Taking the devil out of AIDS

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum members:

We at FXB INDIA are keen followers of the forum and just felt

the need to post news articles from Indian newspapers. We shall

now on be sending the most interesting news articles on a daily

basis.

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Taking the devil out of AIDS,

New Delhi: IAN WATT ; Hindustan Times-14-07-2001

If there has been any single word linking sex and disease in our

time, it is AIDS. While the 'sexual revolution' of the Sixties

ushered in an era, which dug up the moral minefield that the

n Age had firmly planted, the virtues of sexual prudence

are once again preached. This time, however, the preachings come

not only from pulpits-with its message of sexual desire being

diabolical in nature-but also from those more afraid of a killer

disease than a hellfire.

Kenyan President arap Moi has urged his people to abstain

from sex for at least two years in an attempt to curb the spread

of AIDS. In a way, Mr. Moi has attempted to strike at the root of

the problem. Instead of launching a drive to make Kenyans practice

'safe sex', he has urged them to practice 'no sex'. Mr. Moi's

government had made plans to import 300 million condoms. But

this move has been bitterly opposed by Kenya's Christian and

Muslim leaders. For them, a flood of condoms can only single

sexual licentiousness. One religious leader has even gone on

record to state that by importing condoms, Kenya would be

" committing suicide " by encouraging " young people to have

premature (sic) sex " .

There are two problems with the argument the abstinence is

the cure to Kenya's AIDS problem. For one, celibacy is against

human nature. While it lies at the cornerstone of most religious

orders, to expect the laity to suspend desire for a greater

cause is to expect too much. Also, the belief that 'a flood of

condoms' would turn Kenyan cities into latter-day Sodoms and

Gomorrahs is to confuse serious measures to fight AIDS with

moralistic qualms about the ways of all flesh. One knows of

religious compulsions. Catholicism, for instance, forbids

contraception. But if Kenya has to challenge the devil in

AIADS, it must untangle morality from practically and address

the dangers of the body instead of the soul.

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