Thread: Pope condoms 'increase' AIDS epidemic in Africa

Yea, she is still there, you can see a giant halo of hair behind the pope. That shot doesnt do her justice though, shes a monster!


Edit: Found her! Apparently the president of Cameroon likes his women big, its his wife!

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Pope-B...2842162968.jpg

In catholics' defense, I have met and know some very caring priests that do alot of good. I know that "the church" serves other purposes that are indeed very good. I just think the heirarchy of "the church" does it's name an injustice and tarnishes the good images that I have of those priests that I like.

It might come as a surprise to you that I am civil with priests, or anyone in general, that I don't agree with. As a matter of fact, it isn't uncommon for me to walk into the nieghborhood tavern (Bridgeport is the nieghborhood, Shinnick's is the tavern) to belly up to the bar and have a decent conversation with the pastor of the local parish (Nativity of Our Lord) over a few cold "Old Styles".

I know that "the church" is a necessity in my nieghborhood, hell in all of Chicago, just about every nieghborhood was at one time built around the parish, so it served as a safehaven for immigrants, like my grandfather, who came to America from Limmerick Ireland alone at the age of 10. It serves as a gathering place for fundraisers, and what-not.

With that being said, I don't agree with the judgements that come from the higher-ups, I don't take as "truth" what some book says, maybe a morale compass, but not truth. And I certainly son't agree with the chicanery that has ensued since the formation of the church. But let me also express one more thought, all organized religions are no better and no worse than each other. Catholicism isn't better than Baptism, Lutheranism, Pentacostalism, but indeed it is no worse either.

Originally Posted by Cecil900

The catholic church is garbage. Look at all the countries who are 90%+ Catholic? Whats it like to live there? Mexico, and the entire continent of South America+Central America.Those people live in poverty. The church keeps telling them that any form of birth control is a sin, and these families have baby after baby. And now only that but the leaders of the catholic church live like kings in their palaces, while their followers in countries like Mexico, Brazil, etc.... live in poverty and can barely afford to feed their on families.

For some reason, I don't think religion has anything to do with the economical state that those countries are in. I find it hard to believe that if they were mormon, baptist, buddhist, taoist or muslim or any other religion for that matter, that they would be in any better of a situation. What you proved was only that poor people in poor countries have a lot of faith in mystical books, and truly unbelievable stories about someone that made proclomations that were just as strange then as they are now. I do agree with your opinion about the "princes of the church" that live in grand buildings, and living very comfortably, as their flock are in dire need of tending. But to me, it is no different than the evangelist driving around in a Benz or Beamer.

How about educating them to wear rubbers. Probably easier than teaching the pythagorean theorem.

You people are forgetting the underlying problem. It's not that everyone there is stupid. But it's the gangs and rebel groups through out all the countries that rape the people there. So not only does the victim gets aids but the child who is conceived.

Originally Posted by WorstPE

You people are forgetting the underlying problem. It's not that everyone there is stupid. But it's the gangs and rebel groups through out all the countries that rape the people there. So not only does the victim gets aids but the child who is conceived.

Noone said that they are stupid, at least not me.

But it isn't just rebels and militia that are spreading AIDS. Believe it or not, they do have consensual sex in Africa. It just so happens that condoms are "tools of the devil", which is a thought process that needs to be reversed, and with it the spread of this disease should reverse as well. To believe the the underlying problem is strictly groups of militias raping women and spreading the disease to the women and thier off spring, would in itselfbe missing the underlying problem of how it is actually being spread, and how to prevent it. Not saying what you point out is wrong, indeed it is one of the problems, but not the sole nor the main source of the problem. The major problem is ignorance, not stupidity, but ignorance of the actual facts of sexual protection.

3. Talk more about, and prove to us, what harm abstinence promoting policies cause. How could not having sex or promoting waiting hurt anybody?

http://tinyurl.com/d6wg4v  an article from Pediatrics this year showing that people who made virginity pledges (those who agreed to use abstinence only) were just as likely to engage in premarital sex, but statistically more likely to not use condoms.  I can e-mail you the entire article on request.

J Adolesc Health. 2008 Apr;42(4):344-51. Epub 2008 Jan 31. The authors found that "Adolescents who received comprehensive sex education had a lower risk of pregnancy than adolescents who received abstinence-only or no sex education." again I can e-mail you the article.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/abstinence07/report.pdf this government study showed that "participants in the abstinence-only programs were less sure that condoms would prevent STDs and were less likely to perceive condoms as effective."

PizzaShark is exactly right.  His realism and clear-thinking was completely lacking at the Federal level for many years and lead to hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on idealogically-guided and ineffective sex ed.

'Rabbit

Originally Posted by hawgballs

How about educating them to wear rubbers. Probably easier than teaching the pythagorean theorem.

There are a lot of reasons for the very high incidence of HIV/AIDS in Africa (Sub-Saharan, mainly - the Muslim countries don't have as much of an issue with it). Some of it is cultural and relates to the inferior status of women in most of Africa. That and miseducation and stuff like the Pope. Rape is used as a weapon of war and control pretty much everywhere, but I don't think it's the primary driver of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. Look at Botswana, a country completely at peace for the last 40 years also with the highest percent of infected adults in the world (somewhere around 40%). Having the President of South Africa deny the causal link between HIV and AIDS doesn't help either, nor does the whole "have sex with a virgin to cure AIDS" or any of a number of myths.

Catholics just need to buck up and admit that sex is fun and it's OK to do without the goal of having kids. There are too many people in the world as it is and their medieval doctrine (dating from a time where the vast majority of children died) is outdated and harmful. If they'd just think for a second about their "natural family planning" methods, they'd realize that they've already ceded the point and we could move on.

'Rabbit