Reuters says that condoms will be a part of the Bush AIDS initiative. That's a pleasant surprise. Reuters also says that key elements of the program will be, according to administration sources, "faith-based efforts and abstinence education." That's what I thought the administration would say.

I don't have a problem with a plan that includes all these elements in an appropriate balance. What I worry about is that the U.S. may soon decide to focus its aid on the religious, abstinence-oriented elements of overseas AIDS programs. And I also worry about the administration using Africa as a stick with which to beat Western secularists.

A New York Times article on the AIDS plan mentions Uganda's Peter Mugyenyi and refers to the drugs AIDS patients receive in his clinics. Will that continue to be the emphasis of AIDS stories about Uganda, or will the administration eventually stress only the abstinence aspects of Uganda's plan? I think the latter is quite likely.

Don't get me wrong -- the AIDS initiative is good news. But I fear the administration will soon conclude that Africa's AIDS wards are a new front in the American culture war.