Warning: This is about Sex! Could Politics be far Behind?

Just Say NO to Anything that has to do with Sex! Why didn't God Invent a Better Way?..

Today (12/01) is world AIDS day and faith groups in the US are urging the Bush administration to cut AIDS funds because they say we place too much emphasis on preventing AIDS (and other venereal diseases) without ..banning sex! Oh, and because we don't give most of the money to faith-based groups that preach the abstinence-only dogma. Never mind that this dogma doesn't work! Never mind that the US has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the industrialized world. Never mind that our kids that take "the pledge of abstinence" have higher rates for oral and anal sex! And, when they do have vaginal intercourse, they're less likely to use contraception! The states drenched in Biblical, born-again Christianity have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and abortion! The "godless, hedonistic" Massachusetts. by comparison, has one of the lowest rates of teenage pregnancies, and the lowest divorce rate in the union! God works in mysterious ways indeed!

Is there anything we can do to fix the problems? Well, yes and no. Yes, if we employ a realistic approach, hire competent people to run educational and prevention programs, and begin to develop a healthy attitude towards sex. No, as long as sex is seen as a perversion and a vice to be resisted, then we won't make much progress in reducing teenage pregnancies, abortions, and venereal diseases. If we keep electing people to powerful positions that have an aversion to science and reason! Elections have consequences on a wide range of issues that affect our lives. This president has been promoting ignorance and rewards incompetence since he took office. Perhaps he doesn't know any better. Perhaps he's such an extreme and passionate ideologue--without the passion that rests on knowledge and the facts--that he wants only like-minded people around him.

In the name of national reconciliation and moderation after the last election, president Bush picked Eric Keroack, a theocon, to head the federal office that finances birth control, pregnancy tests and a host of other important health care services for the poor. Keroack is affiliated with a group that strongly opposes birth control! Yes, birth control! When he speaks at abstinence conference, Dr. Keroack says that having sex with multiple partners alters brain chemistry in a way that makes women not to want to form bonding relationships! Oh, you women don't worry. He's a quack-doctor, and as such his theories are complete pseudoscience.

Keroack's group, A Woman's Concern, gives pregnant women "counseling"--which basically means they try to convince women not to have an abortion. When I say "convince" I don't mean by reason and providing proper medical information, but rather by condemning abortion (in all cases), and by falsely claiming that abortions will most likely result in breast cancer! [These outrageous claims appear on the group's website] Isn't illegal to make false medical claims? Misleading advertising about ..toasters is illegal, how about our health? Yet, we all know that if a misleading or even utterly false claim is cloaked with religion then the law looks the other way.

So, what is it about sex that makes many people uncomfortable? After all, aren't we all here because of sex? Why is it sinful to engage in this activity (between consenting adults) outside some very narrow religious prescriptions? I see, it is because of religion that the human body and carnal pleasures have been identified as "unclean," "evil," etc. Somehow, a few men, a very long time ago, decided what sex should be all about; that men should have many more sexual privileges, the females should be subjugates and more harshly punished for indiscretions. Those men decided that sex-for-pleasure most certainly will land the transgressors into eternal damnation.

Keroack's group (one of many) has an issue with the sexual act. It doesn't like it! Sex for pleasure is a deadly sin. I wonder if they self-flagellate themselves after having impure thoughts... A Woman's Concern is really ..concerned about "the drugs or devices" that are "demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness." Ergo, no contraception even to married women!

I'm starting to adopt Richard Dawkins' stance that we have to be more aggressive when it comes to the arguments promoted by persons who want to impose their own unscientific absolutism on the rest of us. We have to call their arguments for what they are: personal, unsubstantiated, and dangerous beliefs. We have to tell our leaders that we expect professional competency from the persons appointed to important positions. Persons who have such extreme ideological, non-reality based beliefs should be avoided. They can exist happily in their own private sphere not make policy decisions for the commonwealth. And, yes, there is a difference between opinion based on non-evidence and opinion based on facts. It is a sign of ignorance to believe that the Earth is the center of the universe, and, I suppose, a person has the right to remain ignorant if so desires. But, applied ignorance is deadly--as we've already seen in the AIDS epidemic.

UPDATE: British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged the Vatican to "face up to reality" on condoms & AIDS: "I think that the real key to it is education. That is about two things: educating people about sex when they are young, but also making sure that if people are sexually active, then they are taking protection. There is a big debate about this; how far are you going by saying to people, 'take protection with you'? Are you encouraging young people to have sex?" Mr Blair added: "You should try to encourage people to be responsible, but you should recognise that, if you are sexually active, it's better to be sexually active and responsibly so."