Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - July 22, 2001
Carmel Rickard
Professor James McIntyre, director of the perinatal HIV unit at Wits University, says that the bishops need to be informed of research that shows how significant condoms have been in preventing transmission of the virus, and that their use can be important in slowing down an infected woman's conversion to full-blown Aids.
His call was echoed by Jerry Coovadia, professor of HIV/Aids research at Natal University.
Speaking from New York this week, Coovadia said faith communities had done significant work in many African countries in helping to reduce the impact of the epidemic by combining religious principles with an understanding that not everyone subscribed to these values.
The debate will take place against the backdrop of a statement by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier that the HIV/Aids pandemic posed a "serious threat to the survival of our nation". He said that the bishops had therefore decided to spend a considerable period of their July 24 meeting reflecting on and debating the church's response to the virus.
The cardinal said that comments by Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, North West, would be debated. Dowling has asked that the church restate its traditional teaching on marriage but recognise that many people do not accept its teachings on sex. The church should challenge such people to act responsibly, he says, telling them they have a duty not to become infected themselves, and "not to spread death" by infecting others.
Napier said that his colleague's views would have to be considered against the backdrop of not only the church's traditional teaching, but also "current scientific evidence about the quality, effectiveness and actual usability of condoms in situations which pose the greatest risk of infection".
A number of theologians, local and international, have expressed the view that using condoms to "prevent death" rather than as a contraceptive to "prevent life" would be preferable to infecting others.
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