In our brave new world, in which the only criterion of morality, with regards to sex, seems to be mutual consent, with a nod in the direction of protecting children given by the law on the age of consent, we find some puzzling anomalies.
The Irish case, in which a boy with learning difficulties is being prosecuted for statutory rape of a girl of his own age (both 16 - the age of consent being 17 in that jurisdiction) highlights these.
Why is it the boy who is deemed the rapist? Because the girl has parents who complained to the Gardai, whereas the boy is in care?
Likewise, we repeatedly hear of cases in which both parties were incapable of proper consent through drink or drugs. Is that mutual rape? If not, why not? But typically, it will be the man who is deemed the rapist. But surely that is a hangover from those dark days when we thought there was some difference between the sexes...
The current moral consensus (if such it be) is clearly not working. Having abandoned all other criteria, in our collective hedonistic desire to justify whatever we feel like doing, we find ourselves exposed to base forces that we do not know how to deal with.
And notice how that came about. People always decry 'slippery slope' or 'thin end of the wedge' arguments. But the progression is fairly clear. Firstly, contraception which had always been attempted by the depraved, but always reviled by the majority, was deemed acceptable within marriage.
So the separation of sex and reproduction was begun. That has gathered pace, with abortion its natural consequence. That then, of course, opened the door to all sorts of other aberrant sex, including between people of the same sex, multiple partners, and so on.
But always in the name of love, of course. 'But if two people love each other...' was always the plea. But now even that pretence has gone. What's love got to do with it? If two (or fewer, or more) people desire physical gratification is all that remains: as long as there is consent, all is good.
And the results: physical sickness (soaring STDs, AIDs etc), mental sickness (it is no secret that those with aberrant sexual lifestyles are disproportionately high users of mental health services, and have high suicide rates), huge social harm, with broken families now so common that we have a growing and potentially catastrophic social problem on our hands, as we struggle to raise a civilised younger generation; and of course, worst of all, the carnage of the abortion industry, leading also to the barbarity of human embryo experimentation, the butchery of IVF pregnancy reductions, and the commodification of human life.
As we approach Passiontide, let us redouble our prayer, our almsgiving, and our sacrifices: for that is the only way some devils can be driven out.
Showing posts with label AIDS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AIDS. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 March 2016
Sunday, 26 July 2015
Here's where I have trouble...
Here's where I have trouble in following some of President Obama's reasoning.
I love my children. That love expresses itself in many ways: spending time with them, educating them, laughing with them, providing for them, listening to their piano practice. It also expresses itself in specific, and appropriate, physical ways: tickling them, hugging them, chasing them around the garden, and when younger, throwing them into the air and catching them.
For that, I should be judged - positively. These are good loving behaviours.
That love does not express itself sexually; and if it were to do so, I should be judged negatively: that would be bad behaviour.
The same is true, of course, mutatis mutandis, for many other relationships in my life: with my parents, my siblings, my friends and so on.
There is one relationship, and one only, in which love is expressed sexually, and that is with my wife. That fact, not least the exclusivity of that sexual relationship, is beneficial to me, to her, to our children and to wider society. From it flows the family itself, including its stability; and our commitment to each others ensures that we do not threaten the stability of any other relationships, which is also in wider society's interests; as is the fact that we do not contract or transmit STIs, nor require abortions to correct 'mistakes.'
So when Obama says that nobody should be persecuted because of whom he or she loves, I agree. But when he extrapolates from that proposition the idea that States have a duty to promote homosexual relations on the same footing as married relations, I cannot follow him.
And he says that in Africa: a continent plagued with AIDS that has been spread by sexual promiscuity, not least amongst practicing homosexuals.
Indeed, until relatively recently when they started to sanitise their image, part of gay pride for some homosexual men was a pride in promiscuity - and a promiscuity that reached staggering proportions. That is now not publicised: instead, a strategy was put in place which ensured we hear about the stable couples who have been together for 20 years. But who is to say which of these gay myths is nearer to reality?
What is clear is that Obama's only idea of controlling AIDS, swamping the population with condoms, is insufficient; and his promotion of a particular philosophy of how Africans should regulate their own affairs is both morally bankrupt and tainted by an American superiority that smacks of colonialism.
I love my children. That love expresses itself in many ways: spending time with them, educating them, laughing with them, providing for them, listening to their piano practice. It also expresses itself in specific, and appropriate, physical ways: tickling them, hugging them, chasing them around the garden, and when younger, throwing them into the air and catching them.
For that, I should be judged - positively. These are good loving behaviours.
That love does not express itself sexually; and if it were to do so, I should be judged negatively: that would be bad behaviour.
The same is true, of course, mutatis mutandis, for many other relationships in my life: with my parents, my siblings, my friends and so on.
There is one relationship, and one only, in which love is expressed sexually, and that is with my wife. That fact, not least the exclusivity of that sexual relationship, is beneficial to me, to her, to our children and to wider society. From it flows the family itself, including its stability; and our commitment to each others ensures that we do not threaten the stability of any other relationships, which is also in wider society's interests; as is the fact that we do not contract or transmit STIs, nor require abortions to correct 'mistakes.'
So when Obama says that nobody should be persecuted because of whom he or she loves, I agree. But when he extrapolates from that proposition the idea that States have a duty to promote homosexual relations on the same footing as married relations, I cannot follow him.
And he says that in Africa: a continent plagued with AIDS that has been spread by sexual promiscuity, not least amongst practicing homosexuals.
Indeed, until relatively recently when they started to sanitise their image, part of gay pride for some homosexual men was a pride in promiscuity - and a promiscuity that reached staggering proportions. That is now not publicised: instead, a strategy was put in place which ensured we hear about the stable couples who have been together for 20 years. But who is to say which of these gay myths is nearer to reality?
What is clear is that Obama's only idea of controlling AIDS, swamping the population with condoms, is insufficient; and his promotion of a particular philosophy of how Africans should regulate their own affairs is both morally bankrupt and tainted by an American superiority that smacks of colonialism.
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Sexagesima
Our religion correspondent, Stephen Fry, writes:
I have just discovered that until very recently, the Roman Catholic Church called today Sexagesima.
This just proves what I have long known: that the Church is obsessed with sex.
You can tell this by all the monks and nuns and priests who take vows of celibacy, especially albino Opus Dei ones, who run the world behind the scenes.
This is not natural, in 2015, when we all know that sex is jolly, harmless fun, and that the honest, sincere and grown up way to find true love is to move on from one lover to the next whenever the urge takes us.
So free from any sexual obsession is our enlightened Enlightenment culture that pornography wanes as the Church's power declines; the harlot's cry has vanished from the secular world - and anyway we call them sex workers now and campaign for their right to earn their living just as they wish.
Whereas the Catholic Church's obsession with sex can be seen in the fact that that is all the media reports about it. And that it has an indoctrination manual written by its chief inquisitors, the sinister Catechism, which contains 2865 paragraphs, of which every single one is a rant against sex.
And I know a man who uses a condom every single time, and hasn't caught AIDS, which proves it.
--
Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. BT.
I have just discovered that until very recently, the Roman Catholic Church called today Sexagesima.
This just proves what I have long known: that the Church is obsessed with sex.
You can tell this by all the monks and nuns and priests who take vows of celibacy, especially albino Opus Dei ones, who run the world behind the scenes.
This is not natural, in 2015, when we all know that sex is jolly, harmless fun, and that the honest, sincere and grown up way to find true love is to move on from one lover to the next whenever the urge takes us.
So free from any sexual obsession is our enlightened Enlightenment culture that pornography wanes as the Church's power declines; the harlot's cry has vanished from the secular world - and anyway we call them sex workers now and campaign for their right to earn their living just as they wish.
Whereas the Catholic Church's obsession with sex can be seen in the fact that that is all the media reports about it. And that it has an indoctrination manual written by its chief inquisitors, the sinister Catechism, which contains 2865 paragraphs, of which every single one is a rant against sex.
And I know a man who uses a condom every single time, and hasn't caught AIDS, which proves it.
--
Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. BT.
Fry's Own Goal on Uganda
A priest I know has written to me about my recent posts on the lamentable Stephen Fry.
--
--
Dear Mr Trovato,
I have just read your latest posting on Mr Fry.
I did not see the infamous debate - but from what you write, his little burst of outrage was so predictable and quite inaccurate.
I have a confession to make.
After my A Levels in 1969 I went to Uganda & taught there for two years before returning to the UK in 1971 to go to Uni (& read Maths & Physics there).
Since 1971 I have tended to hoover up any news about Uganda.
And Fry's point number (7) about Uganda & AIDS is a real own goal.
Uganda is an outstanding example of how the scourge of Aids has been much reduced by abstinence outside marriage and faithfulness within marriage - and NOT by the use of condoms.
See "Fighting AIDS with Abstinence"
Sister Dr Miriam Duggan FMSA is a gynacologist who worked as a missionary doctor for over 30 years.
In 2005 she wrote: "The President (of Uganda) has always promoted abstinence and faithfulness".
"The use of condoms is not the ultimate solution in the fight against HIV/AIDS", said President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni at an AIDS conference in Thailand. He caused much controversy when he said the best ways to stop the spread of AIDS are abstinence and faithfulness in marriage.
"President Musevani's emphasis in combatting AIDS has been to address the behaviours and practices that lead to its spread. Programs have been set up and operated involving both the Church and the State. These focus on combatting peer pressure to be promiscuous, advising young people to abstain and encouraging the older to be faithful in marriage. The problems of alcohol and drug abuse are also addressed.
"Faith also plays a large part. "I believe that through the power of prayer, through praying with them, the addictions of these people can be broken, so we encourage them to pray when they feel their temptations", says Sr Miriam. Religious affiliation is not a factor here, since all faiths uphold that marriage is sacred and sex outside of marriage is wrong."
See too Sr Miriam Duggan: Combatting the spread of AIDS in Culture of Life – Culture of Death: Luke Gormally (ed.) ISBN: 0-906561-24-9
For details of this book see the Anscombe Bioethics Centre website
God bless you & your family,
--
I think further comment would be superfluous.
Saturday, 30 July 2011
Uncapped
Is there anyone out there who can design a cool logo of some sort for men who have never used a condom to put in their blogs or www sites?
It's a serious question, as I think we need to bear witness to the fact that there are many of us, that we are healthy, and that we stay that way (and if married respect our wives that way) by the simple (though difficult) practice of chastity.
Condom-free zone?...
It's a serious question, as I think we need to bear witness to the fact that there are many of us, that we are healthy, and that we stay that way (and if married respect our wives that way) by the simple (though difficult) practice of chastity.
Condom-free zone?...
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Extraordinary!
The Vatican (to be more accurate, the CDF) has issued a clarification. And guess what: the Pope wasn't saying condom use is OK - in any circumstance.
Strangely, what he said was... well, what he said.
I hate to say told you so, but I did
Strangely, what he said was... well, what he said.
I hate to say told you so, but I did
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Inside the Ethics Committee
On BBC Radio 4 there is a programme called Inside the Ethics Committee which tries to throw light on how ethical dilemmas in medicine are handled.
A recent programme focussed on the issue of how soon and how much you tell a child about a disease he or she is growing up with: clearly a difficult issue.
Much of the programme focused on a child born with HIV.
As the story unfolded it became clear that those responsible for her (she was being raised by the state) were colluding with:
And all because they assume that young girls of a certain social background will sleep around and be abused and there is nothing they can or should do about it.
That issue, of course, played no part in the ethical discussions...
And they call these people carers.
A recent programme focussed on the issue of how soon and how much you tell a child about a disease he or she is growing up with: clearly a difficult issue.
Much of the programme focused on a child born with HIV.
As the story unfolded it became clear that those responsible for her (she was being raised by the state) were colluding with:
her being sexually abused (sleeping around before reaching the age of 16, the age at which the law assumes she can first meaningfully give consent);
her risking infecting her boyfriends/abusers, as her ‘carers’ knew she was not telling them about her HIV status and did not have the skills to ‘negotiate’ her sexual encounters (ie they recognise the encounters were not consensual in a meaningful way);
her refusal to take the medication that would help her, not from any principled grounds, but on childish ones;
her life disintegrating into living in a chaotic and violent environment with a group of criminal young men addicted to various hard drugs.
And all because they assume that young girls of a certain social background will sleep around and be abused and there is nothing they can or should do about it.
That issue, of course, played no part in the ethical discussions...
And they call these people carers.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Nichols v. Pepinster
Despite the BBC's typically misleading headline on its www site (Archbishop says contraception 'attractive') Archbishop Nichols is reported as saying that although he can see why the promotion of condoms etc appears to be an attractive idea to reduce 3rd world poverty, his message really was:
"If we solve the poverty then consistently we know that the birth rate comes down.
"If we provide people with security, then consistently birth rates will come down. And they're the radical issues that we should be addressing, not short term intrusive fixes."
But Pepinster, editor of the Pill, used her interview on the Today programme (about 07.20 - can't yet post link as programme still on air) to undermine Church teaching: 'many Catholics don't even know about Humanae Vitae..., I can't remember hearing it preached from the pulpit,... most Catholics have no issue with contraception,... many priests and some cardinals and bishops say in the case of AIDS when condoms are used to preserve life then that's a good thing,' and so on.
How long can this disgraceful woman be allowed to run what is alleged to be a Catholic paper?
But perhaps she has over-stepped the mark this time: if it comes to a straight fight, I'd back Archbishop Nichols every time, both on principle and in practice!
"If we solve the poverty then consistently we know that the birth rate comes down.
"If we provide people with security, then consistently birth rates will come down. And they're the radical issues that we should be addressing, not short term intrusive fixes."
But Pepinster, editor of the Pill, used her interview on the Today programme (about 07.20 - can't yet post link as programme still on air) to undermine Church teaching: 'many Catholics don't even know about Humanae Vitae..., I can't remember hearing it preached from the pulpit,... most Catholics have no issue with contraception,... many priests and some cardinals and bishops say in the case of AIDS when condoms are used to preserve life then that's a good thing,' and so on.
How long can this disgraceful woman be allowed to run what is alleged to be a Catholic paper?
But perhaps she has over-stepped the mark this time: if it comes to a straight fight, I'd back Archbishop Nichols every time, both on principle and in practice!
Saturday, 11 April 2009
The Great Condom Con Part Six: Victory!
The good news is that the victory has already been won. Easter is the anniversary of that victory. There are still skirmishes, and these are literally of vital importance, but there is no doubt which is the winning side.
This is borne out in experience. Pope Paul VI in his role as universal pastor, published the counter-cultural and truly prophetic encyclical Humanae Vitae. How much more accurate his prophecies have turned out to be than those of the Condom lobby and the associated abortion advocates.
Young people can be chaste, despite the pressures under which they are placed. More and more are seeing chastity as a positive virtue, and recognising the lies of the condom propagandists.
In Uganda, the message of abstinence and fidelity has been heard and heeded, and the relentless march of HIV in sub-saharan Africa has been drastically slowed there, compared to their condom-promoting neighbours.
Hope indeed: but there are still many battles to fight, and we need to be fit to fight them: spiritually and mentally, armed with truth and charity.
Regina Caeli:
Ora pro nobis Deum.
Alleluia!
This is borne out in experience. Pope Paul VI in his role as universal pastor, published the counter-cultural and truly prophetic encyclical Humanae Vitae. How much more accurate his prophecies have turned out to be than those of the Condom lobby and the associated abortion advocates.
Young people can be chaste, despite the pressures under which they are placed. More and more are seeing chastity as a positive virtue, and recognising the lies of the condom propagandists.
In Uganda, the message of abstinence and fidelity has been heard and heeded, and the relentless march of HIV in sub-saharan Africa has been drastically slowed there, compared to their condom-promoting neighbours.
Hope indeed: but there are still many battles to fight, and we need to be fit to fight them: spiritually and mentally, armed with truth and charity.
Regina Caeli:
Ora pro nobis Deum.
Alleluia!
Monday, 6 April 2009
The Great Condom Con Part Two
The failure rate of condoms is hard to assess accurately, for all sorts of reasons. However, everybody admits that they do, on occasion, fail: and this often has tragic consequences.
Anyone who has worked in pregnancy counselling will know quite how often an unplaned pregnancy is the result of condom failure. And as a woman can only become pregnant on a relatively small number of days in her cycle, but can be infected with HIV on any day, then condoms are clearly a risky strategy.
Some failure is down to mechanical failure (splitting etc) but it seems that most is due to user error. And guess what, kids are not the most proficient users.
So encouraging the kids to be ‘responsible’ by using condoms is, to say the least, a very questionable policy.
‘But, but,’ the condomaniacs will howl, ‘we must, because some are going to have sex anyway, and condoms certainly reduce the risks, even if they don’t completely negate them.’
That’s a bit like saying ‘some teenagers are going to get drunk and drive at high speeds, so in order to reduce the risks, we must take a non-judgemental approach and issue them all with crash helmets....’
Of course, a drunk teenager, driving recklessly but wearing a crash helmet is safer than one not wearing a crash helmet, but for some reason even the health and safety brigade haven’t gone down that path (yet...)
Because actually we know about the law off unintended consequences: and it is to that I will turn in my next post in this exciting series.
Anyone who has worked in pregnancy counselling will know quite how often an unplaned pregnancy is the result of condom failure. And as a woman can only become pregnant on a relatively small number of days in her cycle, but can be infected with HIV on any day, then condoms are clearly a risky strategy.
Some failure is down to mechanical failure (splitting etc) but it seems that most is due to user error. And guess what, kids are not the most proficient users.
So encouraging the kids to be ‘responsible’ by using condoms is, to say the least, a very questionable policy.
‘But, but,’ the condomaniacs will howl, ‘we must, because some are going to have sex anyway, and condoms certainly reduce the risks, even if they don’t completely negate them.’
That’s a bit like saying ‘some teenagers are going to get drunk and drive at high speeds, so in order to reduce the risks, we must take a non-judgemental approach and issue them all with crash helmets....’
Of course, a drunk teenager, driving recklessly but wearing a crash helmet is safer than one not wearing a crash helmet, but for some reason even the health and safety brigade haven’t gone down that path (yet...)
Because actually we know about the law off unintended consequences: and it is to that I will turn in my next post in this exciting series.
Sunday, 5 April 2009
The Great Condom Con
I was visiting my nephew, Xerxes, the other day. Over dinner, he and his girlfriend, Yolande, revealed a tragedy early in their relationship. While still at college, they had suffered a condom failure, so, obviously, had to have an abortion 'as we weren't ready for children.' So little Z, paid the price of his or her life.
And the tragedy is that X & Y thought they were being responsible. They have been taught long and hard that:
a) sex is a necessary part of any affectionate relationship between a boy and a girl
b) it is pretty necessary for teenagers regardless of affection
c) using a condom is safe and reliable: and therefore responsible...
...and less openly, but in the mix:
d) abortion is of course available as a backup should (per impossibile, of course) a condom fail.
Over the next few posts I will elucidate why this is such dangerous teaching and why individual condom failure is so high, and further why promoting condom use is a recipe for tragedy and disaster.
And the tragedy is that X & Y thought they were being responsible. They have been taught long and hard that:
a) sex is a necessary part of any affectionate relationship between a boy and a girl
b) it is pretty necessary for teenagers regardless of affection
c) using a condom is safe and reliable: and therefore responsible...
...and less openly, but in the mix:
d) abortion is of course available as a backup should (per impossibile, of course) a condom fail.
Over the next few posts I will elucidate why this is such dangerous teaching and why individual condom failure is so high, and further why promoting condom use is a recipe for tragedy and disaster.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Ugandans proclaim Pope right - from experience
A group of Ugandan health and social workers, working in the field in the African country which has made the most progress in combatting AIDS has come out in support of the Pope.
Whereas the Lancet editor, in his ivory tower, has swallowed the pseudo-consensus developed by the AIDS industry...
Who do you choose to believe?
Whereas the Lancet editor, in his ivory tower, has swallowed the pseudo-consensus developed by the AIDS industry...
Who do you choose to believe?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
