Remember what I said in a previous post about the government wanting to eventually place all social services in the hands of the churches as "faith based initiatives"? Remember what I said about how they administered such aid?

I subscribe to some fundie newsletters as a means of keeping track of what they are up to. "Know thine enemy". Their newsies keep me from having to search their sites all the time, which also relieves my blood pressure a little bit.
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This from FRC, Feb. 28, 2007:

No Aid to AIDS Groups That Promote Prostitution

In a commonsense ruling, the D.C. Court of Appeals sided with the Bush administration yesterday saying that the president can deny AIDS funding to groups that condone prostitution and sex trafficking. The case, now a year and a half old, was brought by DKT International, Inc., a family planning group that, among other things, provides condoms to Vietnamese sex workers. When DKT refused to sign a pledge that it would honor the President's anti-trafficking policies, the administration denied it taxpayer support. A lower court sided with DKT, stating that the nonprofit's First Amendment rights were violated because the funding conditions "insisted that the groups 'parrot' the government's position on prostitution." Fortunately, a three-judge panel reversed the decision and restored President Bush's authority to fund only those organizations that communicate the U.S. government's opposition to sex trafficking.
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The fundie and Bush position? It is better to spread AIDS and other STDs than to tolerate "sin".
I do not approve of prostitution as I believe it is degrading and dangerous for the women in the sex business. However, I understand that for some women it is the only means they have to earn a living, especially in third world countries where there are no safety nets nor social services available for women left bereft of support for themselves and their children. I have lived in third world countries and have seen first hand the terrible poverty and hardships suffered by women who have no man nor family to depend on, and who do not have the opportunities for education, job training, and available social services such as we have in the industrialized nations.

In desperation, falling back on the "oldest profession" is their only option, other than street begging or starving or selling their children. In some instances, the husband or dominant male force the women into prostitution as a means of providing income. Laura Bush's simplistic and asinine admonition to "just say NO" offers an alternative of getting beaten to death. In some countries, saying "no" to the dominant male is not an option and reveals the abysmal ignorance of the culture by people who advocate it.

I am violently opposed to enforced protitution wherein unwilling women are tricked or kidnapped to be prostitutes in sex trafficking and believe that all governments should exercise stringent measures against such dreadful people, and you don't even want to know what I propose for the child prostitution traffickers.

However, all that aside, controlling disease is the issue at hand here. AIDs has reached epidemic proportions in some countries and is spreading. Men will avail themselves of the services of a prostitute, carry the disease home to their innocent wives and lovers, and then children born to these women enter the world cursed with an incurable disease. It is a horrible cycle and the only protection offered is condoms, not only to protect the sex worker but also to protect all others with whom the men have sexual contact and the children born to such unions. Ofcourse, education regarding disease and the transmission of disease is important, but changing a culture wherein men traditionally have the freedom to engage in sex as they see fit will not occur overnight and even where it is taboo, there are some who will continue.

Protection against disease is the first line of defence and should have top priority over "sin". The fundies and Bush are remarkably stupid and short sighted to advocate "no protection if you don't follow my moral guidelines". Their belief is:

The wages of sin is death

"For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Romans 6:23

This verse tells us that the wages, or the consequences of sin, is death.
http://www.biyn.org/gospel/gospel2.php

Therefore, they believe if you contract a deadly disease through sinning, death is what you deserve and have earned. You brought it on yourself. (Some theologians and Bible scholars interpret this scripture differently, but the fundies interpret literally - if it suits their purpose.)

It also demonstrates the ultimate goal of the fundies and their cohorts in government to enforce their religious beliefs on the U.S. and the world. Their approval of this decision to with hold aid to sex workers demonstrates their method of managing faith based initiatives and what our poor can expect if they gain more power - submit to our belief system or do without.

And I warn you, friends. The fundies are already diligently seeking a presidential candidate for 2008 who will follow their dictates as does Bush and other fundie cohorts in government. [See above post]
They have MILLIONS of devoted followers who will slavishly vote as they advise, followers who run for office on federal, state and local levels, and greedy candidates who will gladly trade integrity for the campaign chest donations. They are steadily gaining power. They have colleges training and grooming their young to enter politics in order to attain more power and influence. The Repubs losing Congress and the Senate was only a minor setback for them; there are plenty of Dems who go along with their program.

Labels: Bush - fundies- faith based initiatives