Enough is enough; there has been too much deadly righteousness already. This statement, made earlier today by another poster, is profoundly distressing, and casts a shadow over the whole mission of Christ in favour of the teaching of this unique Catholic Church.
My life, and that of countless thousands of others, has been spent in trying to stem the tide of an abominable plague such as we have not seen for centuries. We do not know when it will end - perhaps not for another century or more. It is probable that well over 100 million people have died from HIV in the past 30 years alone, and there are at least 100 million currently infected. And drugs will not cure them, but will keep the poor alive for a couple of years, the wealthy a few more. In South Africa alone, more than 1500 people are infected each day. And no, this is not a matter of immorality, where one makes a judgement about the behaviour of another.
To say that HIV is ‘unfortunate’ is a foul understatement, and reveals a level of unknowing that is profound. Please read and learn; please feel somewhat responsible for the suffering of the wretched of the earth who are those who are most affected by this pandemic.
And when we could be saving lives, every day, for young and old, by using the tools that we have to combat HIV infection, it is morally wrong not to do so. That is my opinion. It is also the opinion of others within the Catholic church:
Quote:
I’m going to try not to argue about whether or not the use of a condom is inherently evil (which is the issue…the Bible forbids doing evil that good may come of it). Rather, I will address the assertions of the poster and his quote.
First, the “mission of Christ”. Christ did indeed cure the sick, but it was not His mission. He did so so that we would know “that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” (Matt 9:6) He came to give us eternal life (John 3:16) and to testify to the Truth (John 18:37). Which is not to say that WE are not to heal the sick, and care for the lives and bodies of our fellow man. Jesus requires that we do so to the extent of our ability. (Matt 25, et al) Furthermore the mission of this “unique Catholic church” is the same as Christ’s. We are His Body, and we are to care for the soul, to bring all men to Him.
To say that AIDS/HIV is an “abominable plague” is quite true! But to say that we have not seen the like “for centuries” is disingenuous and alarmist. WHO estimates that 25 million people have been killed since its inception, and currently some 39 million are living with the disease. As a comparison, the influenza epidemic of the early 20th century killed 50-100 million people worldwide in less than two years, and the now all but nonexistent smallpox epidemic killed over 300 million people in the past century, over a hundred years after the development of the first vaccine for it… The human race is no stranger, even in modern times, to plague.
The entirety of this arguement rests on the assumption that condom use is morally neutral, and it is merely the purpose to the use which ascribes a negative moral value to it, which does not seem to be the position of the Church; and that the preservation of life is the ultimate, or near ultimate, good. I said I would not argue for or against the first, and I reject the second. It is, indeed, our obligation, our GRAVE obligation, to care for the sick and dying, and to prevent the spread of illness, but not by any means available to us. After all [hyperbolicmoralequivalence] one could propose to stop the spread of a disease by killing all the infected people, but I think we recognize this as an unacceptable path [/hyperbolicmoralequivalence]. Just as it would be gravely wrong to preserve one life at the cost of another, it would be gravely wrong to attempt to preserve one life at the cost of a soul. After all, “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and suffers the loss of his own soul…” (Matt 16:26)
