April 24, 2005
ET TUTU? (via Kevin Whited):
Africans hail conservative Pope (BBC, 4/20/05)
African church leaders have welcomed the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.Archbishop John Onayekon of Nigeria told the BBC that African Catholics supported his conservative views on social and sexual issues.
However, South Africa's Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu said he was sad that the new pope was unlikely to end the church's opposition to condoms.
He said this was more important than the fact that the Pope was not African.
"We would have hoped for someone more open to the more recent developments in the world, the whole question of the ministry of women and a more reasonable position with regards to condoms and HIV/Aids," Archbishop Tutu said.
Surprising, eh, that Catholicism is thriving and Angicanism dying? Posted by Orrin Judd at April 24, 2005 5:39 PM
Catholicism is thriving ?
Not in America, nor in Europe.
They're big in Africa, but 1 out of 4 Africans will be dead of AIDS within twenty years...
Kind of a nutty religion that advocates actions that kill off its followers.
Europe is a dead letter. It's growing here in numbers and has obviously never been more politically powerful.
Posted by: oj at April 24, 2005 11:55 PMKind of a nutty religion that advocates actions that kill off its followers.
Sorry, Rip, but that comment deserves to be ripped. AIDS is spread by sexual intercourse. If everyone in Africa followed Catholic teaching on sexuality, reserving intercourse for heterosexual marriage only, the virus would never have spread.
OTOH, if the Church adopted the sexual teachings of Maureen Dowd and everybody followed those, you'd be almost no better off. Remember, condoms have a 15% failure rate if used as direcetd.
Posted by: Mike Morley at April 25, 2005 6:34 AMAIDS is spread by sexual intercourse. If everyone in Africa followed Catholic teaching on sexuality, reserving intercourse for heterosexual marriage only, the virus would never have spread.
Of course.
The point is, even Catholics don't follow Catholic teaching. For instance, in America, most Catholics use birth control, and in Italy, Catholics have abortions in huge numbers.
Your point about condom failure is well taken, but condom use slows the spread of AIDS, which is useful.
Also, life-saving, for those who are last in the chain of partners.
No, it doesn't. They encourage a false belief that anal sex will be safe if only you use a condom.
Posted by: oj at April 26, 2005 7:24 AM