The Catholic Church and AIDS in Africa -- Catholic Friends Forum

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 12:45:33 02/17/08 Sun
Author: Joan
Author Host/IP: ip68-0-253-131.ri.ri.cox.net / 68.0.253.131
Subject: The Catholic Church and AIDS in Africa

Some like to blame the CC for the spread of AIDS in Africa, saying that the Church's teaching on sex and contraception causes the spread of AIDS.

If someone can point to one couple that contracted AIDS through sex while following the Catholic Church's teaching on sex, I'd love to hear about it. :)

I found this quote that I thought was cute.

"Ending AIDS by handing out condoms is like ending murder by handing out bullet-proof vests."

What do you think? Does the Catholic Church's teaching on sex (no premarital sex, no adultery) and contraception (just say no) cause the spread of AIDS?

IMO, it's the people's refusal to follow that teaching that's responsible for the spread of AIDS.

Joan

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> People must take responsibility for their own actions regardless of beliefs. -- Catie, 20:52:58 02/17/08 Sun [1] (h78.8.28.71.ip.alltel.net/71.28.8.78)

In the original ten commandments God warned do NOT have premartial sex. (Thou shal not commit fornication) He didn't do it to keep something good from mankind. He knew there would be severe consequences. I'm not judging. It's God's word, not mine. So for every action there is a reaction. God is pure love. He created men and women with the right parts to have sex. But it is to be between husband and wife. So he is a loving God, trying to protect his children from things they knew nothing about.

I personally have never heard the argument that the Catholic church is to blame for Aids in Africa because they teach abstainence.

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> Re: The Catholic Church and AIDS in Africa -- Neysa, 04:40:37 02/18/08 Mon [1] (user-38lcicb.dialup.mindspring.com/209.86.73.139)

I never heard that one before that the Catholic Church is to blame for the spread of Aids in Africa. I agree with what Catie, said, and yes it is the people who must take responsibility for their actions.

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> Here's one from the UN -- Joan, 05:04:44 02/18/08 Mon [1] (ip68-0-253-131.ri.ri.cox.net/68.0.253.131)

Obviously, this covers any place that the Church promotes its views, including Africa.

UN official says failure to prevent spread of AIDS is fault of Catholic Church, PRI director responds

Tegucigalpa, Oct 24, 2007 / 10:15 am (CNA).- An official with the UN HIV/AIDS Program has blamed the Catholic Church for not stopping the spread of the disease in Central America and dismissed the success of campaigns that promote abstinence.

Far from acknowledging the failure of the UN to stop the disease, Alberto Stella, UNAIDS coordinator for Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, told the Reuters news agency that the Catholic Church�s opposition to condoms has worsened the AIDS epidemic in Latin America.

�In Latin America the use of the condom has been demonized, but if it was used during relations I guarantee the epidemic would be eliminated in the region,� Stella said.

�The fact that young people become sexually active between the ages of 15 and 19 without any sexual education contributes to the spread of the virus, and evidence shows that abstinence does not work,� he claimed.

An estimated 1.7 million people in Latin America are believed to be HIV positive. The greatest numbers of cases are in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, while Honduras has the most cases in Central America.

According to Carlos Polo, director for Latin America of the Population Research Institute, the statements by Stella are an attempt to deny the failure of the UNAIDS campaigns which are always centered on the use of condoms.

�To accuse the Church of spreading AIDS is absurd because it assumes that one believes the Church is telling young people to have relations without condoms, when in reality the Church is calling on them insistently to live abstinence in the face of the aggressive propaganda by entities such as UNAIDS, which encourage promiscuity under the euphemism of �safe-sex�,� Polo said.

Polo pointed out that UNAIDS �cannot speak about the failure of abstinence� because it has never tried to promote it in its campaigns. Throughout the years, the UN �has denied the success of abstinence in the fight against AIDS in Uganda, where together with the Church, the government has been able to stop the spread of the disease by promoting abstinence and fidelity.�

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> And from Africa -- Joan, 05:10:10 02/18/08 Mon [1] (ip68-0-253-131.ri.ri.cox.net/68.0.253.131)

This one actually called the Catholic Church's stand on sexual morality "stupid".

Email this story to a friend.
Print this story.
View entire HIV/AIDS Report.

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report

Global Challenges | South African Catholic Church Condemns Condom Use To Prevent HIV Spread
[Jan 28, 2005]
The South African Roman Catholic Church this week condemned promotion of condoms within the country, saying it fails to curb the spread of HIV and may increase promiscuity, Reuters reports. Cardinal Wilfred Napier said there is "no evidence" that condom promotion works to prevent HIV transmission and that, as a contraceptive, condoms have a failure rate. "Can you show me one example where condoms have stopped the spread of AIDS?" he asked, adding, "If you look at South Africa, millions have been spent promoting condoms, and we have one of the highest rates in the world. By promoting condoms, we are promoting immoral behavior." Napier said that promiscuity is "more damaging" than the HIV/AIDS pandemic, according to Reuters. Napier cited Uganda as the only success story in the fight against HIV/AIDS and said the country promotes abstinence instead of condoms. "If we look at the one example of success we have, which is Uganda, then there is a clear message that it was a return to moral values that has halted the disease," he said, adding, "Where condoms have been promoted, we have not seen the effect we've seen in Uganda." However, Uganda promotes both abstinence and condom use and has made condom distribution a "mainstay" in its fight against HIV/AIDS, according to Reuters. Napier also said that educating children and young people about condoms encourages them to engage in sexual activity. "This is a devastating disease," he said, adding, "You've got to challenge where the problem lies, and that is in practicing irresponsible behavior" (Apps, Reuters, 1/26).

Vatican Position
Pope John Paul II on Saturday reiterated the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to the use of condoms, saying that "respect of the sacred value of life and formation about the correct practice of sexuality" is the church's position on the issue. The pope's comments followed a week during which the Spanish Roman Catholic Church for the first time appeared to have indicated acceptance of the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV, although Spain's Conference of Catholic Bishops later backtracked on the comments. Last week, Spanish Bishops Conference spokesperson Bishop Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, following a meeting with Spain's Health Minister Elena Salgado to discuss the fight against HIV/AIDS, said that "condoms have a place in the global prevention of AIDS," adding, "The church is very worried and interested by this problem." Martinez Camino also said the Spanish Roman Catholic Church is willing to cooperate with the country's Socialist government, which in November 2004 launched a campaign promoting condom use, to address the "grave problem" of HIV/AIDS. "The moment has arrived ... for joint work," Martinez Camino added. However, the Spanish Conference of Catholic Bishops last week released an unsigned statement saying that Martinez Camino's comments "must be understood in the context of Catholic doctrine, which holds that the use of contraceptives implies immoral sexual behavior." The statement said, "It's not true that the church has changed its doctrine on condoms," adding, "It's impossible to advise the use of condoms" under Catholic doctrine. The bishops went on to say that sexual abstinence or monogamy are the "only successful" ways to prevent the spread of HIV (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/24).

TAC Reaction
The South African HIV/AIDS treatment advocacy group Treatment Action Campaign criticized the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference for opposing condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS, South Africa's Star reports. TAC spokesperson Denis Matwa said Napier's comments had set back the group's work "by years, especially in townships" where people are reluctant to use condoms, according to the Star. "It's a sorry situation to find a person of such influence preaching such a message," Matwa said (Jasson da Costa, Star, 1/26). Matwa also said he thought it was "surprising" that Napier cited Uganda as an example because when Matwa visited recently, "there were condoms everywhere, in libraries, schools and even churches," the SAPA/Business Day reports. "The cardinal is coming with a stupid message. It's either you use a condom or face premature death," Matwa said, adding, "We are a very sexually active nation. If you divide the number of condoms that is freely available to the public, it is not enough" (SAPA/Business Day, 1/25). UNAIDS estimates that the average man in sub-Saharan Africa only has access to three condoms a year (Reuters, 1/26). Matwa said TAC was urging the government to make more condoms available to the public (SAPA/Business Day, 1/25).

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]