to forgo the natural human instinct to protect fellow man from harm and instead spread what could be described as, at best, ill-educated opinion, or at worst, deliberate lies manufactured to promote dogmatic catholic doctrine when he told millions of Africans, many of whom are poorly educated, at high risk from HIV and catholic, that condoms don't protect them against the transmission of HIV and in fact "increase the problem". Something which is patently untrue. cue outrage from medical professions and health organisations. The medical journal the lancet gave the pope the best grilling when it said the Pope had "publicly distorted scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine on this issue". "Whether the Pope's error was due to ignorance or a deliberate attempt to manipulate science to support Catholic ideology is unclear," said the journal. Maybe if the vatican didn't have to spend so much money paying off victims of sexual abuse (over $0.5 billion in 2007 alone) they could contribute to developing treatments for HIV instead of tirelessly striving to undo the good work done by health professions around the world by pretending to know what a magic man in the sky wants people to do with their penis'.
It's not ill-educated. He knows very well but prefers to enforce his dark ages cult even if that means death for millions
Stox, can you give a link here because if I believed correctly, the pope said that condoms alone wont solve the problem. Im catholic myself and i know there are extremist catholics out there that agreed with the former popes opinion on not encouraging the spread of condom and condom education in africa and i disagree with this 100%. I do believe that this pope supported condom education when he was first made pope. and catholic ideaology promotes saving life above all else.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/europe/7967173.stm in that BBC article the pope is quoted as saying HIV is;
Thanks Stox < I will read through it. Even when the vatican was against condom education and supplying the population in Africa I was for it. Law is never supposed to supercede the human heat, compassion and caring for your fellow human being and I think that is what god is looking at first and foremost, and I have never been afraid to voice my opinion even against other catholics when it has to do with saving lives.
When I read it , I thought too, that Pope told that condoms alone wont solve the problem .. stOx - There is a protest started, sending condoms to Pope. Are you going to send condoms to Pope too ?
That's a good way to protest. I think there should be an additional action to it though where people donate money to Aids awareness charities operating in Africa, as well as sending the pope condoms. A more effective campaign would be catholics petitioning to have the pope retract his claim and tell the truth... I wont hold my breath on that one though. the fight against HIV in Africa is hard enough, without having to undo some decrepit old virgins irresponsible assertions regarding the effectiveness of condoms. See, this is the trouble we find ourselves in when some people say "i know what god wants!" and others believe them.
cientificoloco - Hmm any hint of the better use ? Yes a donation is a great idea. But random donation will not help. There must be started a campaign by media and call everyone to donate.
I think the pope is right. Thanks to condoms people think sex is "safe" and boink anyone they just met... there's a reason STD rates are so damn high these days in most countries. Sure, they can stop HIV a bit, but having to be careful & get your partners tested before sleeping with them would do so much more.
Whilst I agree that there's more STDs around today than ever before, could the reason be that people are having sex WITHOUT condoms? People are having sex because it's fun and that's not going to stop. Any attempt to stop condom use will only spread the STDs more and more. I think the pope is wrong and he has given free reign to the STD. Whilst their religion teaches abstinance and that's probably where he's comin from, the reality is that's hardly ever the case.
Random guy, This is probably the message that the pope wants to convey. Bushranger, there are lots of things that people consider fun but does that mean that they need to be irresponsible while doing them? Im not talking about condom use now.IM talking about how people have taken the emotional and spiritual side of sex and stripped it down to an instinctive , animalistic act of fun. It can be so much more. Your asking how would i know ? I dont yet, but I have heard it from my parents and brother and sister in law. Im 100000% for condom usage to save lives but I also think that waiting for true love can be much more effective and meaniningful.
Who decided sex should only be used for procreation and that it is a sinful past-time outside of marriage? Well that's another thread I guess... Abstinance might be wishful thinking but it is not a reality for many people, they should remember: If it's not on, it's not on! I do agree with this comment. Irresponsibility is NOT wearing a condom when having sex with a partner you've just met. A condom not only saves lives but stops many other sexually transmitted diseases. I believe it is simply STUPID not to wear one and even STUPIDER to incite others against their use.
I dont recall saying sex should be used only for procreation. Sex can also be the used as the final culmination of an expression of love, but right now its in our society we have gone all the way to the other side where it is being used as a 100% expression of lust without the other factors that make can sex truely fullfilling. Im not speaking out of experience of course since i havent experienced it yet lol, but this is what i feel it is and also seeing how my married friends and family are with each other and their advice to me.