Comments on: Is the Catholic Church responsible for the spread of AIDS in Latin America?

By: Ricky

Ricky — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:00:46 +0000

I was so confused about what to buy, but this makes it udnertsnaadble.

By: RobK

RobK — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 07:48:00 +0000

Anonymous – what does the scandal caused by a tiny fraction of priests have to do with the veracity of Church teaching? What does it have to do with the spread of AIDS? Are you making the idiotic contention that priests have AIDS and are the direct cause of the spread of AIDS in Latin America? Or are you looking for an te excuse to ignore the valid teachings of the Church? The Church is both the Bride of Christ (indeed his very body) AND a group of sinners. Do not let the failings of humans keep you from the divine truth."No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother" – St. Cyprian of Carthage.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 05:56:00 +0000

I am ashamed to be a Catholic after reading the comments in here. I have just watched sport relief, and if you cannot see how the Churches teachings have ruined whole communities, then you are just like the rest of the Catholics who turn a blind eye or have selected memory re all the priests who still are out there hiding there dark secrets re paedophillia. Then we go to confession and all is well!

By: A Simple Sinner

A Simple Sinner — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:59:00 +0000

Simply delusional of you Anuskha. If most people were getting HIV/AIDS from vaginal sex, it would have been the straight community that got hit hardest and there would be tens of millions more cases and deaths by now.Little secret? There are a lot more heterosexuals out there (let's compirmise and say 95%)… By the raw numbers, more heterosexuals mean more unprotected heterosexual sex. (Let's face it, there must be quite a bit, 1.4M abortions last year – how many are from broken condoms?)Anushka, I would love to see your statistics to back up these arguments. It seems to conflict with what I see available, namely "In 2005, the estimated number of diagnoses of AIDS in the United States and dependent areas was 41,897. Of these, 40,608 were in the 50 states and District of Columbia and 982 were in the dependent areas. In the 50 states and District of Columbia, adult and adolescent AIDS cases totaled 40,540 with 29,766 cases in males and 10,774 cases in females, and 68 cases estimated in children under age 13." http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm#hivestI have every good reason to suspect that among the 10K female cases one of three things things will be found to be common: drug use, prostitution and a previously existing STDs that have comprimised the immunity or have left these women more suseptable due to lesions & sores (i.e. herpes).All the condoms in all the world would likely not slow this down. And condoms are becoming more widelys available everywhere anyway…(Funny thing about religous strictures, what people really want, they go out and get. Somalia during the famine comes to mind. During the height of the Somali famine crisis, khat – which was mostly imported from Kenya by air – was still being flown in at a rate of 20 tons worth US$800,000, DAILY. Khat is basically a drug, and it violates the precepts of Islam – which is the predom religion of the area. Religious sensibilities be damned, what they really wanted, they really got, even when food was not available.)And a small BIG point… "Immoral behavior" in Catholic thought includes extra-marital sex.After 20 years I am rather cynical about AIDS activism and the "safe sex crew" It seems to be mostly a three part plan:1) Ignore how the disease is being really spread2) Give up your Catholic Faith's teaching on sex, sexuality, and the genitive nature of the marital act3) Accept and abide by whatever they tell you to do to stop the "epidemic" but don't demand proof it is working.

By: Anushka

Anushka — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:50:00 +0000

i hate to say it but these posts are a bit delusional. the catholic church is very powerful in many parts of latin america and they have conrol over a variety of social issues including the distribution, or lack thereof, of condoms. however, as has beeen proved time and time again, they do not have control over personal choices- if people want to have sex, they will have sex, with our without the catholic church. however, with the catholic church's uncompromising attitude towards condoms, they will be having unprotected sex. congratulations.also, in the united states (for example), the HIV infection rates are highest amongst straight women. now you could argue (and i'm sure you will) that they are all drug users who use dirty needles, but i think a far simpler explanation is in fact accurate- most people dont get HIV from what you call "sinful" or "immoral" behaviors. they get it from heterosexual, unprotected sex.

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:55:00 +0000

I have some links to reports in various Medical journals and UN reports showing how their philosophies are being proven wrong by the results. There is also a copy of a witty parody by an American Catholic writer.

By: A Simple Sinner

A Simple Sinner — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:27:00 +0000

I would be curious to know how well documented these cases of HIV in fact are. Some have suggested – and I am prone to believe it – that many (but not all) of the "AIDS" cases in Africa are not HIV/AIDS at all, but the same old diseases that have plagued some of those nations for years: malaria, dyptheria, dissentary… Many times assumptions are made about the cause of death when no diagnostic tests were run. In other cases, these countries and health orgs know what is smart: AIDS = funding. Malaria? Not so much.Why is that?It is also amazingly unpopular to say and I am careful where I do so, but the much propogated myth of widespread heterosexual AIDS spread by normal vaginal intercourse has been disproven in a number of studies but the press persists in chanting it…(In some instances in some African cultures – forgive me for putting this so plainly – the unnatural sex practicesup to and including inserting stones into the vagina to create "friction" assures two things: greater levels of transmission, greater failure for condoms…)Chances are mighty good that if in fact there is a widespread outbreak of HIV in Latin America, that much of the new infections in the self-identifying heterosexual community would be among drug users sharing dirty needles or who have become so immuno-comprimised otherwise from the ravishes of drug use and disease that they actually are suseptable. In either case, all the truckloads of condoms in all the world would not make their needles clean or their sexual choices smarter. But it is pretty ludicrous to suggest pious practicioners of male to male anal sex (NOT PC to say, but I daresay still the most common means of transmission sexually) are not using condoms because the Church told them it was wrong to use condoms when doing so…

By: Subvet

Subvet — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:18:00 +0000

Lemme see, if the Catholic Church teaches that sex outside of marriage and aberrant sex is sinful in the eyes of God how does that contribute to the spread of AIDS? And why would someone who goes against those particular teachings draw the line at using a condom?Seems if more people followed the teachings of the Church the AIDS problem would diminish!

By: Paul, just this guy,

Paul, just this guy, — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:58:00 +0000

Yeah, right. Find me one person who died of AIDS because he followed the teachings of the Catholic faith.This makes me crazy every time I hear it.Last year, it was Elton John blaming the death of Freddy Mercury on the Catholic Church.