The Trojan War

You may or may not have heard recently of the surprising decree by Pope Benedict XVI that condoms may now, at long last, be used in some cases where it may help reduce the risk and thereby prevent the spread of AIDS and/or other equally devastating sexually transmitted diseases (last time I checked that was all cases.) In the Pope's infallibly informative new book, "Light of the World: The Pope, The Church, and the Sign of the Times," he goes so far as to explicitly state that the use of a condom by a homosexual prostitute (gender is a non-issue) is hunky-dory, minus all the sin. Now, this is quite an admittance by the Catholic church and I do commend them for finally recognizing the fact that, if precautions are taken, the spread of these fatal diseases can be limited. It has been the chorus call of the Vatican for decades that condoms have no impact upon the spread of STDs and that they could not contain the epidemic occurring in Africa, and throughout the world. For those of you clinging your Bibles, afraid that the Catholics have stripped down their traditions of sexual suppression and dived into a world of sin and hedonism prior to wedlock, it is very important to make note of their nearly unchanging opposition to contraception in any form and maintain that sex is purely a means of procreation.

They were wrong about this one so were all the previous proclamations of total condemnation of any form of birth control wrong as well? After all, these people claim to be speaking as a conduit for the almighty. A flaw as glaring as this one makes me far less than hesitant to call them out for many of the other ways they say life should be led. As an organization that receives myriad tax breaks and a never-ending stream of income through their humble and worldwide congregation, they in turn offer to us a means of salvation and a window to the truth of life, death and what lies beyond. Whenever someone offers something as high-reaching as they do, an equally lofty amount of skepticism should meet it. After knowing, not merely thinking, but knowing that condoms were wrong in every sexual application, they can simply now say things are different and a slight miscalculation was made. Tiny mistake, you know? Minuscule like the deaths of 2 million+ people per year. Nothing of much importance that they had unabashedly declared a sin for which an eternity in hell would be sufficient punishment. Hatred behind the guise of love can can accomplish quite a lot. A person is more than free to change their stance or idea on anything they say or believe when new evidence or understanding is brought to their attention, but isnt it suspicious when that person claimed divine authority the first time around? Does this not subject all ideals of Catholicism to the same scrutiny as is finally being applied to condom-use?

My main thoughts on this amendment to what is and is not acceptable in both yours and my own life is how many people were directly and indirectly impacted by barring the distribution and use of latex condoms in heavily diseased countries that desperately could have benefited from their presence. These holy decisions flew in the face of medical science on the Vatican's 'well-thought-out' grounds of their sole use being to allow people to fornicate for pleasure and without obligation as opposed to family-oriented sexual-intercourse. Religion's battle with the hardwiring of our sexual and primal impulses rages on, unfortunately the most passionate ones may also be on the side having the most boring sex imaginable.

David D.

"Condoms aren't completely safe. A friend of mine was wearing one and got hit by a bus."

Bob Rubin