GIMPI,
Your statement that abstinence and fidelity has never worked well, is quite odd. I’m not sure of what you are referring but I think you need to look again. If you are referring to a perfectly chaste society, I agree that has never existed but we certainly don’t need to go that far to see results. In fact, in our country, one only has to look back a few decades to see a largely chaste society with very few STD’s, or single parent families. Even today there are many sub-cultures of America that practice this successfully as well as countries around the world that are also very chaste. These can be contrasted with places that are not chaste and you can see the difference clearly. There are definitely examples of the chaste lifestyle working.
Of course, I should also point out that we should not be looking at the impossibility of a task when we know it is the only or best way. We know that a chaste and faithful lifestyle is the only way to stop AIDS and it is our choice. Any other method doesn’t stop the disease but simply allows it to spread slower, which isn’t anything to brag about. Many “impossible” battles have been won because it was the only way. If we choose to give up we have only ourselves to blame when the suffering continues. It is certainly worth the effort to do all we can.
As for empowering women, I’m not sure I know what you are saying, but I agree in some ways. In truth “empowered” women can be less chaste, so accomplishes nothing and possibly makes it worse. Prostitution is often seen as empowering women (I don’t understand either). But keep in mind women are empowered by men (aka. Men give the rights to women). Of course in these countries these men are running around raping and seducing any woman they can, spreading disease as they go. How are you going to get these men to give up their rights when they need them to fulfill these unhealthy desires? We are then forced back to teaching them to behave morally and be faithful to their wives. This is just a roundabout way of saying we need abstinence.
As for the idea of coming up with a better alternative to condoms, I assure you that there are probably many ways that would work better. You may notice that none are currently on the market now to my knowledge. Keep in mind that even imperfect condoms are a nuisance take away from fulfillment and pleasure. Anything more would mostly likely take virtually all the pleasure out, leaving someone with the same problem: Abstain or forgo the contraception. Sex was not designed to be non-consequential, for the good or bad.
As you can see, I don’t see any solution outside the obvious. Perhaps we should stop making excuses and do what actually works.

"To remain abstinent until marriage and then to be faithful and devoted to one spouse to the end of this life does not jive well with a promiscuous world that demands instant gratification for its sexual desires. So no one wants to look at the results of the 'new morality.'"
Posted by: DouginMoz

DouginMoz,

I'm afraid there is nothing new about the "new morality." The only thing that is new is that we are actually talking about sexual issues, rather than trying to hide from them. Shotgun weddings, red-light districts, and the hypocrisy of "she better be pure, but he can sow his wild oats" really weren't better, now were they?

The problem with the abstinence and fidelity model is it has never, ever worked well. People simply have never adhered to it consistently, anywhere, all over the world. Societies have tried to impose abstinence and fidelity, mostly by controlling women, (while allowing back-door liberties to men, usually through prostitution) and they have all failed miserably, without exception. They have also often lead to fairly extreme oppression of women, in the name of morality. This is just as true of Christianity as it is of Islam, from a historical viewpoint.

I appreciate your sincerely-held beliefs, but isn't it more important to find something that really works? Preferably without oppressing women? If condoms aren't as effective as they should be, how about looking for other, better preventatives? How about empowering women, so they have the right (and economic clout) to reject an unfaithful husband, and can earn a living outside of prostitution? These ideas may not address the "moral" concerns of sex outside of marriage, but they might just make the world a bit healthier. And that really would be a "new morality."

Of course there is always "monoperson hand jiving" for sexual release!!!! And it is guaranteed not to result in AIDs, STDs or pregnancy.

Conclusion: Africa needs to install "masturbation stations" asap!!!!

Many people often complain, "Why are Christians always sticking their noses into other people's bedrooms? What is their hangup with sex?"

Biblically, God reserves sex for marriage where it acts as a bond to hold the two people together for a strong family. When we fail to heed God's words given for the health of the community, then the "wages of sin is death."

When broaching the subject of sex to Africans, I will tell them,"Please do not misunderstand me. I want condoms available. If you are going to have sex and there is a chance of getting an STD or becoming pregnant, I hope with all of my heart that you use a condom. If you are going to disobey God, then do not make it worse by getting an STD that you will pass on to others or creating a child that will be abandoned later. Do not make it worse. But you must also understand that condoms fail. Condoms have a 5% failure rate if used perfectly every time that intercourse happens. On average, condoms have a 21% failure rate. This is because they are used inconsistently or improperly. Condoms used by adolescents that lack experience have a 36% failure rate.

What are the results of this failure rate added with the failure rate of even bothering to use a condom. In America where everyone has been trained to use condoms, 36% of births are to unwed mothers, 1,700,000/yr - up from 36,000/yr in 1950. Throw in another 1,000,000 abortions/yr (40 million worldwide); and the fact that 25% of adolescent girls (ages 15-19) have had the dubious pleasure of dealing with one STD or another. Fortunately, AIDS is not dominant in America like it is in Africa where we lose 6,000 Africans per day. Look closely at those numbers. We lose more people to death because of our sexual mores than in all the wars that we have fought. We can't even do statistics on the unkept promises and broken hearts and altered futures derived from a promiscuous lifestyle.

The only choice that is 100% safe is abstinence. Abstinence does not fail unless the people in question fail to be abstinent. Of course, that is the rub, isn't it? To remain abstinent until marriage and then to be faithful and devoted to one spouse to the end of this life does not jive well with a promiscuous world that demands instant gratification for its sexual desires. So no one wants to look at the results of the "new morality."

Thanks Don for the inspiring article.

"When used correctly and consistently, condoms are humanity's best protection against getting infected by HIV."

For the main point of his article, there is little support given to what he concludes. I guess we are just supposed to accept this point and move on as he criticizes religious groups.

I suppose you can believe the myth that condoms prevent HIV but this is clearly untrue. While it may prevent AIDS in individual circumstances, we need to look at things as a whole. For instance, if someone has sex once with a condom, they have probably only a 5% chance of failure. Not particularly bad, but this is clearly not the whole picture. In the real world we know a person may have sex 1000 times (probably a low number) if given the opportunity. This would make 1000 x .05 = 50 failures and an almost certain spread of HIV to other partners. Of course this problem is compounded as these individuals are promiscuous and engage in many partners.

As you can clearly see, the only way to prevent the spread of AIDS is to not engage in risky sex or other risky behaviors. Condoms can’t stop the spread of AIDS. Condoms only give people the sense of invincibility, which is a myth, and ultimately leads to the further spread of AIDS.

Of course, we haven’t even dealt with the issue of other STD’s or unwed pregnancies and their effects. Of course, these ones rarely lead to death, so we don’t really have time to help Africans with these type of problems. Of course we do know that about 25% of sexually active teenage girls have STD’s in our country. It’s kind of odd that since the advent of modern contraception, like condoms, we have seen a spike in the number of STD’s and unwed pregnancies. Nothing like pushing a concept that has proven to work. Yeah right.

"FIRST-YEAR CONTRACEPTIVE FAILURE RATES
Percentage of women experiencing an unintended pregnancy - (or risking contracting AIDS)
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_contr_use.html

Method Typical

Male condom 17.4