Liars or Idiots

13 October 2003


Spreading Misinformation is Spreading AIDS

There is a certain discomfort one feels in attacking any religious sect, but when superstition gets the nod over scientific fact, a rational person must open up with both barrels. So it is with deep regret that the painful idiocy or the vicious lie spread by the Catholic church that condoms do not inhibit the spread of AIDS has to be addressed.

The BBC's Panorama program (similar to America's 60 Minutes) showed an installment called "Sex and the Holy City" on Sunday. In short, Panorama's team of reporters found the Catholic church saying that condoms can kill in Africa, South America and Asia. Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, said that sperm can pass through the "net" (his word) of the condom, and the AIDS virus is 450 smaller than a sperm cell. Archbishop of Nairobi, Raphael Ndingi Nzeki, said on camera, "AIDS . . . has grown so fast because of the availability of condoms."

Either these men are idiots unaware of the scientific facts, or they are liars, telling an untruth knowingly. It is an unpalatable choice because if they were to rely on secular scientific sources, their argument in favor of abstinence would be bolstered. America's Center for Disease Control acknowledges "The surest way to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases is to abstain from sexual intercourse, or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and you know is uninfected." And "no protective method is 100 percent effective, and condom use cannot guarantee absolute protection against any STD [sexually transmitted disease, which includes HIV/AIDS]."

Unfortunately, an honest approach would also require the church to accept the CDC's statement "Latex condoms, when used consistently and correctly, are highly effective in preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS." The charity Christian Aid's Dr. Rachel Baggaley, who heads up its AIDS effort agrees, "Condoms are a straightforward and effective way of preventing HIV transmission and to suggest otherwise is dangerous."

When Galileo was punished by the Catholic church for making certain scientific assertions that, although true, were contrary to teaching, it took the church more than 400 years to acknowledge its error and apologize. But no one died because of the dispute. This situation if far worse because two million people this year will die from AIDS. The Catholic church is on the wrong end of this, and it does itself no good in persisting in its error.

Home