Changing The Game
So, unlike any number of Protestants out there, I actually happen to like Pope John Paul II. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the work that man has accomplished in God's name, and I have a special reverence for the Catholic Church because, hey, it's the wellspring from which the rest of the Christian world flows.

But sometimes the Vatican does things that are just downright evil.

And I'm not talking about the excesses of the Borgas or the Crusades or anything nice and medieval like that.

I mean today, right here, right now, in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Three.

According to the BBC, among other news outlets, The Vatican is instructing its missionaries in Africa to tell the local population that condoms have tiny holes in them that allow the AIDS virus to pass from one person to the next in the course of sex. In other words, they're saying that condoms don't stop the transmission of STDs so don't use them.

In fact, they're actually claiming to have scientific evidence to support that fact.

If there was scientific research to support such a claim, it would be plastered all over the Western press. If the Vatican really had such evidence, why are they only telling people where the AIDS epidemic is wreaking havoc?

It's a lie.

A bold faced lie intended to discourage the use of condoms in a misguided attempt to curb recreational sex, and it's targeted at the people who rely on the church the most - the world's poor and sick and disadvantaged.

It's a lie that's going to cost MILLIONS of people their lives, while the Church is claiming to save their souls.

I have no other word to use to describe it other than "evil".

Moreover, I think it's just the latest example of how conservative elements in the world, when faced with scientific evidence & procedure that refutes their narrow view of life on planet Earth, are now adopting the trappings of science, minus the actual procedures, to perpetuate lies that support the status quo.

They've lost the argument on it's merits, so they've just degenerated into an "Is not!"/"Is, too!" shouting match.

They Know
Greg Theilman is the former director of the Office of Strategic Proliferation and Military Affairs for the State Department under Colin Powell. As you might surmise from his title, his office was directly responsible for evaluating intelligence regarding Iraq's WMD programs.

In this interview for 60 Minutes, Theilman says that he'd known for months prior to the invasion that there was no evidence to support the Bush administration's claims that Iraq proposed an imminent threat.

And he told Powell, who should have told the President.

Now, while this is just the latest example of White House lies by omission & exaggeration, I think it's part of a larger trend in our culture. (see above)