Tell this to your local PTA: sex education encourages teenagers not to have sex.

After a review of 68 studies in the U.S. and Europe, the U.N. found that students who attend sex education classes tend to wait until they are older to have intercourse, have fewer partners, fewer unplanned pregnancies, and fewer sexually transmitted diseases. In other words, once teachers debunk the myths surrounding sex, teens are less likely to engage in risky experimentation. Also, youths learn that sexual behavior is not just intercourse, but includes a lot of other, safer behaviors, too--which still encourages them to experience love and emotional development, while discouraging unplanned pregnancies and the spread of AIDS.

Now if somebody would just tell the Vatican...

Pope John Paul II has for years urged parents to pull their children from programs that promote condom use to prevent pregnancy or the spread of AIDS, calling such teachings "dangerous" and "immoral." He has urged parents to make the family the center for information about sexuality and morality.

But the studies show that most parents are uncomfortable with teaching their children anything about sex and would prefer to leave that job to schools. Many parents, familiar with only one type of sex--heterosexual ~penetration~--are as clueless as their children about a wider range of sexual behaviors that can potentially save their children's lives. Asking these parents to teach their kids about sex is the equivalent of giving a child a loaded handgun and just telling him or her to "pop off a few rounds."

The obvious next step would be for the UN to begin a program for western politicians, media pundits, evangelists, and the Pope, and call it "Sex Ed for Dummies." Ted Turner could be asked to contribute a million or two. Children from countries with exemplary sex education policies--Brazil, Zimbabwe, Thailand, South Africa, and Uganda--can lecture a roomful of Republican Senators about AIDS, condom use, safe sex practices, and life- style choices. In fact, we should fill an auditorium with sexually- abstinent Catholic clergy and force them to earn a four-year degree in sex education before they begin preaching against condom use to their congregations.

And the Pope? Well...he's intractable on this point. Too bad there isn't a "three strikes" law when it comes to ideological irresponsibility. He's murdered enough people already.

--Maria Tomchick