Because God is going to punish you

Rick Perry was pummeled during Monday's debate (sponsored by the Tea Party) because as Tex. Gov. he ordered girls in Tex. schools to be vaccinated against HPV. This is the virus that causes cervical cancer in women and anal cancer in men.

If both the man and woman waited until marriage to have sex and never strayed from the marriage bed this vaccine would not be necessary. So a lot of Fundies disapprove of the vaccine's use because they want to make sure that people are punished for their immoral behavior and cancer can serve as that punishment. Note that such punishment should still hold if the person with cancer was not the philanderer or was raped.

For those with long memories, the same argument was made about syphilis over 100 years ago. Many thought it immoral to search for a cure or vaccine for that disease.

So withholding the vaccine allows Fundies to holler that sex before marriage can kill you, so you better behave. We know how well that works.

Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin notes that as the general public accepts the vaccine and Fundies refuse it, the only people who will get cervical cancer are Fundies.