Abstinence, Not Condoms, Will Stop AIDS Spread
It’s World Aids Day—a time to unite in the fight against HIV and commemorate those who have died of the disease.
Political parties will vehemently disagree on the precise tactics and funding levels required to address this horrific disease. But in a refreshingly bipartisan event this morning, President Barack Obama made the following comment:
As we go forward, we need to keep refining our strategy so that we’re saving as many lives as possible. We need to listen when the scientific community focuses on prevention.
My good friend Suzanne Taylor just released a film that tells the moving story of the treacherous AIDS epidemic in the African country of Botswana. The Road We Know documents what a small group of college students are doing to encourage prevention.
In Botswana, 1 in 4 people adults has HIV/AIDS. But while the government has done everything the Western world has encouraged—like handing out condoms and offering free testing—the formula has clearly failed.
Desperate for a solution, the government invited a small group of college students to help save their generation with a message of hope and behavior change.
In the film’s trailer, the student leaders share an upbeat message across the country–a message that sex is good and that abstinence isn’t only possible, it’s life-saving. As President George W. Bush remarked in his 2004 State of the Union Address, “Abstinence … is the only certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.”
In a 2010 report, UNAIDS could point to a 25 percent drop or more in new infections for young adults ages 15 to 24 in 15 of the most infected nations–primarily due to sexual behavior change. This confirmed that story documented in Botswana was not an isolated trend.
Now that’s a message of hope and change. The kind we should all believe in.
To watch the film or host a screening, visit www.theroadweknow.com.
To connect with Evangelical or Catholic AIDS ministries, check out FRC’s Real Compassion website at www.realcompassion.org.
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Abstinence = FAIL! Sex is good, violence is bad and christians suck a**.
I loathe god, denounce the holy ghost, reject the salvation of jesus, and I encourage others to do the same" - LightBringer ........"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest" - Diderot
"Abstinence" programs in the US have increased the teenage pregnancy rates. Wow! That works! ... Not! Sex education that teaches responsibility, risk aversion, commitment and monogamy are the only effective ways to effectively reduce the spread of all sexually transmitted diseases. Here is a bite sized summary of the ineffectiveness of abstinence only education: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstinence-only_sex_education