Posted on 01/10/2014 8:06:50 PM PST by marshmallow
Is evangelical unease about contraception really just a cover for conservative white male evangelical leaders to keep women out of pulpits? Evidently some think so, or fear so, or perhaps even hope so.
That was made clear in a recent Religion News Service op-ed by Jacob Lupfer, raising a key question about the controversy over the Obama administration’s contraception mandate: Are evangelical protests rooted in concern about religious liberty or about birth control? The answer is yes.
Lupfer argues that while the concerns are ostensibly about religious liberty, evangelical leaders are actually “attempting to sow seeds of doubt about the morality of birth control itself.” On that count, he understates his own case.
A good many evangelicals hope to do far more than sow seeds of doubt about the morality of birth control. Our concern is to raise an alarm about the entire edifice of modern sexual morality and to acknowledge that millions of evangelicals have unwittingly aided and abetted that moral revolution by an unreflective and unfaithful embrace of the contraceptive revolution.
Lupfer observes that the embrace of contraception “has become a fact of life in America.” Thus, those who push back against the contraceptive revolution are the standouts in this cultural moment, and Lupfer clearly asserts that something other than concern about birth control must really lie behind the evangelical urgency.
What would that be? According to Lupfer, “the intended effect of bemoaning contraception is to idealize pre-feminist conceptions of marriage and family.” Futhermore, he says, the concerns about contraception are “a mere skirmish in a larger theological and ideological battle.”
According to Lupfer, those larger theological and ideological battles include an evangelical ambition to increase “market share” by out-breeding those with other worldviews. He also suggests that male evangelical leaders operate out of a logic that..........
(Excerpt) Read more at charismanews.com ...
Mind readers on the left.
Is the evangelical concern about birth control part of a larger worldview? Of course it is. As a matter of fact, evangelicals did not come to the conversation about birth control until a host of other moral issues forced the question. Lupfer states that evangelical leaders “will tell you that the Protestant embrace of birth control lacked adequate theological reflection.” We will tell you that because it is true—demonstrably true. In the words of historian Kathleen Tobin, “all major denominations in the Judeo-Christian world condemned contraception” until the 20th century. As she points out, it was the liberal and mainline Protestant groups driving the acceptance of birth control, with conservative Protestants solidly against it at least until World War II. As for theology—it hardly played a part in the debates among liberal Protestants.For evangelicals, everything changed with the advent of The Pill. And evangelical acceptance of the oral contraceptives (and, beyond that, other forms of birth control) also happened without any adequate theological reflection. Today’s generation of evangelicals is indeed reconsidering birth control, and theological concerns are driving that reconsideration.
Where is the discussion among Protestant Freepers on this thread? The silence is deafening ((((((((((*))))))))))
You can’t talk about contraception without talking about fornication.
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The "theological reflection" that happened was after the true effects of the birth control "pill" became more known. I doubt more than a handful of people (probably doctors and chemists that worked to invent it) knew that there was a secondary purpose of the pill which was to make the uterine lining inhospitable to implantation of a fertilized egg, should it occur. No pill has been invented that can stop ANY egg from being released and fertilized and it does happen, though no one knows for sure with what frequency. Until that fact came out, nobody understood that a mini-abortion can take place in women who use hormonal contraceptives.
I think it is disingenuous to accuse Evangelicals of EVER condoning premarital sex or adultery. That has always been considered a sin as is abortion. It is only when the life of the mother is threatened - meaning she will die (as will her baby) - unless the pregnancy is stopped, is taking the life of the baby warranted. In those cases, it is not really an abortion but a lifesaving surgery that unfortunately results in the baby dying.
You've not been reading any of the other threads on this subject? Seeing that you posted your sarcasm on Saturday, January 11, 2014 1:04:19 AM, I'd say be patient. It will come.
Catholics are amazing sometimes. They are utterly mystified when different religions do not share their thinking and worries on every issue.
They really cannot grasp the concept of “not catholic”, and yet fully, happily, Christian.
And no, birth control does not always mean fornication. Many Christian married couples are happy to plan their family size and timing with contraception.
And last, Catholics are very hypocritical on the issue of birth control. What is Natural family planning” Well it’s a method to try to have sex and ***avoid pregnancy*** as much as possible. Hello??? Is this supposed to trick God?
But that Catholic belief is fine and I don’t begrudge followers of that Christian faith from observing it. Protestants are not always peeking in and analyzing the Catholic teaching and belief on the issue. Why are you so obsessed with the protestant viewpoint?
It makes us feel like the hot girl in school. You have our photo all over your walls, know our class schedule, and spy on us with binoculars,,,,, and we really don’t even know your name. It’s kinda weird.
“You can’t talk about contraception without talking about fornication.”
The 31 year old married Christian couple uses contraception. They love their children Jimmy, Joe and Janet very much. After breakfast they told them it was time to hurry up and get dressed for Sunday School.
There, I did it.
:) Great post and I’m lol’ing at the last paragraph!
Why are protestants so obsessed with sex?
I think contraception is a spiritual attack on women. Most don’t realize it, but they are agreeing that they are defective from the moment of conception.
RCs even think JWs are Prots, though they operate more according to the RC sola ecclesia model for authority, but its a bit early yet, and if it were not for evangelical types most RCs threads would never make it past 12 comments.
As re this, while being much more conservative overall than Catholics, evangelicals did miss it on this one, partly because the link btwn abortion was and still is little known.
Apart from that, I believe self control is the means by which reproduction is controlled, and not by synthetic means. And if married, conservative Christians should be the ones with the largest families. The use of the Pill has had an unseen by profound effect on society, besides conservatives costing elections.
We know its not simply for procreation, but i do believe that a principle in Scripture is that with pleasure comes responsibility, and artificially circumventing that has consequences, so that using Olestra so you can indulge on potato chips has its own drawbacks.
But as faith is shown by works, as James states (2:18) what a church really believes is shown by its conduct, and in this Rome manifests it believes that neither using contraceptives or being liberal is unacceptable, as she treats even notorious public promoters of abortion and homosexual rightsas members in life and in death.
And there is not much difference btwn Catholic women and others as regards such (^ refers to last source: More .
26 percent of Catholics (2007) polled strongly agree with the Church's unequivocal position on abortion Catholic World Report; 2997 survey of 1,000 Catholic Americans by Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Connecticut
46 percent of Catholics who say they attend mass weekly accept Church teaching on abortion; 43 percent accept the all-male priesthood; and 30 percent see contraception as morally wrong. ^
50 percent of Protestants affirmed gambling was a sin, versus 15 percent of Catholics; that getting drunk was a sin: 63 percent of Protestants, 28 percent of Catholics; gossip: 70 percent to 45 percent: homosexual activity or sex: 72 percent to 42 percent. Ellison Research, March 11, 2008 http://ellisonresearch.com/releases/20080311.htm http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080312/study-behaviors-americans-consider-sinful.htm
Of never-married adult females, 25% of Evangelicals, 11% of Catholics and 14% of Mainline Protestants professed never to be have had sexual relations. Countering Conventional Wisdom: New Evidence on Religion and Contraceptive Use, Guttmacher Institute, April. 2011
74% of Evangelicals, 73% of Mainline Protestants, and 68% of sexually active Catholics women use birth control. 3% of the Catholics rely on natural family planning. Attendance at religious services and importance of religion to daily life are largely unrelated to use of highly effective contraceptive methods. ^
88% of Catholics believe that they can practice artificial means of birth control and still be considered good Catholics. New York Times/CBS News poll, Apr. 21-23, 1994, subsample of 446 Catholics, MOE ± 5%
98% of self-identified Catholic women ages 15-44 who have ever had sexual relations have used a method of contraception other than natural family planning at some point in their lives. .” http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/the-claim-that-98-percent-of-catholic-women-use-contraception-a-media-foul/2012/02/16/gIQAkPeqIR_blog.html?wprss=fact-checker
40% of 18- to 29-year-old Catholics said the church’s “teachings on sexuality and birth control are out of date.” http://www.barna.org/teens-next-gen-articles/528-six-reasons-young-christians-leave-church
59% of all Catholic women of childbearing age practice contraception—a rate of usage statistically equivalent to that of the general population (60%). Calvin Goldscheider and William D. Mosher, "Patterns of Contraceptive Use in the United States:
58% of Catholics 52% if they are voters) believe that employers should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception;
50% of white Catholics support this requirement, versus 47% who oppose it, along with 38% of white evangelical Protestants an 50% of white mainline Protestants. Public Religion Research Institute, February 2012 http://publicreligion.org/research/2012/02/january-tracking-poll-2012/
Combined aggregate results from 9 surveys conducted from 2001 through 2004 show 71% of Protestants (68% of regular church goers) and 66% of Catholics (59% of regular Catholic church-goers) support capital punishment. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/gallup-poll-who-supports-death-penalty
73 percent of Catholics rejected Catholic teaching artificial methods of birth control. Catholic World Report; 1997 survey of 1,000 Catholic Americans by Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Connecticut
One-third of surveyed priests said they “do not waver” from their vow of celibacy, while 47% described celibacy as “an ongoing journey” and 14% said they “do not always succeed in following” it. 2% said celibacy is not relevant to their priesthood and they do not observe it. not celibate. ^
71 percent of priests responded that it always was wrong for a woman to get an abortion, 19 percent that it often was, and 4 percent seldom/never. ^
28 percent judged that is always was sin for married couples to use artificial birth control, 25 percent often, 40 percent never. ^
49 percent affirmed that it was always a sin to engage in homosexual behavior, often, 25 percent; and never, 19 percent. ^ - Los Angeles Times (extensive) nationwide survey (2002). http://www.bishop-accountability.org/resources/resource-files/reports/LAT-Priest-Survey.pdf http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_2_39/ai_94129129/pg_2< /p>
Only 23% (20% of former Catholics now evangelical) were unhappy about Catholicism's teachings on abortion/homosexuality (versus 46% of those now unaffiliated); 23% also expressed disagreement with teaching on divorce/remarriage; 16% (12% now evangelical) were dissatisfied with teachings on birth control, 70% said they found a religion the liked more in Protestantism.
55% of evangelical converts from Catholicism cited dissatisfaction with Catholic teachings about the Bible was a reason for leaving Catholicism, with 46% saying the Catholic Church did not view the Bible literally enough. - Pew forum, Faith in Flux (April 27, 2009) http://pewforum.org/uploadedfiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/fullreport.pdf< /font>
That's the shiny object.
I'm 'uneasy' about the whole MESS!
HUH?
I...
must...
resist...
Why are Catholics obsessed over the fact that Mary DID have sex?
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