Bible bribery for the poor

Monsignor Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Workers, claims the world suffers from a dangerous epidemic. Barragan calls it "pan-sexual," meaning sex, once used only for procreation, is now abused as a means of pastime. \nBarragan isn't the only one blowing the whistle on sex. His team consists of the entire Vatican. According to an Associated Press report released last Friday, an influential cardinal opposed condoms in a British Broadcasting Corporation documentary because not only does the Roman Catholic Church believe condoms encourage promiscuity, but condoms don't protect against HIV, anyway. \nSo then what's the Vatican's consensus on alternative protection against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases? \n"We say that prevention ... is called chastity," Barragan said (Associated Press, Nov. 6, 2002). \nMeanwhile in Africa, the homeland of two-thirds of the world's AIDS victims, some Catholic churches militantly fight against the proliferation of condoms across the continent because, as Bishop Alexandre Mbengue from Senegal stated in an Oct. 10 Agence France Presse article, "We cannot say to people ... who want to use condoms, 'Go ahead, use them,' and thus, cave into the current trend.'" \nThe Bishop's statement begs the question: Is withholding condoms from people more about preventing disease or sin against God?\nThe Truth for Youth, comic books for devout teens, provides another example of condom condemnation and absolute abstinence. \nIn the middle of a high school football game, Reggie, the star quarterback, is preoccupied with thoughts of the other kind of "scoring." \n"Stats an' Teresa are sayin' there's no such thing as 'safe sex,'" Reggie says to his friends on the sidelines. "But in sex ed class, they told us that condoms are good protection!"\n"Did they tell you (condoms) are a millionth of an inch thick and porous?" asked "Stats," the token high school geek. "Viruses such as AIDS are so small they can go through the pores of a condom like a football goes through the goal posts."\nIn the margin of the comic, words from Corinthians read, "Don't you know that wicked people won't inherit the kingdom of God? Stop deceiving yourselves! People who continue to commit sexual sins ... will not inherit the kingdom of God." \nThe two concepts of religious salvation and disease prevention are often confused, intertwined or synonymous. \nIf the message that condoms are immoral doesn't work, opponents certainly can't support their cause by saying condoms don't prevent HIV because the issue is debatable. Fadela Chaib, the spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, said a study in June 2001 revealed condoms are actually 90 percent preventative of HIV and 10 percent ineffective simply because the condom was implemented incorrectly.\nThese religious leaders probably intend to improve the welfare of HIV/AIDS inflicted countries and society as a whole by promoting piety, but in the end, will the people be better off without the accessibility of condoms in their clinics? \n America's very own "religious" leader, President Bush, contributes the most to the problem. Bush reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which withholds all U.S. funding from African health care facilities providing any abortion education. Many clinics have folded because they lost funding, and unfortunately, with their absence, several communities are without any health care providers at all. The number of places people can receive condoms is quickly diminishing.\nBush has appeased the Christian right's desire for abstinence-only education with the policy. While these people think imposing their own "ethics" on AIDS-stricken countries is an achievement, they're terribly misled. Is it ethical that a pregnant woman has to go to a makeshift, underground abortion operation because the clinics no longer exist? Is it ethical that a girl forced into prostitution contracts HIV because she doesn't have access to contraceptives? \nWhen it comes to AIDS, compassion isn't a matter of "tough love"