Harvard scientist emphasizes: Evidence backs Pope

March 30, 2009

Expanding upon comments made recently to conservative and Catholic media outlets, Harvard scientist Edward C. Green writes that “current empirical evidence supports” Pope Benedict’s comments on AIDS and condoms. Making clear his belief that “all people should have full access to condoms, and condoms should always be a backup strategy for those who will not or cannot remain in a mutually faithful relationship,” he adds:

We liberals who work in the fields of global HIV/AIDS and family planning take terrible professional risks if we side with the pope on a divisive topic such as this. The condom has become a symbol of freedom and-- along with contraception-- female emancipation, so those who question condom orthodoxy are accused of being against these causes.

Referring to Dr. Green as “a senior research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health,” the Washington Post fails to mention that Dr. Green is Director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project there.

 

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Further information:

• The Pope May Be Right (Washington Post)
• As media lashing continues, Harvard scientist backs Pontiff (CWN, Mar. 23)