Volumne 5 No. 2
Religions more problem than solution to AIDS
By Daniel C. Maguire
Dr.
Stefano Vella, Director of AIDS clinical trials in Italy,
has said that we are still in the early days of the AIDS
epidemic, "Unless we do something, we will have
200 million people infected with the virus in twenty
years, and 100 million people will have died."
So far, 60 million have been infected, and 23 million
have died.
Religions have been more part of the
problem than part of the solution.Most are fixated on
"abstinence only" solutions - the "just
say no," approach. Religions are largely locked
into the idea that the only good sex is heterosexual
married sex. This position isn't realistic because it
overlooks homosexual persons and billions of unmarried
adolescents and adults. Thus it is refreshing to read
two Catholic philosophers teaching at the Jesuit Seattle
University who argue that "a rich spiritual life
is not necessarily hindered by, and may actually be enhanced
by, premarital sexual relations." This, they continue,
is also true for "homosexual sexual relations,"
which like all sexual relations, can be either moral
or immoral.