http://carlsafina.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/488/

Ken, thank you for inviting him!

I loved Carl’s poke at the Christians about how we didn’t have to share his passion for terns and tuna, but we as Christians better be passionate about the people negatively impacted on the over-exploitation of our resources. Well done!

• Having Dr. Carl Safina in our church (and you and Nancy having him in your home) as a warmly welcomed guest;
• His very moving and spiritual presentation on caring for God’s creations;
• His receiving a standing ovation from the crowd;
• His pretty fine talent for playing the drums. (Was that God just dotting the i and crossing the t?).
• And though it has nothing to do with Dr. Safina’s visit (actually it might since we learned that everything is dependent upon everything else), I understand that our church received a donation of an almost-new motorized wheel chair just as one of our members heard that she will not be able to walk on her crutches for awhile.

There was more church at Vineyard yesterday than most churches have in a life time. Maybe church isn’t the right word, maybe it should be more of “God’s kingdom” but its the kind of church I want to be a part of.

On a different note – you mention you didn’t initially realize that 1 billion+ of the world’s population is without clean drinking water, and soil erosion and bad farming have led to an inability to grow crops in large swaths of the world. There are segments of the church – namely in missions circles – who are tackling these issues from the grassroots level … digging wells, creating simple water purifying techniques for locals to run, etc. I’ve met quite a few in various parts of the world. Definitely more can be done if we get the word out and channel our resources. Just noting that parts of the evangelical world have been working in these arenas.

You mention Carl Safina’s humility, but thanks also goes to you for having the humility to know we can learn from the science community as well.

That’s one of my favorite things about him.

Meanwhile, since you have written in the past about the prevention of HIV/AIDS in Africa through the use of condoms, I’d like to ask your opinion about the following news from just 2 days ago:

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YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI said on his way to Africa Tuesday that condoms were not the answer in the continent’s fight against HIV, his first explicit statement on an issue that has divided even clergy working with AIDS patients…

Benedict had never directly addressed condom use, though his position is not new. His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, often said that sexual abstinence — not condoms — was the best way to prevent the spread of the disease…

“You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms,” the pope told reporters aboard the Alitalia plane headed to Yaounde. “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

The pope said that a responsible and moral attitude toward sex would help fight the disease.

About 22 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV, according to UNAIDS. In 2007, three-quarters of all AIDS deaths worldwide were there, as well as two-thirds of all people living with HIV.

Rebecca Hodes with the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa said if the pope is serious about preventing new HIV infections, he will focus on promoting wide access to condoms and spreading information on how best to use them.

“Instead, his opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans,” said Hodes, director of policy, communication and research for the action campaign…

Even some priests and nuns working with those living with HIV/AIDS question the church’s opposition to condoms amid the pandemic ravaging Africa…

The late Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo made headlines in 2003 for saying that condoms may help spread AIDS through a false sense of security, claiming they weren’t effective in blocking transmission of the virus. The cardinal, who died last year, headed the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-17-pope_N.htm

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Once again, I must agree with Sam Harris that “Whatever the subject under discussion, there are good reasons for believing things and there are bad reasons. The problem is that religion has made bad reasoning into an art form.”

BEWARE OF DOGMA !!!