Yabby,

Oh I would think the villification of the Catholic church is just a part of the villification of "evil white male". You have to do that to show that you are truely an academic.

Poverty has many causes, and religion may/may not be a cause of poverty. In fact I have seen countries that were heavily corrupt, and religion was about the only thing keeping most people going on and on.

There are positives and negatives for most religion, but the positives are rarely mentioned by academics (and noted also that most academics never stop asking for more and more money).

Back to the topic, I don't believe it has ever been proven that condoms reduce AIDS. It is a myth that they do.

<I don't believe it has ever been proven that condoms reduce AIDS. It is a myth that they do.>

Is that so?

http://www.cdc.gov/condomeffectiveness/latex.htm

It’s very basic, vanna. If bodily fluids don’t mix the chance of infection is reduced.

<<I don't believe it has ever been proven that condoms reduce AIDS. It is a myth that they do.>>

Even if it hadn’t been proven that condoms reduce the chance of infection, it is a classic case of the ‘argument from ignorance’ fallacy to think that therefore, they don’t.

What about catholic women still living in sin by taking the pill. You would think the popa would relieve them of this guilt. But then again he is a man. He has got to have some power somewhere.

Vanna is correct in noting issues like contraception are used by some to attack the Catholic Church. This is unfortunate because the primary objective of such discussion should be the welfare of human beings, not attacking an organisation you have a difference with.

I think that my mentally challenged person with a myriad of deprived animals living in filth analogy provides a good parallel of how a discussion should be conducted. Note that the animal welfare officers are concerned primarily with the welfare of the animals. Note that they do not attack the mentally challenged owner, but point out the depravity and filth, and its impact on the lives of the animals. Note that arguments of defence along the lines of "the more animals the better" or "to desex my animals would be anti-life" are illogical and unsuccessful.

The reality differs from the analogy in that I do not believe that contraception should be forced upon people, merely that it should be available if it is wanted. Countries like Iran and Thailand are models of the success of this policy. Attempts by governments in developed countries to regulate access to contraception beyond the proviso of public safety would rightly be seen as a denial of self-determination.

Isn't it more like attacking the outdated rules of the church. Contraception, Drinking, Gambling. These are everyday happenings so whose got the power over who, you will never get to be a saint.
No option but to break the churches rules.