Posted on 10/23/2007 10:55:40 AM PDT by Pyro7480
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The rapid spread in Latin America of the virus that causes AIDS is made worse by the Roman Catholic Church's stand against using condoms, a U.N. official said on Monday.
Some 1.7 million people across Latin America are infected with the HIV virus or full-blown AIDS, and the epidemic is spreading swiftly with up to 410,000 new cases in 2006, up from as many as 320,000 new cases in 2004, according the UN AIDS program, UNAIDS.
"In Latin America the use of condoms has been demonized, but if they were used in every relation I guarantee the epidemic would be resolved in the region," said Alberto Stella, the UNAIDS Coordinator for Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
The Catholic Church, which holds sway in Latin America despite the rise in evangelical churches, opposes all forms of contraception and instead promotes abstinence as a way to avoid spreading AIDS.
"The fact young people start to be sexually active between 15 and 19 without sex education contributes to the spreading of the virus, as well as the fact that the evidence shows abstinence is not working," Stella told Reuters.
Latin America is home to nearly half the world's 1.1 billion Catholics, but the Church's position on premarital sex and contraception often clashes with modern values. Brazil, the region's largest Catholic nation, regularly distributes free condoms to try and bring down HIV infection rates.
More holier-than-thou lecturing from the demonic U.N.
Catholic ping!
Or not.
The UN worships some very strange gods.
Men humping and promiscuous heteros fornicating Helping AIDS Spread in Latin America.
Popes fault!
Makes sense to me.
Blaming Catholics for Aids again! I wonder how many of the people who are at risk for Aids are influenced by anything the Catholic Church says? The way these people are presenting it, 15 year old girls are responsible for Aids!
If someone is Catholic, it prevents them from using a condom, but it does not prevent them from having adulterous or homosexual sex.
Glad the U.N. cleared that up.< /sarcasm >
Kind of like building a submarine but having your beliefs prevent you from putting a water-tight hatch on it.
OH NO, we CAN’T blame the poor humans for their behavior!
Perish the thought that we, the United Nations, should EVER actually blame the guilty. Why, the very IDEA! It’s a violation of our....our, uh....
[Idiom?]
...YES! IDIOM!
We ALWAYS blame the blameless and exonerate the guilty; it’s in our organizational DNA, you know.
It’s the only true path to equality.
“Damn the good, and up the damnable,” that’s the spirit of global unity and peace.
/retching sarcasm
“If someone is Catholic, it prevents them from using a condom, but it does not prevent them from having adulterous or homosexual sex.
Glad the U.N. cleared that up.< /sarcasm >”
That was a perfect example of why nothing coming out of the UN can be taken seriously.
“In Latin America the use of condoms has been demonized, but if they were used in every relation I guarantee the epidemic would be resolved in the region,” said Alberto Stella, the UNAIDS Coordinator for Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
***
What about monogamous sex or maybe abstinence?
The UN has no clue.
No, Anal sex is spreading AIDS in Latin America.
Thank you for your comment. I was trying to think of how to say that and you did it perfectly.
Catholic Church RESPONSIBLE for irresponsible sex? Who’d a’ thunk it.
Sex Outside of Heterosexual Marriage Helping AIDS Spread in Latin America
Here's an interesting tidbit: New York City has the highest AIDS case rate in the country, with more AIDS cases than Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Washington DC combined. Is that because of the extreme difficulty of getting condoms in NYC? Or --- oh! --- must be because of the overwhelming influence of the Catholic Church in the NYC gay community!
Or there's this: the Latin American country with the highest rates of AIDs are reportedly:
Belize (less than 50% Catholic)
Bahamas (13.5% Catholic)
Barbados (4% Catholic)
(Figures from the CIA World Fact Book)
But for heaven's sake, don't get distracted by all these facts...
Passing out condoms sends a message of "go ahead with this risky behavior, just be careful." So when the condoms run out, are not available or fail, the behavior continues unabated.
strange.....
Uganda seems to be getting the opposite results.....but then again- the UN can’t make money or gain power by supporting abstinence.
and worse than that— the UN cannot gain power or money if it actually SOLVES any problems!
http://catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0074.html
Right. Blame it on the Church for banning condoms, and not on people for having unsafe sex in the first place. I hadn’t heard that the Church went around confiscating condoms. That’s overstepping a little . . .
glad to see someone else actually knows about Uganda!!!!
hats off to you!!!
;-)
Actually, what’s helping the spread of AIDS is people’s unwillingness to exercise a little self-control.
It would also put a real dent in the birth rate.
That sounds like UN activities to me.
Excellent post. Very well said.
“It’s a violation of our idiom”?
Huh? Is there some other kind of marriage? ;'}
Interesting in that I read an article on FR just yesterday which showed that the result of California implementing its condom based sex education has been an explosion of STDs in the State.
That's one of the most ridiculous statements I've ever seen. Is the U.N. really telling us that folks that disobey the Church's teaching on sex outside of marriage (man and woman) wouldn't dare disobey the Church's teachings on condom use?! Does the U.N. really think people are stupid enough to buy that?!
Gotta love how al-Reuters puts the word “Ban” in the headline as if this were the high Middle Ages and the Catholic Church had the power to “ban” anything.
Isn’t it sad that you’ve gotta make that clear these days?
The UN has had its way in Africa, and we have seen the results.
Common sense tells us that people won’t abstain, but they probably would use condoms.
Because people who engage in premarital sex are so very, very concerned with following Church teaching regarding contraception!
Keep it in the pants.
All that becomes moot.
If those fornicating outside the bounds matrimony already ignore the Holy See, what makes the UN think they are obeying the Catholic stance on condoms.
“The fact young people start to be sexually active between 15 and 19 without sex education...”
Whoa. So noone gets “sex ed”? As if THAT helps stop it all!
“...the evidence shows abstinence is not working,”
Abstinence PERFECTLY works.
It’s your failure to promote it that is causing problems.
“So when the condoms run out, are not available or fail, the behavior continues unabated.”
BINGO.
Condone the behavior, and it’ll be done whether it is “safe” or not.
There is now. Are you forgetting England, Canada, Massachusetts, etc.
... because we KNOW that people who disregard church teachings on extramarital sex follow church teachings on condom use.
I’ll take South America’s AIDS infection rates over the UN Fiefdoms across Central and Southern Africa.
X: Your point is, of course, well taken. Only I call it disgusting, not sad.
B: If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have?
>> Brazil, the region’s largest Catholic nation, regularly distributes free condoms to try and bring down HIV infection rates. <<
Hmmm... that would seem to be a good control case, wouldn’t it? Or how about a non-Catholic Latin American country?
Largely Catholic:
Bolivia, 0.07
Paraguay, 0.13
Chile, 0.20
Mexico, 0.35
Columbia, 0.36
Peru, 0.56
Argentina, 0.69
Brazil: 0.95
Non-Catholic:
Surinam, 1.17
Belize, 1.89 (OK, it’s Central American)
Guyana, 2.13
Notice: All 3 non-Catholic, Latin-American countries have HIGHER rates of infection than Brazil. All Catholic countries have LOWER rates of infection than Brazil.
Only the left coast liberals. Their a little busy right now so this will probably be republished with the fires are finally put out.
Only the left coast liberals. Their a little busy right now so this will probably be republished with the fires are finally put out.
In Massachusetts it has 5 legs and here in New Jersey it has 4 1/2 legs. (Civil Unions)
This makes no sense. Why would someone either commit adultery or have sex outside of marriage, yet obey the Church regarding condems?
Libs are so arrogant that they believe they know better with their decades (at most) of experience than the accumulated knowledge of thousands of years and millions of people.
This accumulated knowledge, regardless of religious context, accounts for the set of best practices called “morality” that leads to the best chance at a successful life.
Sex outside the context of monogomous marriage leads to bad consequences. Oh, tough one to understand, right?
The emperor is naked.
Nonsense. Anyone who's sexually active outside of marriage wouldn't concern themselves with the CC's stance on condoms -- they'd wear them if they wanted to and wouldn't if they didn't.
If you read this patent ap, it tells the reason why condoms don’t work.
Abstinence does.
Libs can’t/won’t understand that there is a REASON for traditional values - and this is an example.
They “can’t” understand because their arrogance tells them that their limited time on earth has given them more wisdom than the accumulated knowledge of billions of people over thousands of years.
They “won’t” understand because such understanding would necessarily lead to some self control and denial of instant gratification.
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