It's a dogma eat dogma world: Obama aide and the Pope go toe-to-toe over condom use in Africa. The Holy Father seems to hold the upper hand.

• Author: Gross, Christopher
• Position: Religion

LAST SPRING, Harry Knox, a member of Pres. Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based Initiatives and Neighborhood Partnerships, lashed out at Pope Benedict XVI for reaffirming the Catholic Church's stance against promoting condom use in Africa to combat the AIDS epidemic. Knox's comments came after the Pope--who, while en route to his first papal visit to Africa--pointed out that condom distribution may, in fact, make the situation worse since it can encourage riskier sexual behavior. In his remarks to reporters, Benedict also reiterated the position laid out in a 2003 Vatican document, which stated that the best way "to control the pandemic is ... to promote responsible sexual behavior that is inculcated by means of authentic sexual education that respects the dignity of man and woman, and that does not consider others as instruments of pleasure."

For most of the media and the world, the Pope's remarks inspired a yawn. After all, the Church has been opposed to contraception for 2,000 years, so his comments were not surprising. However, while they were not surprised, some people--who believe that condoms are the answer in Africa--certainly were outraged. In particular, Knox accused the Holy Father of "hurting people in the name of Jesus," and he has not deviated from this position. In January, Knox was provided an opportunity to retract or temper his initial comments, given that he now sits on a faith-based group charged with bringing people together to find common ground on social problems, but he simply reaffirmed his previous condemnation and claimed that the science was on his side.

For starters, science is not on his side. In fact, many AIDS researchers came forward after the Pope's comments to say that he may be correct. Though it seems counterintuitive, the countries that have seen continued increases in the rate of AIDS infection are the ones that have adopted the most aggressive condom distribution campaigns.

According to Edward Green, a senior research scientist at Harvard School of Public Health and director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project, this is the result of a phenomenon known as "risk compensation." The safer people feel when engaging in risky behavior, the more likely they are to increase that behavior. Thus, where condom use is promoted In order to mitigate the spread of HIV, statistically speaking, there seems to be a counterproductive increase in risky sexual activity--presumably as a result of the feeling of safety that condoms provide to their...