|
A B O U
T T H E M I T R E
The Mitre is the quality student
newspaper at the University of St Andrews, the third-oldest university
in the English-speaking world... more
C O N T
A C T U S
All correspondence should
be sent to themitre@gmail.com.
D I G I T A L A R C H I V E S
Editions of the Mitre generally are available
online one month after they appear in print... more
|
|
The
Accusers Must Be Vanquished
Two
days after the death of the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, Terry
Eagleton seemed a lone voice of criticism. He wrote in the Guardian:
‘the greatest crime of his papacy … was the grotesque irony by which
the Vatican condemned – as a “culture of death” – condoms, which might
have saved countless Catholics in the developing world from an
agonising AIDS death. The Pope goes to his eternal reward with those
deaths on his hands.’ This article, the most eloquent false narrative
one could ask for, represents how Marxists in the media are now seeking
to control the judgement of history. In the days following the pope’s
death the usual critics mainly mixed broad praise with only muted
insinuations. But now the lies are spreading with the speed and potency
of a computer virus.
The Left know better than anyone the principle of the Big Lie, and
their chosen whopper is that AIDS has been spread because of the
Catholic church and especially our late pope. The Left are convinced
that the disease can be stopped by the distribution of mountains of
condoms to African villages. (This is already the policy in most
places). Condoms, they believe, will stop the transmission of AIDS. The
Catholic church, they continue, is a monolithic institution which is
living in the Dark Ages and is responsible for countless deaths by its
continual denunciation of artificial contraceptives for casual sex.
Interestingly, Uganda’s president says that those who just call for
more condoms ‘do not understand Africa’. We can see that leftist
arguments have a sort of internal logic. But here their case is utterly
wrong-headed and causing great harm. First, we must remember that South
Africa has the biggest distribution of condoms and still has the
highest rate of AIDS in the continent. Second, there is Uganda, the
only country in Africa winning the battle against AIDS. In the 1980s
30% of the population had the virus. Now only 4.3% suffer from it out
of a population of 26.5 million.
How has this been done? Simply the government has promoted a campaign
of abstinence and fidelity. The president has called for ‘optimal
relationships based on love and trust instead of institutionalized
mistrust, which is what the condom is all about’. Uganda tells its
people that AIDS is deadly and transmitted through sexual promiscuity.
It has seen a 60% fall in people who said they have had casual sex;
proof that behaviour change policy is possible and effective. The
teaching of John Paul II is in harmony with Ugandan policy. How
disgraceful, then, the charge that the Catholic church is culpable for
the AIDS epidemic. The heroes and villains have been mixed up.
Liberals object that the Catholic church is not dealing with the
‘reality’. But as Mark Steyn commented in the Telegraph: ‘What should
be the Christian response [to AIDS]? To accept that we’re merely the
captives of our appetites, like a dog on heat? Or to ask us to rise to
the rank God gave us?’ The Ugandans demonstrate that humans are not
merely dogs on heat, and cash (especially from the U.S.) to Uganda has
been channelled substantially through ‘faith groups’.
Contrary to the media line, the above is a sketch of the real picture.
Let us not be afraid of stating these facts, opposing leftist bigotry,
and deconstructing the mythology of the New Statesman. Let us have no
doubt of what has caused the disease which is the scourge of Africa,
and of what can be the only solution. Liberals are so appalled by the
‘values’ that underpin Catholic doctrine that they refuse to see or
admit that the same doctrines would solve the AIDS epidemic within two
decades. To save the lives of afflicted Africans, let us look to the
teaching legacy of the greatest man of the 20th century. |
|
Vol.
III, No. 5, April 13, 2005
Return to Contents
T
H E M I T R E
THE QUALITY STUDENT NEWSPAPER
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS
|
|
C
O N T E N T S
Home
About
Archives
Literary
Review
On the Mitre:
"Its frenetic tone is amusing in a relentless,
unpitying
way that reminds me of 'Vile Bodies'."
Fr.
John Emerson
Regional Superior, FSSP
|
|
