Social Reform versus Birth Control [Chesterton 1927]

G.K.Chesterton's Works on the Web ^ | 1927 | G.K. Chesterton

[JMJ333]

=)

[Polycarp]

Catholics will never be straightforward about telling you that their goal is to have contraceptives legally prohibited.

Catholics have never outlawed contraceptives here; neither have they ever even tried.

In fact, it was the protestant legislators of the 1900's that wrote the Comstock laws that outlawed contraception sales. (The last of these protestant laws were overturned in Griswold Vs Connecticut in the early 1960's. Being a lawyer, I am sure you already know that R v W was decided based on the so-called right to privacy found in Griswold. Ironic isn't it? Even secular law sees the connection between abortion and contraception.)

[Polycarp]

Kinda like the disorder of medicating away heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, pain, etc.

Not at all. More like fixing that which was never broken, like sterilization.

Fertility is not a disease.

[Anamensis]

Kinda like the disorder of medicating away heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, pain, etc. God forbid we make life more pleasurable by scientific means

Ha. You joke, but have you ever listened to Askel5 hold forth about the value of pain in God's eyes? If ever there was anything to make your hair stand on end, it's listening to a hard core Catholic tell you what she REALLY thinks.

[Anamensis]

ALL Christian denominations, until the early 20th Century, condemned contraception. Should we ditch any other Church teachings that you personally find inconvenient?

Uhm... I move we stop drowning witches?

[ELS]

Non serviam! Perhaps many Christian denominations decided to follow a different master because he appealed to their senses.

[Polycarp]

Maybe all Christian denominations fell into heresy...much more likely argument given that the prohibition of contraception was a universal teaching of Christian moral theology, proclaimed by all protestants, all Catholics, and all Orthodox, prior to 1930, as well as orthodox jews.

Doesn't scripture foretell a great "falling away" before the end? The falling away on contraception began the universal descent into the culture of death.

Enjoy the ride.

[Polycarp]

I would like to see the abortifacient, breast and cervical cancer causing hormonal contraceptives outlawed, purely from a public health standpoint.

If, by the Grace of God, this culture is ever re evangelized with the Culture of Life, laws outlawing contraception will be a moot point.

[Polycarp]

Uhm... I move we stop drowning witches?

You mean we still burn and drown witches?!? COOL! I always wanted to see one of them witch burnings! Could you please give me a date and location?!?

[sinkspur]

ALL Christian denominations, until the early 20th Century, condemned contraception. Should we ditch any other Church teachings that you personally find inconvenient?

All Christian denominations, until the latter half of the twentieth century, approved of the use of capital punishment for serious offenses, including rape.

Now, mainline Christian denominations, including Catholicism, disapprove of the death penalty. Slavery enjoyed a similar evolution.

Doctrines develop. The focus on each and every act of sexual interaction ignores the larger context of whether the marital relationship is open to children.

There is a huge moral difference between a couple with six children utilizing the barrier method, and a couple with no children utilizing the barrier method.

[JMJ333]

Hi sink! =)

[EODGUY]

BTTT

[Torie]

In this day and age, except in some parts of the Muslim world these days, religion has proved singularly ineffective in influencing the reproductive choices of adults. This is a non problem. When it comes to actual behavior, few pay any attention to the exhortations and edicts of the officious intermedlars, to the extent they are still made, which is less and less frequently, and with less and less passion.

[JMJ333]

You'd have made a great sixties hippie, you relativist you!