Some say you can judge a man by his enemies. Well anyone who has CNN and Newsweek’s “On Faith” blog angry with him is a great man in my book.
The two instances were caught by Newsbusters.
1) Jack Cafferty of CNN mocked Pope Benedict today saying:
“It’s time — it is past time for the Catholic Church to enter the 21st century, or at least try to drag itself out of the 13th century.”
Cafferty goes on to say that the Pope’s message is clearly not working because it has not led to any decrease in AIDS in Africa or Washington DC.
Is anyone sick enough to believe that the reason that HIV AIDS has skyrocketed in Washington DC is that there’s not enough condoms available?
More on this one by Matthew Balan at Newsbusters who points to the facts, especially concerning Uganda’s abstinence efforts.
2) And then Tim Graham of Newsbusters caught this gem from the priceless “On Faith” website.
Liberal professor Robert McElvaine in his article called, “Impeach the Pope” was so upset by Pope Benedict’s remarks on Islam, his resistance to female ordination, and his lifting Bishop Williamson’s excommunication, he exclaimed:
I am a Catholic and the idea that such a man is God’s spokesperson on earth is absurd to me.
There are, of course, no provisions in the hierarchical institution set up, not by Jesus but by men who hijacked his name and in many cases perverted his teachings, for impeaching a pope and removing him from office. But there ought to be.
Graham’s priceless response is: “There’s a word for people who do not recognize the Pope as an authority: they’re called Protestants.”
Read all about it at Newsbusters.
March 19, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Harvard AIDS Prevention Researcher: Pope is Right on Ineffectiveness of Condoms in Preventing HIV / AIDS
March 19, 2009 at 8:42 pm
I love your blog!
March 19, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Canonist Ed Peters says a canonical penal process should be undertaken against Robert McElvaine. Not that it will ever happen.
http://www.canonlaw.info/2009/03/if-robert-mcelvaine-hasnt-violated.html
March 19, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Here is a collection of links to factual information backing up the pope’s position.
The media and the “world” are of course turning a blind eye to the truth.
http://heyitsjustablogman.blogspot.com/2009/03/condom-corporations-kill-you-for-your.html
March 20, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I know I’m preaching to the choir, but let’s just look at the effectiveness of a condom at preventing pregnancy. That’s what they were made for, right? Used correctly a condom still has a failure rate of right around 14%. Have any of these bozos compared the size of a single sperm to the HIV virus?
Editor of Rubber Chemistry and Technology, Dr. C. Michael Roland of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C., spoke about his
research on “intrinsic flaws” in latex rubber condoms and surgical gloves
published in Rubber World, June, 1993).
Roland said that what I am about to relate is “common knowledge among good
scientists who have no political agenda.”
Electron microscopy reveals the HIV virus to be about O.1 microns in size
(a micron is a millionth of a metre). It is 60 times smaller than a
syphilis bacterium, and 450 times smaller than a single human sperm.
The standard U.S. government leakage test (ASTM) will detect water leakage
through holes only as small as 10 to 12 microns (most condoms sold in
Canada are made in the U.S.A., but I’ll mention the Canadian test below).
Roland says in good tests based on these standards, 33% of all condoms
tested allowed HIV-sized particles through, and that “spermicidal agents
such as nonoxonol-9 may actually ease the passage.”
Roland’s paper shows electron microscopy photos of natural latex. You can
see the natural holes, or intrinsic flaws. The “inherent defects in
natural rubber range between 5 and 70 microns.”
My favorite quote:
“The HIV virus can go through a
condom like a bullet through a tennis net.”
And that of course, friends, is just the science end of it…I daresay the Holy Father was expressing far more than a scientific reality…
March 20, 2009 at 1:45 pm
We have to be cautious with the size of HIV virus argument. It’s transmitted in this case by semen. If the semen doesn’t get through, the virus doesn’t get through.
As EgghaInc pointed out at The B-Movie Catechism it’s nice if science backs us up, but that’s not the hook Christianity hangs it hat on.