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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.


Source: Daniel A. Domobrowski and Robert Deltete, A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion (University of Illinois Press, 2000)
Table of Contents for January 2002 Newsletter

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