re: #374 Cobdenite

Ironically, Bush did exactly what Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry criticized the Catholic Church of doing in Africa. That is, using charity to undermine contraception.

The question here isn’t “did they care or did they not care”, but rather, “what does religious charity care about?” And the answer is it cares more about your soul than it does about your body or physical existence. Material aid is a means to save your soul and promote conversion. It’s rather irrelevant to a Christian whether a million more Africans are going to die of AIDS because of anti-contraception policies, as long as their deaths are not marred by a cardinal sin like murder (abortion/prevention of contraception). Prioritizing the soul destroys the body. Contraception is effective, but to someone practicing religious charity, it makes a sinful life - and therefore one really not worth living.

I agree with your basic points, but you should note that not all Christians believe or act this way. This is primarily an attitude you find on the fundamentalist religious far right.