Comments on: Pope: Condoms not the answer to fighting AIDS

By: CJ

CJ — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:55:29 +0000

As a Christian I am appaled at what the pope has been saying about homosexuals. As an angry teenager I say no evryone is a nun or a monk that is going to sew up their vagina or cut off their penis.

By: ColinJohn

ColinJohn — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:01:08 +0000

Apparently, everyone (that I’ve read) who has commented here is as sexually active as those who brought and spread the disease 20 some years ago. I guess some people will just never get it. HIV is spread by behavior, incorrect, bad, stupid, misinformed behavior.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:02:18 +0000

Of course condoms won’t help. Muttering into the air for help makes so much more sense! Why doesn’t the church just come out against chemotherapy as a treatment for cancer while they’re at it? Apparently these ass backwards pedophiles feel asking their imaginary friend and his daddy is much more productive!

By: coxygru

coxygru — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:01:07 +0000

The Pope’s remark borders on the criminal. It is morally reprehensible to foster lies that put people’s health in danger. Many Africans must already contend with the widespread misconception that condoms don’t protect sufficiently. The notion that abstinence is an option in public health concerns is pure folly. The Pope must apologize and must make amends for this gross error that puts so many lives in danger.

By: Gene

Gene — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:11:42 +0000

Paul Said: You people have to get a grip. … To get a true understanding of the churches [sic] teaching on homosexuality, read the Catechism and then put up a thoughtful comment.
Paul: I read the catechism. Over the course of a couple decades I read every church document I could find on the subject. I even read the book-length interviews with then-Cardinal Ratzinger. I consulted priests (including my older brother) and bishops and church-sponsored counselors. I joined groups and went to prayer meetings. I joined on-line support communities.
Then I tried to kill myself.
The problem with the Catholic Church lies not so much with what some of the “official” documents say, but with the way they are summarily ignored and the way hypocrisy is veiled in piety, and self-loathing in hollow compassion.
Officially, homosexuality is not considered a sin, but it is a manifestation of Original Sin. The esteemed bishops of the U.S. state that homosexuals are welcome in the church, but they should not dress like homosexuals, speak like homosexuals, do anything to support or engage in “homosexual culture.” They should not be ashamed of being homosexual, but they should not tell anybody except a counselor and close family members that they are homosexual. They should practice “aversion of the eyes” so they don’t look lustfully at a member of the same sex.
If they do any of these things, they are not allowed to receive communion unless they are purged by confession. If they try to receive communion, Jesus will leave the host and refuse to enter an unworthy recipient. Apparently it is the role of the RC church to shield Jesus from those whom he would consider unworthy to be in his presence because Jesus lived his life always trying to protect himself from sinful people.
The only officially sanctioned “support” group does not allow anyone to refer to him or herself as “gay.” As a matter of fact, you aren’t considered homosexual either. There are no homosexuals. There are only heterosexuals who are suffering with Same Sex Attraction (SSA). It doesn’t consider itself an “ex-gay” group because most of its members never declared themselves to be “gay,” having been forbidden to use the word. But one of its goals is to help people “move beyond” SSA and “further their psychological development.”
In conclusion, my leaving the church was like finally admitting that I had a mother who didn’t know how to love me. The only way I could survive was to move away from that toxic relationship. That doesn’t mean that she is all evil, but that she is unwilling to provide the nurturing I need. I have to find that somewhere else. I’m not looking for another mother. I’m learning to live without one.
I work for a newspaper. The local bishop once complained about unfavorable coverage and said that I should work on getting more Catholics as editors. I told him the truth: most of the editors and reporters were Catholic. That’s why he was getting such bad press.
Don’t assume that some of the sarcasm and snarky comments are made in ignorance. Familiarity breeds contempt.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:19:40 +0000

Paul,

I don’t get upset when someone disagrees with me. I do get upset when some spreads misinformation that helps spread a disease.

And for the record if you think calling my life (lifestyle my beautiful black a$$) “immoral and selfish” is going to endear me to your point of view, you’re more delusional than that dude in a dress you’re listening to.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:36:16 +0000

You people have to get a grip. You become so angry when someone disagrees with your immoral and selfish lifestyle. The pope is speaking from a much higher level than your shallow opinions. The Catholic Church is the only Church that shows and demands people to treat you with love and dignity. Many rejected Christ’s message because it was too uncomfortable to hear. To get a true understanding of the churches teaching on homosexuality, read the Catechism and then put up a thoughtful comment. You may have grown up Catholic, but you lost the message on the way.

By: Alex Parrish

Alex Parrish — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:18:23 +0000

Jack said:”You have a 17% chance of being infected if you have sex with an HIV infected partner using a condom.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+barrier+performance+of+latex+rubber-a014089514

You have a 0% chance of becoming infected if you do not have sex with an HIV infected partner.”

Jack — what you have said is not incorrect, it is just irrelevant. People are simply not going to stop having sex and that’s a given. You and his Cluelessness can dream of your perfect (and sterile) world all you want, but on this planet, use of a condom decreases your chances of infection by “a factor of 3,” quoting the same article you hot-linked.

If condoms fail 17% of the time, that means that they do NOT fail 83% of the time. If you are going to have sex (and like-it-or-not most people are) — use a condom. To speak-out against condom-use as the Pope has, is irresponsible and evil.

By: david

david — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:17:27 +0000

as a recovering catholic… i am continually dismayed by the church’s lack of foresight, its ignorance of the modern world, and the failure to recognize the context of ancient documents in modern parameters… thank god i can still find the joy and peace of viewing jesus as a teacher, one of manu in our times… and i dont need the catholic church to cloud my ‘faith’ anymore.

… then again, are we surprised about an institution that only recently lifted the excommunication of Galileo and even more recently excommunicated a doctor and a nine year old whom dealt with an abortion for a rape pregnancy that would have put her life at great risk… no we shouldnt be… if the new legislation passes on child abuse staute limitations , then hopefully, the resulting suits will bankrupt it …
fittingly, on st. patricks day lets even take a closer look at the Ireland, with one of the highest rates of abuse and unwanted pregnancy in the industrialized world –and in a ‘catholic’ country no less… if only the irony wasnt so painfully terrible

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:55:13 +0000

How many more people have to die from aids before the Pope realizes he is wrong ,what century are these people in ,so sad now brainwashing a new continent