While I was surfing the web I found this interesting article involving the church. Everyone knows that those in power within the Catholic Church do not approve of homosexuality because it goes against their beliefs. One of the arguments that the church uses against the LGBT community is that marriage is for procreation, and since LGBT couples cannot reproduce without a third party they should not be allowed to get marriage. How can the church keep pushing for this argument when they are supporting condoms? This is what the article brings up. The church first says that male prostitutes can use condoms to protect from HIV, but then later clarifies that everyone including men, women, and transsexuals to use condoms to prevent HIV. Even though the church’s stance is pushing the use of condoms for the prevention of HIV, it is still interesting to see that the church supports them in any way because it prevents procreation. Just something to think about. What are your thoughts?
As much as I love to complain about the church, I must say I appreciate their hypocrisy in this case. The church, fundamentally, is opposed to condoms. They are, in fact, fundamentally opposed to any activity that prohibits the baby God intended from being born, be it contraceptive use or anal sex or any other creative way of having sex without having babies. That's most of the reason why it used to be so hard to get condoms or any other form of contraceptive; in Ireland, it was illegal to manufacture or sell condoms until the 70s, because they were 'indecent'.
ReplyDeleteThen all the church's sexually active patrons started contracting venereal diseases, and someone figured that probably wasnt so good. In response, the Pope recently stated that contraceptives are only justified if they are meant to prevent the transmission of disease, not the prevention of pregnancy.
So not a perfect solution, but not as bad as the fire and brimstone take on contraception that they had before. While it is still not complete autonomy over one's body, the fact that the church recognizes the necessity of condoms in certain situations is a huge step towards affirming their common usage. Many people follow what the church says word for word. Maybe not so many in the United States or at a liberal arts college, but I know in large parts of Ireland anything the church says is the absolute truth. If the church says no condoms, condoms wont be used. If the church says condoms are okay sometimes, condoms are okay sometimes. While the value of contraceptives are being reinforced through what I feel are rather morally suspect institutions (letting your flock use condoms only when disease requires it is not the same as giving your flock control of their own bodies) at least those values are beginning to permeate even the most staunch anti-condom quarters.
That rant had nothing to do with LGBTQ stuff, I guess, but the moral of the story: While the Church's reasoning for allowing condoms is backwards, the fact that they allow them at all is a great forward step for sexual autonomy.
p.s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47P59ha9k9s
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting that they are giving out condoms at all. Many catholic churches across the world wont even support the distribution of condos because it is believe to be promoting premarital sex. The fact that churches are finally seeing that contraceptives can save live is very progressive and will likely save many lives from being taken via HIV.
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