egafd.com

My view entirely, Diplo. All the tears wept for the unborn, and the sperms and eggs that didn't get the chance to become living beings. At the same time, allowing millions in Africa to become infected with HIV, and there and elsewhere in the third world encouraging believers to produce more children that they cannot afford to feed.

Where is the wisdom in allowing a group of unmarried, childless men to pontificate on other people's sex and family lives?

the control thing is so true, I was raised as a Catholic so saw a lot of the crap from the inside, hypocrisy like you would not believe.
the sad thing for me is that a lot of the basic religious ideas are a sound basis for achieving something good such as treating a neighbour as you would want to be treated, but it all gets lost when the control/power aspect takes over.
I was suprised to learn that the Vatican is the only religion with a representative in the UN, how much could they have done in controlling HIV in the world. Instead they decree that even a married couple where one is HIV+ they cannot use a condom, that's just evil

I have a theory that the birth control thing was more to keep women from involving themselves in the church. Keep them pregnant, have them seen as just baby-producers, and they won't interfere. Don't think it was by chance that The Bible was only in Latin for centuries, to keep the masses from reading it and trying to interpret it themselves.

never thought of that, I always thought of it as some highbrow arrogance, but thinking about it I agree, control, what people can't understand they can't question

I think to be fair, the Vatican is in the UN not as a religion but because it is a state in its own right.

Mart

That is so...I know because it came up in trivial pursuit computer game just recently



cheers
B....OZ

No, on this occasion, Mart gets a cyber pat on the back for that particular post

As was pointed out on many news programmes, the Pope thought the world was out of kilter with the church and that they were in the right.

He might have been a great champion for eastern Europe in its fight against Communism, but the constant opposition to contraception, even with the rise of AIDS, was a criminal act that is still causing misery in many parts of the world, not least in Africa. It would have been nice to see Geldof or Bono, instead of ripping into Blair and other world leaders, telling the head of the Catholic Church a few truths.

Much has been made of the Pope's health in his last ten years, and how he coped with the suffering. For him, that battle is over, and thankfully the pain is gone. For many others, AIDS and malnutrition (a by-product of out of control population levels) will continue to inflict harm for years to come.