Artificial contraception
This Op-Ed piece in the NY Times titled "The Pope and AIDS" illustrates how little understood Catholic theology is on the subject of artificial contraception.
Nicholas Kristof writes "the Vatican's ban on condoms has cost many hundreds of thousands of lives from AIDS. So when historians look back at the Catholic Church in this era, they'll give it credit for having fought Communism and helped millions of the poor around the world. But they'll also count its anti-condom campaign as among its most tragic mistakes in the first two millennia of its history." It basically comes down to the fact that people like Kristof seem to think that extra-marital sexual relations are OK, and therefore it is ridiculous to ban condoms. No - extra-marital sexual relations are grave sins. In fact, I think it could be argued that the use of a condom in extra-marital sexual relations is like slapping a guy in the face after you shoot him. Yes, it's wrong, but the more grave sin was the shooting.
Kristof uses examples like prostitutes and HIV positive teenagers who have extra-marital sex as reasons why condoms should be allowed. No, the proper counsel to give those people is to stop having sex outside the bonds of marriage! After all, it is THIS that is by far the biggest cause for the spread of AIDS.
Kristof even goes so far as to "quote" (the NY Times is not very reliable in news reporting, so I have reason to doubt the authenticity of anything they print) a seminarian who supposedly argued that Jesus would encourage the use of condoms. Well, Jesus did exchange words with a prostitute, and what did he say? "Go and sin no more."
Nicholas Kristof writes "the Vatican's ban on condoms has cost many hundreds of thousands of lives from AIDS. So when historians look back at the Catholic Church in this era, they'll give it credit for having fought Communism and helped millions of the poor around the world. But they'll also count its anti-condom campaign as among its most tragic mistakes in the first two millennia of its history." It basically comes down to the fact that people like Kristof seem to think that extra-marital sexual relations are OK, and therefore it is ridiculous to ban condoms. No - extra-marital sexual relations are grave sins. In fact, I think it could be argued that the use of a condom in extra-marital sexual relations is like slapping a guy in the face after you shoot him. Yes, it's wrong, but the more grave sin was the shooting.
Kristof uses examples like prostitutes and HIV positive teenagers who have extra-marital sex as reasons why condoms should be allowed. No, the proper counsel to give those people is to stop having sex outside the bonds of marriage! After all, it is THIS that is by far the biggest cause for the spread of AIDS.
Kristof even goes so far as to "quote" (the NY Times is not very reliable in news reporting, so I have reason to doubt the authenticity of anything they print) a seminarian who supposedly argued that Jesus would encourage the use of condoms. Well, Jesus did exchange words with a prostitute, and what did he say? "Go and sin no more."
posted at 5/11/2005
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