tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5094967570243723764.post6808751054951490889..comments2023-10-07T09:34:47.507-05:00Comments on Aggie Catholics: Pope and CondomsMarcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18121158394600137195noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5094967570243723764.post-69456153506377936082009-03-24T18:33:00.000-05:002009-03-24T18:33:00.000-05:00as far as I know, the infertility IS mentioned in ...as far as I know, the infertility IS mentioned in the Bible as a sort of a curse - when mentioning the end of the world, when it will be so bad that the mothers would be rather if they were infertile... I remember reading something like that. But even there it implies that the infertility is not good.Foxiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07541463404765388574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5094967570243723764.post-7338576275093536592009-03-18T13:59:00.000-05:002009-03-18T13:59:00.000-05:00Thanks for this articulate treatment of a very dif...Thanks for this articulate treatment of a very difficult, emotionally fraught topic. The negative reactions to the Pope's words about condoms and the AIDS epidemic remind me of a Chesterton quote: "The modern mind will accept nothing on authority, but will accept anything on no authority. Say that the Bible or the Pope says so and it will be dismissed without further examination. But preface your remark with "I think I heard somewhere," or, try but fail to remember the name of some professor who might have said such-and-such, and it will be immediately accepted as an unshakable fact."<BR/><BR/>Emotions can obscure facts. Condoms will save lives! say the pro-birth control crowd, and we can practice Christian charity in assuming that their hearts are in the right place. Nonetheless, what must be annoying to those with an anti-Catholic bias is the fact that if the Church's teaching on sexual morality (sex is sacred in the context of a committed, sacramental relationship between a man and a woman) were followed, then that alone would solve the AIDS crisis. Assuming that Africans (or anyone, for that matter) simply "can't control" themselves and therefore must have access to unlimited access to condoms is to degrade the dignity of the human person. <BR/><BR/>I'm an editorial assistant for the N. Catholic Register, and though I'm biased I think Tom Hoopes' "electrical wire" analogy is very apropos of this conversation. Condoms aren't like "seat belts," they're like rubber gloves to put on when playing with a downed electrical line. Should we distribute more rubber gloves or educate people about the dangers of electrical wires and how it might be better to stay away from them?<BR/><BR/>http://www.ncregister.com/daily/condoms_aids_and_research/Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14581222649782082977noreply@blogger.com