To Sheathe or To Unsheathe: Much Ado about Condoms

There is much raging and gnashing of teeth, all about condoms, in the internet editions of Philippine newspapers and tabloids. How a plastic tubing that could even be used as birthday baloons and unguided water rockets elicit such frenetic and vehement exchange of comments has been mindboggling. It has been like a comedy of errors. Seriously....

Roman Catholic Bishops have strongly opposed the Philippine government's plan to distribute or easily make accessible condoms as well as dessiminate information of its use, among others, to combat the spread of AIDS causing HIV. The Bishops maintain this policy as one subterfuge for the ultimate government aim of population control [ The Filipinos, for all our peculiarities, stay true to the biblical blessing, " Go to the world and multiply.."]. That a condom's use in preventing AIDS causing HIV or other sexually spread diseases has not been substantiated by medical research as 100 per cent effective. The Church believes that the best way to avoid HIV/AIDS is abstinence from sex, behavioural change and monogamous partnership of men and women. Bless them....


Begrudgingly or not, the Church indeed has a sensible logic in its two-thousand year plus argument, dont you think? Freudian thought posits the desire for sexual pleasure as one of the oldest and most basic of urges that all humans feel. But if a male person thrust and fire his manhood indiscriminately, then repose his sword in many a naughty different scabbard, it is not rocket science, I dare say, that the risk of HIV/AIDS increase exponentially.


Indeed this government policy may encourage promiscuity among the younger generation and more frequent immoral adventures among the mature ones.


Incidentally, information about condom use is readily available in the internet and condoms could be bought in any reputable drugstore anyway, though buyers would often feel squeamish when buying condoms. So why the big fuss about it? If truth be told, there are a lot of Roman Catholics that have been using it already.


For me, this controversy between the Church and the government is an issue about human rights, i.e. the right to access to information in order to arrive at an informed decision, and religious dogma.


It is every person's human right to receive and access information relevant to an informed and educated decision-making. Even God, would most certainly agree. Isn't it that the biblical God made man [ or should I say, "person", in this politically correct world lest I will earn the righteous indignation of well-meaning feminists!] in His image and has given him a free will? So why would the Church censor information about condoms and restrain its faithful from deciding for themselves to use a condom or not?


I must say let it be done with. Let the faithful gain access to information about condoms. Let the faithful make an informed decision whether to use a condom or not. Wouldn't it strengthen the moral fibers of the Church if the faithful refuse to use condoms after being informed about its uses? The Church is a champion of human rights, is it not? So why oppose the exercise of such right?


The Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines must realize that it must adapt to changing norms of the present times or risk becoming irrelevant. The States of Italy, where the seat of the Roman Catholic Church in the Vatican is situated, and Spain allow abortion under specific circumstances are prime examples. The Church in these countries do not interfere with State affairs as much as the Philippine Catholic Church. As one exasperated colleague commented, " If the Philippine Catholic Church meddle with the Philippine State policies, let it pay taxes like secular companies!".


Make no mistake about it. I was baptized and brought up a Roman Catholic. I was a church acolyte in my hometown during my younger years. My parents are "cerrado" romano catolicos. I have a Bible on my bedside table that I consistently read while waiting to pass through sleep's dark and silent gate every night. And I have a firm belief that the Filipino people are capable of making informed decisions without fear of eternal damnation.