This is a pretty typical accusation:Catholicism is directly responsible for hundreds of thousands (millions?) of deaths due to the spread of AIDS in Africa by discouraging condom use. [LudditeJourno on the Hand Mirror]
That seems to me a particularly silly thing to say. Aside from the fact that the DIRECT causes are something far more obvious, I fail to understand how the Church advocating not using condoms would make ANY difference to non-Catholics.
Q1. Does anyone seriously think non-Catholics will "obey" this suggestion?
And for Catholics, this suggestion is part of a larger list. It is taken out of that list, breaking the context, by the media. The full message is:
1. No sex before marriage.
2. No condoms (be open to life)
3. No adultery
Q2. Do you think Catholics are going to follow the second directive whilst they are actively ignoring the first and third?
The whole contraception thing comes off as an overly simplistic way of playing the blame game.
I'm interested in any blogger's answer to my two questions - because from where I sit, if people are going to listen to the Catholic Message with regard to condoms, then they probably are going to listen to the whole message - which includes fidelity, abstinence and marriage. Blaming the spread of AIDS on the Catholic Church is simply another example of anti-Catholic bias.
AIDS in Africa lower where Catholics listen
Related Posts: Non-Catholics on Catholics
As an African living here in NZ, I (not any more) found it (un)surprising the people most likely to be affected i.e. Africans, were not asked if there is/was any credibility attached to this claim surrounding Catholic involvement in the AIDS scourge. No, it is the ignorant on one hand and overt hypocrites on the other who allege this for one reason and one reason alone. It is as you say, to attack the Catholic church. I lost a few of my friends to AIDS (TB) and there is another friend, who will soon die because of 'TB'. Not only do these stupid claims emanate from (normally) agnostic/ atheist, probably liberal of some stripe, but you also find Catholics(e.g. Bishop Kevin Dowling in S.A.) advocating condom usage.
ReplyDelete"Aside from the fact that the DIRECT causes"....correct! The problem is that too many in the west think that Africans are stupid and cannot think for themselves.
To answer your question, I am not sure whether non-Catholics would listen. Why should they? Also,fornication (and adultery) would be the biggest reasons. And, T think that it is here why many in the West attack Holy Mother church, Simply because they are guilty of these acts and their conscience pricks to the point of 'lashing out', albeit in of course, gentle words.