Can you believe this one?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Allan Bevere, a professor friend, publishes this AP story: stranger than fiction he suggests. Town May Make Carrying Condoms Mandatory By SERGIO DE LEON\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can you believe this one?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Allan Bevere, a professor friend, publishes this AP story: stranger than fiction he suggests. Town May Make Carrying Condoms Mandatory By SERGIO DE LEON\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-01-14T11:15:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/\",\"name\":\"Can you believe this one?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-01-14T11:15:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-01-14T11:15:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Allan Bevere, a professor friend, publishes this AP story: stranger than fiction he suggests. Town May Make Carrying Condoms Mandatory By SERGIO DE LEON\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can you believe this one?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can you believe this one?","description":"Allan Bevere, a professor friend, publishes this AP story: stranger than fiction he suggests. Town May Make Carrying Condoms Mandatory By SERGIO DE LEON","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can you believe this one?","og_description":"Allan Bevere, a professor friend, publishes this AP story: stranger than fiction he suggests. Town May Make Carrying Condoms Mandatory By SERGIO DE LEON","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2006-01-14T11:15:06+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/","name":"Can you believe this one?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-01-14T11:15:06+00:00","dateModified":"2006-01-14T11:15:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"Allan Bevere, a professor friend, publishes this AP story: stranger than fiction he suggests. Town May Make Carrying Condoms Mandatory By SERGIO DE LEON","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can you believe this one?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":938,"date":"2006-01-14T06:15:06","date_gmt":"2006-01-14T11:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/"},"modified":"2006-01-14T06:15:06","modified_gmt":"2006-01-14T11:15:06","slug":"can-you-believe-this-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/01\/14\/can-you-believe-this-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Can you believe this one?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Allan Bevere<\/a>, a professor friend, publishes this AP story: stranger than fiction he suggests.
\nTown May Make Carrying Condoms Mandatory
\nBy SERGIO DE LEON (Associated Press Writer)
\nFrom Associated Press
\nJanuary 11, 2006 5:34 PM EST
\nBOGOTA, Colombia \u2013 A western Colombian city councilman wants to require everyone in town 14 or older to carry a condom to prevent pregnancy and disease, outraging local priests.
\nWilliam Pena, a councilman in Tulua, said Wednesday he will present a formal proposal to force all men and women \u2013 even those just visiting \u2013 to always carry at least one condom. Those caught empty-pocketed could pay a fine of $180 or take a safe sex course, he said.
\n\u201cSexual relations are going on constantly,\u201d Pena told The Associated Press by telephone. \u201cIf you carry a condom, chances are you\u2019ll use it during the day. It\u2019s not going to be there forever.\u201d
\nTulua has one of the highest rates of AIDS in Colombia, he said. The proposal will be debated by other town leaders and could go into effect by March, he said.
\nRoman Catholic priests in the Cauca Valley town, 150 miles southwest of Bogota, were fuming over the plan.
\nThe Rev. Jesus Velasquez said it would only encourage sexual relations and ridiculed it as absurd. The local newspaper El Tiempo on Wednesday quoted him as saying, \u201cI would have to have a condom even though I\u2019m clergy.\u201d
\nAnother town priest, Roberto Sarmiento, said he that improved sex education would be a better solution.
\n\u201cNobody can force someone to carry a condom in their pocket,\u201d he said. \u201cThey should instead carry the responsibility of what sexual relations mean.\u201d
\nRamiro Cano, a 19-year-old laborer in Tulua, said Wednesday that the proposal was the talk of the town, and said most young people he has talked to support it.
\n\u201cI try to always carry a condom on me, especially if I go to a discotheque, in case I can pick up someone,\u201d Cano said.
\nThe proposal is perhaps the most radical in a series of pro-condom efforts across a country where 190,000 people live with AIDS, a figure only surpassed in Latin America by Brazil, according to the World Health Organization.
\nThe capital city of Bogota handed out more than two million free condoms last year as part of a campaign titled \u201cUse it instinctively \u2013 make yourself sexy.\u201d
\nIn the city of Tunja, where 17 percent of all pregnancies last year were from women under 18 years of age, condom dispensers will be installed in bars and movie theaters starting in February.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"