Christian Right's War Against Condoms
CBS News reports on their investigation of Denny Pattyn's "Silver Ring Thing" program, a federally-funded religious program that promotes abstinence and denies the effectiveness of condoms:
Pattyn doesn’t just preach the virtues of sexual abstinence. His show is full of negative messages about condoms – messages warning that condoms won’t protect kids from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
"We spoke with some of the kids after the show in Fort Meyers and they said that going into the program they thought that condoms did work, but your show convinced them that they didn’t," says Bradley to Pattyn.
"Right. Well, that’s good because we believe that condoms aren’t the answer," says Pattyn.
"A kid’s part of your program, and he comes to you and says, 'You know, I’m going to have sex. I’ve reached a point and I’m going to do this. Should I use a condom?' What do you say?" asks Bradley.
"My own daughter, my 16-year-old daughter, tells me she’s going to be sexually active. I would not tell her to use a condom," says Pattyn. "I don't think it'll protect her. It won’t protect her heart. It won’t protect her emotional life. And it’s not going to protect her. I don’t want her to get out there and think that she’s going to be protected using a condom."
That's right, Denny Pattyn wouldn't even tell his own children to use a condom — even though it would protect their health and might prevent pregnancy, it wouldn’t protect their hearts. Of course, not having a condom also wouldn't protect their hearts, but why quibble over little details like that?
But wouldn't his daughter be more protected with a condom than without? "Not long term," says Pattyn.
Actually, his daughter would be better of with a condom than without — if we are thinking about her physical health. Condoms help prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. I don't think that's what Pattyn means by "long-term," though. I think that he is talking about her soul.
According to the religious ideology of people like Pattyn, any sex outside marriage jeopardizes one's soul and teaching about condoms might encourage such sex. It's better to risk AIDS or pregnancy and keep one's soul than know how to prevent AIDS and pregnancy and risk going to hell.
Abstinence-only programs can get young people to delay having sex, but attitudes like this have negative consequences:
"The downside is that, when they have sex, pledgers are one-third less likely to use condoms at first sex," says [Columbia University’s Peter Bearman, who co-authored the most comprehensive study ever done on adolescent health and sexuality]. "So all of the benefit of the delay in terms of pregnancy-risk and in terms of STD acquisition -- poof -- it just disappears because they’re so much less likely to use a condom at first sex."
"They’ve been taught that condoms don’t work; they’re fearful of them. They don’t know how to use them," says Bearman. "Their peers don’t use them. They have no experience with them. They don’t know how to get them. They’re had to get access to. For whatever reason they don’t use them, that has long-term consequences."
At least their souls will be safe, right? Bearman has also found that teens who take virginity pledges like those that are part of the Silver Ring Thing are much more likely to engage in riskier sex eventually. Such a high premium is placed on technical virginity that sexual desire finds other outlets:
"Adolescents who take virginity pledges – who remain virgins, that is, who don’t have vaginal sex, who technically remain virgins, are much more likely to have oral and anal sex," says Bearman. ... "They're much less likely to get tested for a sexually transmitted disease. They’ve taken a public pledge to remain a virgin until marriage. The sex that they have is much more likely to be hidden," says Bearman. "It’s likely to be hidden from their parents. It’s likely to be hidden from their peers. And if they live in a small community, it’s quite likely to be hidden from their doctor."
"There’s a group of people who are using abstinence as a vehicle, pretending to be concerned about public health," says Bearman. "But it’s really a vehicle to advance a program, a cultural program that doesn’t help public health."
In abstinence-only programs, teachers aren't allowed to tell the truth about condoms - like how they are nearly always effective when used properly. Teachers also aren't allowed to explain how to use them or where to get them. That's right, teachers aren't allowed to tell their students the truth because the truth conflicts with the religious agenda of the Christian Right, an agenda that is being funded by the taxpayers.
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THIS IS RIDICULOUS. NOT EVERYONE WHO SAYS THEY ARE A CHRISTIAN IS A CHRISTIAN. ITS JUST LIKE THESE ATHEISTS I DEBATE THAT TELL ME HITLER WAS CHRISTIAN. I WANT TO WRAP DUCT TAPE AROUND MY HEAD. BEING A CHRISTIAN MEANS YOU FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST! YOU ARE NOT A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE OF A MERE PROFESSION. JESUS SAID “WHY DO YOU CALL ME LORD, LORD, WHEN YOU DO NOT DO THE THINGS THAT I TELL YOU?” THIS IS HYPOCRISY AND A MISREPRESENTATION OF TRUE CHRISTIANITY.
As far as outsiders are concerned, no one who claims to be a Christian has any greater claim to the label than anyone else. Your denunciations of others carries no more weight than the pope’s