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CajunRick
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
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| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Mon Mar 19th, 2007 10:20 am |
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By Father John Flynn
ROME, MARCH 18, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Once more the Catholic Church is under fire for its opposition to condoms.
Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, recently accused the Church of hypocrisy on the issue of condoms at an event organized by the country's health ministry, Reuters reported March 12.
The agency also reported the response of Cardinal Eugênio de Araújo Sales, retired archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, in which he criticized the government's condom program in a newspaper article. The policy of mass condom distribution, he wrote, promotes a culture of sexual promiscuity.
A statement issued by Brazil's episcopal commission on family and life also rejected Silva's accusation. The commission insisted on the need to educate adolescents in good moral principles.
Governments in many countries increasingly favor the wholesale distribution of condoms in an attempt to reduce teenage pregnancies and the spread of sexual diseases. Earlier this year in Scotland, condoms were being distributed to children as young as 13, Edinburgh's Evening News reported Jan. 16.
The newspaper reported that data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that in 2005 a total of 53,638 free condoms were issued to children 13-15 in Edinburgh and surrounding areas.
Simon Dames, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, commented on the program, noting the inconsistency of a government policy that bans smoking for those under 18, yet promotes sexual activity by distributing condoms to those still under the legal age of consent -- 16 -- for sexual relations.
In the United States, a joint statement by Cardinal Edward Egan of New York, and Bishop Nicholas Di Marzio of Brooklyn criticized the city's government for distributing free condoms on Valentine's Day, the Associated Press reported Feb. 16.
The bishops' statement said that the only way to protect against sexually transmitted diseases is through abstinence before marriage and fidelity after.
Health authorities in Washington, D.C., also gave away 250,000 condoms in the weeks preceding Valentine's Day, the Washington Post reported Feb. 16.
Church's stance vindicated
According to Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, premarital abstinence, as well as fidelity between spouses, are far more effective means to prevent AIDS. The cardinal made these remarks at a conference in Rome on AIDS, reported the Associated Press on Dec. 20.
A growing body of evidence backs up the cardinal's statement. On March 2 the Washington Post published a lengthy article examining the experience of Botswana in dealing with AIDS.
The newspaper noted that a number of studies single out the practice of having sex with multiple partners "as the most powerful force propelling a killer disease through a vulnerable continent."
The Washington Post cited a July report by southern African AIDS experts and officials that put "reducing multiple and concurrent partnerships" as their first priority for preventing the spread of HIV. The region accounts for 38% of total HIV infections in the world.
The article described how Botswana has followed for many years the policy recommended by international experts of promoting condoms and distributing antiretroviral drugs. All to no avail. The contagion rate for HIV in the country is the among the fastest growing in the world. Around 25% of the population is currently infected.
Fidelity campaigns were never seriously promoted in Botswana, the Washington Post observed, but condoms were. A $13.5 million campaign for condom promotion was launched in the country, thanks to the financial support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Merck pharmaceutical company. The amount spent on promoting condoms was 25 times more than what was spent on abstinence programs.
"Soaring rates of condom use have not brought down high HIV rates," the article concluded. "Instead, they rose together, until both were among the highest in Africa."
Changing behavior
The importance of modifying the way people act, instead of programs based on condom distribution, is increasingly being recognized by medical experts.
On March 11, 2006, the British Medical Journal published an article entitled "Risk Compensation: The Achilles' Heel of Innovations in HIV Prevention?"
Authored by a team of writers headed by Michael Cassell, the article observed that while pharmaceuticals and other measures can help reduce the spread of HIV, they may also inhibit the change to safer behaviors by diminishing people's perceptions of risks.
Condom promotion campaigns, combined with a reduction in risk perception, "may have contributed to increases in inconsistent use, which has minimal protective effect, as well as to a possible neglect of the risks of having multiple sexual partners," the article commented.
The authors also noted that studies in a number of Western countries show that the promise of increased access to antiretroviral treatment "has been associated with significant increases in risky behavior."
Prior to this confirmation of the need to change sexual behavior, came from a study carried out in Zimbabwe's rural population between 1998 and 2003. An article entitled "Understanding HIV Epidemic Trends in Africa," published Feb. 3, 2006, in Science magazine, reported on the study's findings.
Authors Richard Hayes and Helen Weiss wrote that a reduction in HIV prevalence was achieved due to changes in sexual behavior. The changes involved delaying the onset of sexual activity by adolescents and a reduction in the number of casual sexual partners.
A related theme in the debate is the question of promoting abstinence. The negative consequences of initiating sexual relations at an early age was highlighted in an article published in the February issue of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.
The article, "Adolescent Sexual Debut and Later Delinquency," by Stacy Armour and Dana Haynie, observed that the question of ill effects resulting from sex outside marriage is a controversial point in the debate over whether to promote abstinence. Up until now, however, there has been little research on the topic.
Armour and Haynie used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health to examine interconnections between the age of sexual debut and subsequent delinquency problems. The study covered some 12,000 students and the findings were controlled for variables such as age, race and family structure.
Among the conclusions from the study was the finding that premature initiation of sexual activity increases the risks of delinquency. Similarly, delaying sexual activity later than one's peers "offers a protective effect and reduces the risks of engaging in subsequent delinquency." The corresponding negative and positive effects go beyond adolescence and persist until early adulthood.
A sustainable solution
The importance of a solution based on a complete vision of the human person was the theme of a message published by African bishops for the last World AIDS Day, observed Dec. 1.
The document was published by the Catholic Information Service for Africa on Nov. 21, and signed by Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar.
"We Catholic bishops of Africa encourage everyone to consider the deeper causes of the pandemic," it declared. The problem is not just medical or technical, but involves deeper moral issues. In addition to committing the Church in providing health care for those who are sick, the statement pointed out the need to preach the Gospel message.
"As the Church's mission is to address the whole person in all dimensions of life, we feel the special responsibility to revitalize the strong moral values in our societies," the document added. "That is what will lead to a true, sustainable solution to AIDS in Africa."
An argument that unfortunately continues to be ignored by many governments and organizations.
The above article is reposted from Zenit.
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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Ali
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| Joined: | Sat Jan 6th, 2007 |
| Location: | Ohio USA |
| Posts: | 661 |
| First Name: | Ali | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | JW, finally fully Catholic |
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Posted: Mon Mar 19th, 2007 10:49 am |
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It has so much to do with education, IMO, just like abortion. So much mis-information has been spread among peoples. Like rumors and a wild fire.
If people want to reject God, and they will, then it needs to be brought to them as a health/hygiene matter.
Abstinance works.
{sigh} This is one (of the few) problems with Bono/U2. He has encouraged distribution of comdoms to African countries. I think I still love him 
Ali
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Darlene
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| Joined: | Mon Oct 9th, 2006 |
| Location: | Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania USA |
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| First Name: | Darlene | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Christian, trusting His love and forgiveness |
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Posted: Sun Apr 1st, 2007 08:24 pm |
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Just as increased condom distribution does not reduce the numbers of those contracting the HIV virus,
So also cohabitating does not reduce the risk for divorce. In fact, divorce is on the rise, while more and more people choose to cohabitate.
I prefer to call it "living in sin." Yep, I know. I must be a dinosaur. After all, there is an increasing number of young people that do not even know what the meaning of the word....sin. Sigh. Oh, I forgot. There's no such thing as sin anymore. That is an outdated concept. Now, we must all feel good about ourselves.
Darlene
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The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. II Corinthians 13:14
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Annie
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| Joined: | Wed Feb 14th, 2007 |
| Location: | Columbus, Ohio USA |
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| First Name: | Annie | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | nothing, Quaker, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican, Catholic |
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Posted: Tue Apr 3rd, 2007 11:27 am |
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The virological fact is that condom use is extremely effective against the spread of HIV as well as all sexually transmitted diseases. But, they have to be used. Most people say they are going to use them and then won't. If someone with a high viral load has unprotected sex even once there is a virtual certainty that they will spread the disease. So the epidemiological evidence seems to show that condoms don't work. But the virology says otherwise. Of course abstinence works, but it also only works if you actually do it and don't just talk about it. You have to actually do what you say you are going to do or nothing works.
The same holds for the so-called "failures" of birth control pills. Forget one dose and you are not protected for an entire month. So abstinence works, if you actually do it.
Like the running shoe commercial: Just Do It (oops, not that way, blush).
How about another commercial: Just Do Abstinence (that's better)
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Annie
Ora et labora
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David W. Emery
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
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| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
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Posted: Tue Apr 3rd, 2007 12:56 pm |
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Annie wrote:The virological fact is that condom use is extremely effective against the spread of HIV as well as all sexually transmitted diseases.
Since this is the exact opposite of what I have read, perhaps you could provide us a source for the information.
I have read a number of reports saying that the theoretical limit of effectiveness of condoms against HIV/AIDS is 25 percent. This is due, they say, to the molecular density of the material of which condoms are made being too porous versus the virus it is supposed to protect you from. HIV has little difficulty passing right on through. The Africans who are dying by the hundreds of thousands of AIDS have told us in no uncertain terms that condoms do not work against HIV. The only region that has any less than epidemic proportions of HIV and AIDS in its population is Uganda, where government policy has promoted abstinence instead of condoms.
But you do have a strong point: without actual practice of a method, regardless of the method, its effectiveness is zero. With this all agree, including both the Church and Planned Parenthood.
David
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Annie
Banned
| Joined: | Wed Feb 14th, 2007 |
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Posted: Tue Apr 3rd, 2007 02:12 pm |
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| HIV goes through "natural" condoms, not the latex ones. That's why virologists wear latex gloves. The problem in Africa is what is called "patient compliance."
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Annie
Ora et labora
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Annie
Banned
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| First Name: | Annie | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | nothing, Quaker, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican, Catholic |
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Posted: Tue Apr 3rd, 2007 02:16 pm |
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HIV goes through "natural" condoms, not the latex ones. That's why virologists wear latex gloves. The problem in Africa is what is called "patient compliance."
I consider the source when evaluating information. Unfortunately, special interest groups like to bend the facts to fit their presuppositions but the endemic in Africa is a special case in many ways. I don't want to post here what those are 'cuz they are gross but the behavior in the cultures there are not the same as in the Americas.
Pray for both abstinence and patient compliance?
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Annie
Ora et labora
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5350 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Tue Apr 3rd, 2007 02:39 pm |
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Annie wrote: The virological fact is that condom use is extremely effective against the spread of HIV as well as all sexually transmitted diseases.
The nuns used to teach us that there was only one pill that is 100% effective at preventing sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy and that is an aspirin tablet ... held firmly between the knees.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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Annie
Banned
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Posted: Tue Apr 3rd, 2007 03:59 pm |
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Cajunrick, I like that one. Abstaining is the only way.
Here is are some results from a cursory search (i only had 5 minutes) of the primary literature:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9141163&dopt=Citation
From the CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/qa/condom.htm
note page 11:
http://humupd.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/5/1/1.pdf
eeeeuw....
Let's start a thread about something more cheerful like the Eucharist or something...
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Annie
Ora et labora
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