THE POPE GOES TO AFRICA

Although a spiritual person who believes in God, I have, for the latter half of my life, been anti-organized religion, as I find that these organizations almost universally do two inexcusable things:

1) They forget their answers to the unanswerable questions of life are only theories created by man, not God, and are thus fallible and need to be adjusted as man discovers more about himself and his universe.

2) They get so caught up in their own skewed agendas that they forget the people they are intended to serve.

Although I could go on until I run out of space on the internet for all the instances of this among religions – both mainstream and cultish alike - the most recent appalling move by a major religion towards its own people occurred during the Catholic Pope’s tour of Africa last week. The African continent, with widespread poverty, disease, war, corruption, and unparalleled human suffering is full of a people – understandably – looking for some sort of spiritual guidance, and as such has become the fastest-growing population of Catholics in the world. However, rather than use this as an opportunity to bring positive comfort, the Pope, addressing these people, chose to criticize the use of condoms which have been distributed by international aid groups and warn Africans that these devices do not prevent, but rather spread the onslaught of the deadly AIDS virus. To say this to a society which has been completely decimated by AIDS is verging on unforgivable.

In the last twenty-five years, while education programs in developed countries such as the United States have helped slow the spread of HIV to a crawl by advocating both sexual abstinence and the use of condoms, Africa’s lack of access to education, prevention, and treatment has led to a pandemic. In 2007, about 21,000 people, including children, died of AIDS in North America. By comparison, 1.6 MILLION people died of the virus in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Of the 36 million people estimated to be living with HIV globally, 68% are living in Africa. For an organization which claims to champion the cause of life and the alleviation of suffering, it’s unbelievable that the Catholic Church should be so petty as to value its own dogmatic teachings over the lives of millions of people. The idea that AIDS is a just punishment for sexual promiscuity is a moot point in a society where the disease is so rampant, many victims are innocent recipients to their own fate, including rape victims and children who are born HIV positive or become orphaned to parents who have fallen victim to the disease. Also, such a large percentage of the population is infected that even monogamous married couples spread the virus. At a time when the crisis has reached critical levels, preaching the idea that sexual abstinence will put a halt to the AIDS epidemic is foolish at best and likely closer to morally bankrupt. On a semi-related note, infamous porn star Jenna Jameson, who recently gave birth to twins, has claimed to be a “devout Catholic.” Well, if the definition of Catholic is lies, hypocrisy, and sexually transmitted diseases, then maybe she is.

Now some have defended the Pope, claiming that he is only preaching the standard of behavior dictated by his own religion. “What would you have him do?” these proponents claim. “Support condom use in the African population when the law of the Church globally is that birth control, in any form, goes against its fundamental teachings?” Well, yes, on one hand, he is being consistent with the Catholic stance on birth control. However, I take issue with this rather flimsy excuse on two levels. First, I am outraged by the methods the Church uses in order to deliver its message; rather than relay on its own Biblical teachings to dissuade sexual behavior which it does not approve of, it instead utilizes dishonesty and scare tactics. For example, “In 2003, a Vatican official [speaking in Africa] told Catholics that the AIDS virus could escape through tiny holes in condoms.” Not only is the claim completely false, but a deliberate attempt by the Church to frighten its followers away from a practical solution to stopping the spread of the disease. On his more recent visit to the African continent a few weeks ago, the Pontiff himself claimed that condoms “spread AIDS rather than prevent the disease,” another flat-out lie completely disproven by scientific study. Although the Church has an infamous history of lying to the public in the face of scientific fact, the idea that the Earth was the center of the Universe as opposed to the Sun wasn’t responsible for the deaths of millions of people; conversely in this case, the Church’s hypocrisy is directly contributing to countless human suffering. This, in my opinion, is inexcusable; if you believe that you should abstain from using birth control because it is God’s Will, that is just fine. But if you play to the fears of a desperate and uneducated public by telling them they should abstain from using birth control because it will kill them, that is immoral.

Secondly, as a non-Catholic, I question whether such a strict policy towards birth control is even practical in the twenty-first century. Most Catholics in the developed world, married or not, use it openly, and either do not acknowledge this portion of their chosen religion or rectify this supposed transgression by saying the reticent number of prayers assigned to them every time they visit the Confession box. Most educated Church-goers would rather say a few “Hail Marys” and “Our Fathers” every week than end up with AIDS, any numerous other sexually transmitted diseases, or children they cannot afford – physically, emotionally, or economically - to provide for. However, in these poverty-stricken and uneducated portions of the world, this choice is not necessarily readily available (no 24-hour CVS in Sudan) or readily understood (no high school sex education class to co-opt the Sunday School abstinence course). The idea that the Pope’s hands are tied in this matter is ludicrous; the Voice of God on Earth or not, the Pope effectively serves as President of the Vatican and the Catholic Church, and he individually has the power to change the rules as he sees fit. The fact that the “modernization” of Church teachings generally happens centuries after such adaptations have been accepted by the rest of the human civilization is the result of pompous old white men in robes stubbornly sticking their heels in the ground in the name of “morality” when the real issue isn’t religion - its that they are deathly afraid they might have to admit they were actually WRONG about something. Some recent examples of this lunacy include:

(1) Pope John Paul II recognizing Galileo was correct about the movement of the planets in the 1990s. . . more than 400 years after the fact.

(2) The current administrations’ reluctant acceptance of the Holocaust which is more akin to a “we’re not saying it didn’t happen” attitude than actually admitting that it did.

(3) Vatican officials looking the other way rather than dealing with acts of sexual assault among their own clergy until finally called out by the secular justice system.

In fact, none of the items mentioned above are even issues of faith. No where in the Bible is it written that the Earth is the center of the Universe, that priests should be celibate, or that atrocities committed against Jews are acceptable. For that matter, no where in the Bible does it state that contraception – a precaution which is not, as some believe, a modern invention, but dates back to Biblical times in which condoms were most often made from animal intestines or bladders and used to prevent unwanted pregnancy and the spread of syphilis – is sinful. In fact, the Catholic Church had no official opinion on the matter for almost 2,000 years. . . . until 1930, when the Anglican Church decided to sanction and promote the idea of condom use for married couples. Since if the Protestants do it, it must be evil, Pope Pius responded by slapping Catholic followers with the Casti Connubii later that same year – the first official doctrine banning contraceptives. Therefore, the only challenge which the previous examples place on religion is that they have the potential to be embarrassing for the Church’s government . . . and Heaven forbid they admit to human fallacy.

Unfortunately for Africa and its mushrooming Catholic population, millions more will suffer and die for the Pope’s twisted idea of pride.

Now that is truly sinful.