Science And The Church - Back to Medieval Times

We are rightfully reminded as we fight them, that the Taliban would have all men grow their beards, make women stay at home and cover up while young girls would not be allowed to attend school. It is, to ours eyes, a backward way of thinking.

Having just got back from Italy this weekend, much of the talk in the papers was about the Pope's comments on the use of condoms on his recent trip to African Nations. In direct contradiction to international policy based on medical evidence, he has directly said that the use of condoms is against the doctrine of the Catholic Church and, further, their use has nothing to do with the prevention of the spread of AIDS.

The Reality Of AIDS

It has taken a long time to get education into the developed world about the practice of safe sex to reduce the spread sexually transmitted diseases. And recently, much of the good work has waned as young people have ignored the advice and there has been a sharp growth in the instances of old favourites like gonorrhea and chlamydia, as well as a new risk in the rise of AIDS. The use of condoms to decrease internal contact and the flow of bodily fluids is common sense rather than just incontrovertible medical evidence, yet people ignore the advice as a lifestyle choice while the Pope tells his subjects to do so in contrary to the medical evidence.

Pro life campaign is something I have a stake in but simple contraception is the best method to avoid the debate - when it comes to the spread of disease, there could be no argument. Yet there is.

The statistics about the epidemic of AIDS in underdeveloped countries in Africa is truly awesome. Unless the spread is arrested, it will become the biggest single killer in many countries very soon. The education process in these countries has been painstaking and expensive but there were signs that the message was getting through and that the disease could be arrested in its onslaught.

Then along came the Pope.

The Church And Science

The Pope or 'Papa' is supposedly God's appointed representative on earth and as such is the Supreme Commanader of the Catholic Church. Many countries in Africa, and particularly those who are colonies of France, have a massive population of Catholics. So when on the one hand a doctor tells them to use a condom helps prevent a terrible disease and on the other their 'Papa' tells them not to as it has nothing to do with it, there will clearly be a dilemma. The French believe that this is not a dilemma as they believe the Pope's words have done irreparable damage in the race to stop the spread of AIDS.

On the same weekend, my wife was reading a book called 'The Company of Liars' by Karen Maitland which is set in 1348 in England. The Plague has a grip of the nation and The Church is using its authority to sort out the problem. The central assertion is that it is a pestilence sent by God and that sinners will be consumed but those with wealth can survive - you just have to go give it to the Church. The issue here is that during that time and right through until the Renaissance took a grip, The Church stifled free thought and the belief in scientific method to discover things. Dogma hit progress and they were called the Dark Ages for good reason. Scaremongering and the Inquisition held sway and creative minds like Nostradamus, Copernicus, Gallileo and many others were branded as heretics for daring to say simple things which were observations as being crimes against God.

The Modern World

There will be those that would say that AIDS is the modern day equivalent of The Plague - the pestilence on a wicked society. That may be true. Yet they found a way to stop the spread of The Plague by not knowing biology but by understanding that cleanliness and sterility could prevent its spread. Today, we know far more about the structure and workings of AIDS and still we cannot find a cure but we certainly know how to stop its spread.

For those who know the risks and then make a lifestyle choice, they are actually knowingly abetting its spread rather like driving a car while drunk they are not just a risk to themselves but to us all. For those who know less about it, it is our duty to educate them and to give them the practical items to help reduce the risks.

Trashing all that education by a few words of a dead dogma could have set the world back several years. History shows that The Church has made huge mistakes before - this is another big one. So as we stand here and condemn the Taliban for their dogma, we should look closer to home to get our house in order too.