Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Pope XVI opnion on condoms in Africa

The news I chose to present was of Pope XVI trip to Africa in the week of March 18, 2009, in which he stated in front of many African bishops that condoms are not the right way to prevent HIV or AIDS, that it should be done through abstinence. he sympathizes with them, but sticks to the traditional outlook, that abstinence is the only way. CNN addresses the issue of whether it is time for the pope to be realistic about this issue. the author of the CNN article says that the pope needs to realize that people are still having sex, and they are dying in mass amounts, he should be promoting abstinence but also warning that if one will have sex to not do it with many people and to protect themselves with condoms. 
  its important because it shows the huge amount of influence religion can possess, and how it is being used in the world today. 
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13 comments:

  1. emma grinApril 8, 2009 at 9:45 AM

    and the two questions were:
    what is your take on the popes comments?
    and: do you think religion should be this influential in these kinds of issues?
    as well as the ethics of the pope and whether its time to get realistic about the problem, especially in such exigent circumstances and the morals of the pope?

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  2. becka gregoryApril 9, 2009 at 3:14 PM

    I don't think the Pope is going to change his views on birth control, but it is obvious that the previous methods of birth control promoted in Africa are not working. Maybe a more effective role of the Pope in this situation would be for him to use him power to raise money to donate to people and foundations that will think of a new solutions to hopefully cure/ stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Relgion is always influencial, no matter what situation it is implied in. But I think the change we need now is not a change in the actual beliefs of various religons, but a change in the ways they use their power. Especially in a place like Africa, which is home to a variety or religons, then the Popes words may not have as much power as his actions could. For so long people have been using religon to seperate, but conquering this crisis presents an oppertunity in which we could use it as a tool to unite, and fight against the spread of AIDS/HIV.

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  3. Cyndi BrandenburgApril 9, 2009 at 6:12 PM

    And we should all realize that globally, a typical person who contracts HIV is a married woman who has only had sex with one person her entire life--her husband.

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  4. LewanovaApril 14, 2009 at 11:16 AM

    Anyone else think that It is strange that the pope is doing this. I never thought that the pope would be doing something like this. But one way or another, The pope is not going to change anything. But what needs to be done is try and remove the Pope as something we care about. What I mean is that we need to completely separate Church and State.

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  5. ShannonApril 14, 2009 at 2:31 PM

    I agree that religion is always going to be influential in any big situation. I think Becka made a great point in saying that the Pope should be using his power in a more effective manner, such as raising money for foundations that are doing all they can to help the situation at hand. Providing birth control whether it is condoms or another type of contraceptive, is not cutting it. So people should be thinking and working towards what the next step should be to prevent the rapid spread of AIDS/HIV.

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  6. travis.hatchApril 14, 2009 at 5:22 PM

    The pope should deffinetally be using his power in a more realistic / beneficial way. However he can't go around saying that people should be using condoms and birth control, because that would completely be going against what he is supposed to say. People just need to make decisions for themselves, not what someone tells them to do. Other nations just need to do a better job of educating and supplying them with protection such as condoms.

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  7. Matthew MaydickApril 15, 2009 at 1:23 PM

    The pope is restricted by hundreds of years within the church. If the pope blatently supported condoms, there would be a huge uproar! there are so many people who believe that sex before marriage is a horrible sin. based on the bible, many people have considered birth control of any type to be a sin against God and that it gets in the way of his divine power of controlling human life. The pope has no option besides to support abstinence, but he should suggest condoms if no other option is available.

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  8. Brian MitchellApril 15, 2009 at 4:28 PM

    Being raised Catholic myself, I sometimes wish the church would be more realistic on certain issues. The Pope could potentially help these people by telling them to use condoms discreetly if there is no other option available. He could be a huge influence to people, but at the same time, he is a figurehead of the church, and is confined by their old fashioned rules and beliefs. This may not be a bad thing in all cases, but it certainly seems to be a hinderance in this situation.

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  9. Sarah KendallApril 15, 2009 at 11:58 PM

    I think that what the Pope said to African's was not out of line in any way. He is supposed to be encouraging people to not have sex if they do not want the consequences. After all, abstinance is the only way to 100% protect yourself from such diseases. I do however believe that it would be beneficial for him to also explain other ways to protect these people from HIV/AIDS, because we all know that realistically not too many people actually commit to abstinance. Maybe it would be a good idea to have someone else go and make a speech there, and inform people, that way the Pope doesn't have to go against his religion. Also, we should make contraceptives more available for these people.

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  10. PatienceApril 18, 2009 at 11:32 AM

    As much as I would like the pope to support a more concrete solution to AIDS, it would be against the church to encourage the use of condoms. If the pope suggested the use of condoms, the church would disown him and another pope would step in saying the exact same thing, that condoms are not a good solution, and that not having sex is the only way. I do wish that the pope would encourage condoms for certain situations, like the one in Africa. However, I don't expect the pope to change his ways.

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  11. David R.April 26, 2009 at 11:06 PM

    Personally I know the pope is given a lot of power over the people that support him and as someone who is not catholic I really have no right to say he shouldn't be allowed to make these statements so but I do think that he shouldn't be forcing such things on people because of the AIDs problem in Africa being a real problem.

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  12. Marguerite DibbleApril 28, 2009 at 1:41 PM

    I wish I knew more about AIDS and the stats. I feel that often times the whole thing is skewed based on who is talking/using the information.

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  13. alivengoodApril 29, 2009 at 11:31 AM

    The pope is the pope. He's not going to change his ideals now even with the crisis in Africa. Furthermore, he's a new pope so to rock the boat right now would be a really bad idea. He is considered by many Catholics as the voice of God on earth. And if there is one thing that many people consider God to advocate it's tradition. Catholic Mass only got changed to the vernacular in the last 50 years. And it took how long for the Catholic church to admit the world is round? Condoms are such a new thing on the grander scale that it's unlikely that the Vatican is going to be changing view on them any time soon. They would need at least a few hundred years to do that.

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