Asymmetric Religion and Philosophy

As it pertains to the use of condoms in combating AIDS in Africa, the Pope is correct dogmatically, of course, but also from a social scientific perspective.

In short, condoms are useful in individual contacts, but can't replace the Christian message of chastity at a societal level.

Critics on Facebook would point out that the pope has an ulterior motive (it can't be called a "hidden agenda" as the intent is clear). They'd be right. The Church might still be against condoms even if they were effective in preventing AIDS on a mass scale.

But the pope isn't the only one with an agenda and the Catholic Church isn't the only institution to prioritize dogma. The other popular Western religious movement, environmentalism, has placed bird eggs above African babies for close to forty years by discouraging the use of DDT. They're efforts, usually by tying money to the non-use of DDT, have constituted a de facto ban on DDT that has resulted in millions of deaths (there is a time when environmentalists care quite a bit about malaria: when it spoons with another agenda, global warming).

Victim of environmentalists

To summarize the environmentalist mindset:

Global warming: little evidence, ambiguous impact (it may be positive), efforts to control it will be super-expensive (trillions upon trillions) and may not even have any effect- "Let's go for it!"

Malaria reduction through DDT: Cheap, guaranteed to save millions of lives- "no way!"

Mainstream evidence here, here, here, here, here, and here.

One of the advantages to being religious is that you can consult something authoritative when confronted with difficult moral choices (conversely, it makes it much harder to rationalize your selfishness- darn!).

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Interesting.

Yes, although it's not as bad as you might think.

Atheism has lost its social stigma. People who were nominally Christian are now calling themselves "non-religious." Those who are religious are more attracted to Churches who take the basic tenets of Christianity seriously.

The percentage of Americans who adhered to no particular religion jumped from 8.2 percent in 1990 to 15 percent last year, the third American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) conducted over 10 months last year by pollsters from Trinity College in Connecticut, showed.

When the survey was conducted in 2001, 14.1 percent of respondents said they were not religious.

"Americans are slowly becoming less Christian... The challenge to Christianity does not come from other world religions or new religious movements, but rather from a rejection of all organized religions," said a report of last year's survey, in which 54,461 people took part.

The percentage of Christians in the United States declined slightly between 2001 and 2008 from 76.7 percent to 76 percent, after seeing a precipitous fall since 1990, when 86.2 percent said they were Christian.

Two Connecticut legislators are going after the Catholic Church. Their bill wants to impose upon them a council to make decisions instead of the Church. Of course, that's not the way that the Catholic Church works.

Three points:

1. Having the correct enemies is as important as having the proper friends. Until we're all united under the rule of the the Lord, people will war or argue. I don't know about the legislators, but I imagine that they don't have the same goals as the Church.

2. Government (as opposed to individuals or private groups) persecution of the Church is only new in the United States. Since it's inception, governments have tried to fight with the Church. Nero, Diocletian, HREs Henry IV and Frederick, Henry II, French Revolution, Spanish Civil War, Fascism, Communism, etc.

3. The Church is guaranteed to survive someplace on earth, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't defend it. We can call or email the legislators and let them know what we think.

Here.

Madrid, Spain, Feb 27, 2009 / 05:36 pm (CNA).- Carlos Paya, spokesman for the Christian Liberation Movement in Spain, has asked the European Union and Spain to promote dialogue in Cuba, as the country has been neglected by Latin America.

According to the Spanish media, Paya said the Cuban people “no longer expect anything from the government of Raul Castro and there are no expectations for change beyond a few cosmetic details.”

Paya added, “Raul is only interested in more power, more repression and has nothing but apathy for the people.” Amidst such a situation, he said, “Cubans must take the initiative.”

Paya’s comments are also shared by other dissident leaders, who believe the reforms of Raul Castro are “timid and cosmetic” and will not lead to greater freedom.