Benedict XVI Tells the Uncomfortable Truth

The world's press is in a flap today as the stern orthodoxy of Western Liberalism was challenged by Pope Benedict XVI. Western liberalism seeks to impose the values of the sexual revolution on the Global South and it sees itself as beyond challenge or criticism: "We know what is best for you primitive types and we are going to explain it again to you."

Pope Benedict XVI, however, is not a man to be cowed by political correctness and the rigid orthodoxy of the mainstream Western media. He has the courage to tell Africans that sexual promiscuity is destructive on so many levels - emotionally, economically, physically, relationally etc. He knows that condoms cannot replace morality and self-control. He knows that condoms will promote promiscuity in Africa just as they have in the West. He knows that condoms only provide a false sense of security that leads to gradual loss of self-restraint and promiscuious behaviour that tears families apart and leads to death and grief. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5923927.ece

The West is in the grip of the culture of death, yet seeks to export its evil philosophy to other cultures. To send missionaries to preach Christianity in Africa is seen as cultural imperialism, but to allow global corporations to preach consumerism and sexual promiscuity (for profit) is seen as enlightened and good. Why? Because Christianity is seen as untrue and the modern Western culture of death is seen as the pinnacle of human achievement.

I remember listening to a searing question from an African Anglican bishop to the audiance at Wycliffe College: "Your forefathers brought the Gospel to us and we are very glad. But why do you Western Christians no longer seem to believe that Gospel yourselves?" A good question. Maybe we have become so addicted to pleasure that we have forgotten God. It couldn't be that simple, could it? Well, Jesus apparently thought so, according to Luke 8:14.

UPDATE:
Rod Dreher has a great post on this issue entitled: "Dog Bites Man, Pope Hates Condoms."
http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2009/03/dog-bites-man-pope-hates-condo.html

It spells out in excruciating detail why the Western media just don't get it. One of the comments even explains the statistical reasoning behind the fact that encouraging condom usage increases the risk of infection. I'll try to give the layman's version.

Condoms provide a sense of security that encourages risky behaviour. But the effectiveness of condoms, even when used properly, is only a percentage. So if you have so-called "unprotected" sex once and so-called "protected" sex 5 times (with a condom effectiveness rate of 80%), your chances of getting HIV are identical. This presupposes that condoms were used 100% of the time, which is not realistic. So your actual chances of getting HIV are higher with the psychology of condoms. The only real solution, as the example of Uganda proves, is to change behaviour and reduce the frequency of sex outside of marriage or a similar long term relationship. Nothing else will save this generation.

BTW, will someone tell me why the Western media is so full of faux rage that the Pope didn't go to Africa as an evangelist for their religion?

FURTHER UPDATE:
The absurdity of the Pope's critics is finally taken as seriously as it deserves. See Diogenes' terrific post "African Wife-beaters Urged to Practice Safe-Sox" here: http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otr.cfm?id=4955

Here is how it begins:

"The Association of Compassionate Christian Caregivers today severely criticized traditional Catholic teaching on marital "love" and called upon the churches to encourage wife-beating Africans to take the "prudent, practical steps" to reduce the risk of HIV infection when assailing their spouses.

"The science is not in doubt" says Fizzy Osbourne, spokesman for the International Planned Widowhood Federation, "all the evidence shows that bare fists used to pummel infected spouses cause skin ruptures that increase the rate of transmission to the uninfected partner."