Prior to the 20th century, the three main branches of Christianity (Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism) generally held a critical perspective on birth control, including prominent Protestant reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin. Among today's Christian denominations, however, there are various positions on birth control.
Video Christian views on birth control
Roman Catholic
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The Catholic Church has been opposed to contraception since at least the second century. Many early Church Fathers made statements condemning the use of contraception including John Chrysostom, Jerome, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus of Rome, Augustine of Hippo and various others. Among the condemnation is one by Jerome which refers to a clear form of oral contraceptives: "Some people go to take the potion, that they can guarantee infertility, and thus kill humans almost before their conception." Augustine, in About Marriage and Caring , states that anyone who engages only sexual passions without the intention of procreation, "even though they are called husband and wife, does not, nor does it defend the reality of marriage, honorable [marriage] to cover up the shame.... Sometimes cruelty lustful, or cruel passions, come to this, that they even use sterile drugs. "The phrase" sterilization drug "( sterilitatis venena ) is widely used in theological and ecclesiastical literature to condemn contraceptive and birth controls.Augustus utilizes Onan's biblical story as a supporting text to denounce contraception.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church stipulates that all sexual acts must be unitive and procreational. In addition to condemning the use of artificial birth control as an undue sexual act, non-procreation such as joint masturbation and anal sex are ruled out as a way to avoid pregnancy. Casti connubii describes the secondary purpose, unity, and purpose of the relationship. Because of this secondary purpose, married couples have the right to have sexual intercourse even when pregnancy is not a possible outcome:
Nor are they considered to be acting against nature in which married states exercise their rights in an appropriate manner even though for reasons of nature either of the time or of particular disability, new life can not be put forward. Because in marriage and also in the use of marital rights, there is also a second purpose, such as mutual cooperation, mutual love coaching, and sexual lust calm which is not prohibited by husband and wife during their minors. to the primary end and as long as the intrinsic nature of the action is maintained.
John and Sheila Kippley from Couples to League Couples said that Pope Pius XI's statement not only allows sex between married couples during pregnancy and menopause, but also during the fertile period of the menstrual cycle. Raymond J. Devettere says that the statement is a permit to have sexual intercourse during the fertile period when there is "a good reason for it". The mathematical formula for the rhythm method was formalized in 1930, and in 1932 a Catholic doctor published a book entitled The Rhythm of Sterility and Fertility in Women promoting this method to Catholics. The 1930s also saw the first Rhythm Clinic in the US (founded by John Rock) to teach this method to Catholic couples. However, the use of the rhythm method under certain circumstances was not formally accepted until 1951, in two speeches by Pope Pius XII.
Current view
The Catholic position on contraception was formally described and expressed by Pope Paul VI Humanae vitae in 1968. Artificial contraception is considered intrinsically evil, but natural family planning methods are morally permissible under some circumstances, since they are not robs the natural way of conception.
In justifying this position, Pope Paul VI said:
Responsible men may become more convinced of the doctrinal truths established by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this action can open the way for marriage disloyalty and decline in moral standards in general. Not much experience is needed to fully realize human weakness and to understand that humans - and especially young ones, so exposed to temptation - need an incentive to keep the moral law, and it is a nasty thing to make it easy for them to break the law. Another effect that gives cause for caution is that a man accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the respect of a woman, and, disregarding his physical and emotional balance, reduces it to mere instruments for his satisfaction. have his own wishes, no longer think of him as his partner whom he must be careful about with care and affection.
In publishing Humanae vitae , Pope Paul VI relies on the Papal Pontifical Commission Report on the Birth Control. Minority reports argue that:
One can not find historical periods, no church documents, no theological school, almost no Catholic theologian, who has ever denied that contraception is always very evil. The doctrine of the Church in this case is absolutely constant. Until this century this teaching is peacefully shared by all other Christians, whether Orthodox or Anglican or Protestant. The Orthodox defends this as a general teaching today.
On July 17, 1994, John Paul II clarified the position of the church during meditation saying before the angelus's memorization:
Unfortunately, Catholic thinking is often misunderstood... as if the Church supported fertility ideology by all means, urging married couples to reason indiscriminately and without thinking of the future. But one only needs to study the Magisterium statements to know that this is not true. In fact, in starting the lives of the couples fulfills one of the highest dimensions of their calling: they are God's coworkers. Precisely for this reason they must have a very responsible attitude. In deciding whether or not to have children, they should not be motivated by selfishness or carelessness, but by a wise and conscious generosity that weighs the possibilities and circumstances, and especially prioritizes the well-being of the unborn child. Therefore, when there is a reason not to generate, this option is allowed and may even be necessary. However, there is still a duty to carry it out with criteria and methods that respect the total truth of marital action in the dimensions of the proliferation and procreation, as regulated wisely by nature itself in its biological rhythm. Someone can obey it and use it for profit, but they can not be "broken" by artificial interference.
In 1997, the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Families declared:
The Church has always taught intrinsic intrinsic crime, that is, of any marital act that is purposely made unfruitful. This teaching should be held as definitive and irreparable. Contraception is very contrary to the sanctity of marriage; this is contrary to the goodness of life transmission (the procreation aspect of marriage), and toward mutual reciprocity (the aspect of marital unity); it damages true love and denies God's sovereign role in the transmission of human life.
A summary of the biblical support used by Catholics against contraception can be found at Rome Sweet Home, an autobiography by Catholic apologists Scott and Kimberly Hahn, both new members of the Protestant Catholic Church. They illustrate the results of research on the contraceptives performed by Kimberly Hahn as an important effect in their lives, especially the fact that the Catholic Church is one of the last few Christian groups to take a clear stand on this issue. Among the Scriptures included in this book are the following lines from Psalm 127: 3-5:
Boys are indeed the inheritance of God, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like the arrow in the hands of a fighter are sons of youth. Happy is the person who has the tube full of them. He will not feel ashamed when he talks with his enemies at the gate.
Catholic Scholar Cormac Burke has written an anthropological (non-religious) evaluation of the contraceptive effect on marriage love, "Married Love and Contraception", to suggest that "contraception actually doubts the marital act, so far, away from uniting the couple and expressing and ensuring love among them in a unique way, it tends to ruin their love radically in opposition to giving each other its fullest assurance that the most intimate action of this marital relationship should signify. "
The Congregation's Directive for the Faith of 2008 Dignitas Personae reaffirms the church's refusal of contraception, cites new methods of interception and transmission, especially female condoms and morning pills, which also "fall within abortion sins and very immoral ".
Condom controversy
In 2003, the BBC's Panorama stated that church officials have taught that HIV can pass through the rubber sap membrane from which condoms are made. It is considered incorrect according to the World Health Organization.
In an interview on Dutch television in 2004, Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels argued that condom use should be supported to prevent AIDS if sex with an HIV-infected person should occur, although it should be avoided. According to Danneels, "the person must use condoms so as not to violate orders that condemn murder, in addition to violating orders that prohibit adultery.... Protecting yourself against sickness or death is a preventive measure Morally, it can not be judged on the same level as when condoms are used to reduce the number of births. "In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI confirmed that handing out condoms is not a solution to fight AIDS and may make matters worse. He proposed "spiritual and human awakening" and "friendship for those who suffer" as a solution. In 2010, Benedict in an interview published in the Book of the Light of the World: Pope, Church, and Signs of the Age, when asked whether the Catholic Church is essentially against the use of condoms, states:
He [the Catholic Church] certainly does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, can exist, in order to reduce the risk of infection, the first step in the movement toward different ways, the more humane way, life.
Benedict cites the example of condom use by male prostitutes as "the first step toward moralization", although condoms "are not really a way to deal with HIV infection crimes". In a statement to explain his words, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reaffirms that the church considers prostitution "extremely immoral":
However, those involved in prostitution who are HIV positive and who seek to reduce the risk of transmission through condom use may take the first step in respecting the lives of others even if the crime of prostitution remains in all its gravity.
Dissent
Roderick Hindery reports that a number of Western Catholics have voiced a significant disagreement with the church's establishment of contraception. Among them, dissident theologian Charles Curran criticized the attitude of the Humanae vitae about artificial birth control. In 1968, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Canada issued what many interpreted as disagreeing documents, the Winnipeg Declaration, in which the bishops acknowledged that a number of Canadian Catholics find it "extremely difficult or even impossible to make all these elements of this doctrine" (the Humanae vitae ). In addition, in 1969, they reaffirmed the Catholic principle of the virtue of conscience, a principle which they say must be interpreted correctly. They insist that "a Catholic Christian is not free to form his or her conscience without considering the teaching of the magisterium, in a special example performed by the Holy Father in an encyclical letter".
Catholics for Choice stated in 1998 that 96% of US Catholic women have used contraception at some point in their lives and that 72% of US Catholics believe that a person can be a good Catholic without obeying church teachings about birth control. According to a national poll of 2,224 US adults surveyed online in September 2005 by Harris Interactive (they stated that the magnitude of error can not be estimated due to sampling, non-response, etc.), 90% of US Catholics support the use of contraceptives/contraception. A survey conducted in 2015 by the Pew Research Center among 5,122 US adults (including 1,016 self-identified Catholics) says 76% of US Catholics think the church should allow Catholics to use birth control.
Family planning advocate Stephen D. Mumford stated that the primary motivation behind the church's continued denial of contraceptive use was what he regarded as the fear of losing the pope's church if the pope was in conflict with the dogma of papal infallibility. Mumford gives an example of a quote made by dissident theologian August Bernhard Hasler from a minority report written by Pope John Paul II before his papacy:
If it should be stated that contraception is not evil itself, then we must recognize that the Holy Spirit had been on the side of the Protestant churches in 1930 (when the encyclical Casti Connubii was announced), in 1951 (Pius XII address to midwife), and in the year 1958 (address delivered before the Society of Hematologists in the year of the pope died). It must also be admitted that for half a century the Spirit failed to protect Pius XI, Pius XII, and most of the Catholic hierarchy from very serious errors. This means that Church leaders, acting with extreme suspicion, have condemned thousands of innocent human acts, banning, under the agony of eternal damnation, a practice that will now be approved. The fact can not be denied or ignored that this same act will now be declared valid on the basis of the principles cited by Protestants, whereby the pope and bishop have condemned or at least disapproved.
Mumford's statement, however, ignores the fact that infallibility has been claimed only to a maximum of half a dozen papal words, nothing related to contraception.
Maps Christian views on birth control
Eastern Orthodox
Current view
An official Russian Orthodox document states that although the method of abortifacient contraception is completely unacceptable, other methods can be used with spiritual advice, taking into account "concrete living conditions of the spouse, their age, health, the level of spiritual maturity and many other circumstances". However, if the spouse does not want to have a child (in addition to the notes, only the "non-selfish" reason is the legitimate reason for that), not having sex is preferred.
Eastern Orthodox devotees, on all sides of the issue, tend to believe that a particular perspective on contraception is not adequately examined, and that each examination is too often bound in identity politics, a stronger group accuses the categorically criticized group of Latin Latin. However, the "new consensus" has not gone unchallenged.
Many Orthodox hierarchies and theologians from all over the world praise Humanae vitae when it was published. Among these Orthodox leaders, some teach that marriage relationships should only be for procreation, while others do not go so far and have a view similar to the Roman Catholic position, which enables Natural Family Planning to be at the same time at the same time against artificial contraception.
Other Orthodox Church leaders maintain this interpretation too narrowly focused on the function of sexual procreation, insufficient in the functioning of its units, and thus allowing more freedom for contraceptive use among married couples.
Some Orthodox Christians, like Roman Catholics, not only consider the use of contraception as sin, but also "mortal sin" by means of "unnatural earthly sin", along with homosexuality, sexuality, masturbation, etc.
Alternate view
Until about 1970, the Orthodox Church generally opposed the use of contraception. Since then a "new consensus" is said to have appeared. This new view holds that contraception is acceptable in Christian marriage if 1), contraceptives are not abortive, 2) used with the blessings of one's spiritual father and 3), children are not fully excluded from marriage, which is found in a chapter called " The foundation of sanctity ", by Germogenos of Shimanovo.
Oriental Orthodoxy
Protestantism
As part of the Protestant Reformation, the Reformers began to strongly emphasize the enjoyment of the union of marriage. Still, all early Protestant Reformers, and even Protestants in general until the twentieth century, condemn birth control as a violation of the purpose of God's procreation for marriage. When scientists advanced birth control methods during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some Protestants continued to reject them, while other Nonconformists welcomed this progress.
Anabaptism
Mennonites
Mennonite Church USA, the Mennonite Church General Conference, and the Conservative Mennonite Conference have adopted a statement that demonstrates the approval of modern methods of contraception. For example, while also teaching and encouraging love and acceptance of children, the Conservative Mennonite Conference argues, "Prevention of pregnancy when feasible by birth control by the method of pre-fertilization is acceptable." A study published in 1975 found that only 11% of Mennonites believed the use of birth control was "always wrong". Old Colony Mennonites, like the Amish, do not officially permit birth control practices.
Amish
Not only are all types of artificial birth control prohibited in the Old Order community, but every variety of natural family planning, such as calendar-based methods, is also criticized. However, especially in recent years, more and more Amish women are beginning to use contraception. This trend is more evident in communities where few men earn a living by farming.
Hutterit
The Hutterite Brethren uses contraception only when recommended by a doctor.
Cooperites
The Cooperites do not allow the use of contraceptives.
Anglicanism
The Anglican Communion, including the Church of England, condemned artificial contraception in the 1908 and 1920 Lambeth Conferences. Later, the Anglican Communion gave consent to birth control in some circumstances at the Lambeth Conference of 1930. In 1958 the Lambeth Conference stated that the responsibility for deciding the number and frequency of children is placed by God on the conscience of the parents "in a manner acceptable to the husband and wife".
Baptist
Calvinism and Presbyterianism
The Presbyterian Church (USA) supports "full and equal access to contraceptive methods." In a recent resolution supporting insurance coverage for contraception, the church affirmed that "contraceptive services are part of basic health care" and warned that "unwanted pregnancies lead to higher infant mortality, low birth weight, and maternal morbidity, and threaten the economy, the survival of the family. "However, other Reformed groups are at loggerheads over this issue, as can be seen in recent works suggesting that birth control practices lack legitimate Christian support. (See for example "The Christian Case Against Contraception: Making Cases from History, Scripture, Systematic, and Practical & Ethical Theology" by Bryan C. Hodge.)
Lutheranism
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America allows for contraception if potential parents do not intend to care for a child. Lutheran churches or other synods take other positions, or take no position at all. For example, in 1990 the Reformed Lutheran Church passed a resolution entitled "Procreation" which states that birth control is, in all forms, a sin, even though they "allow for exegetical differences and extraordinary (casuistic) cases", for example, when women's lives are at risk. Lutheran churches in Laestadians do not allow the use of contraceptives. Both Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod have an official position on contraception.
Methodism
The United Methodist Church, states that "every couple has rights and obligations prayerfully and responsibly to control conception according to their circumstances." Resolution to Responsible Parents states that to "support the sacred dimension of personality, all possible efforts must be made by parents and society to ensure that every child enters the world with a healthy body, and is born into an environment conducive to the realization of its potential." United Methodist Church supports "adequate public funding and increased participation in family planning services by public and private institutions."
More
Along with this general acceptance, many movements that view contraception are used outside of marriage as a boost for promiscuity. For example, Focus on Family states,
Sex is a powerful impulse, and for most of human history it is closely related to marriage and childbirth. Recently lately the act of sex is generally divorced from marriage and procreation. The discovery of modern contraceptives has provided a great deal of excessive security and encourages more people than ever to move sexual expression beyond the boundaries of marriage.
Mormonism
Until now the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) openly condemn artificial birth control. The earliest official public statements made by the church on the subject were given in 1969, and he did not use contraception by saying, "it is against the Church's teachings artificially to limit or prevent the birth of children." We believe that those who do deliver The control will reap the disappointment with and by. "
However, a more recent statement in the publicly available church handbook for local LDS Church leaders has made these leaders not judge other members by their personal intimate relationship:
It is the privilege of married couples capable of giving birth to children to provide a mortal body for the spirit children of God, which they are then responsible for nurturing and turning back. Decisions about how many children to have and when to have them are very intimate and personal and should be left behind between spouse and God. Church members should not judge one another in this regard.
Married couples must also understand that divorce in marriage is divinely approved not only for the purpose of procreation, but also as a way to express love and strengthen the emotional and spiritual bond between husband and wife.
Outside of the handbook, a recent statement by the President of the Church on the issue of birth control is a statement made by Gordon B. Hinckley in 1983:
Much has been said... about birth control. I like to think about the positive side of equality, the meaning and sanctity of life, the purpose of this treasure in our eternal journey, the need for the experience of mortal life under the great plan of God our Father, from the joy found only when there are children at home, from the blessings that come from good offspring. When I think of these values ​​and see them taught and observed, I am willing to leave questions about numbers to men and women and God.
A common LDS approach is that this statement and the current handbook statement supersede previous statements made by previous authorities.
The LDS Church opposes elective abortion "for personal or social comfort" but states that abortion may be an acceptable option in cases of rape, incest, harm to health or maternal life, or where the fetus has been diagnosed with "severe disability that will not allow the baby to survive after birth. "The Church" strongly discourages surgical sterilization as an elective form of birth control ".
See also
- Abortion and Christianity
- Catholic theology of the body
References
External links
- Roman Catholic
- "Contraception: Why Not?" by Janet E. Smith
- The website for Catholics opposes Contraception
- Documents from the US Catholic Bishops Council of November 2006 on married life and contraception.
- Church Teaching on Contraception by William Saunders
- Catholic Answers articles on contraception include comments by the Early Church Fathers
- Eastern Orthodox
- Family Orthodox Family Planning Association
- Protestant
- "The Christian Case against Contraception: Making the Case of History, the Bible, the Systematic, and Practical Theology & the Ethics" by Bryan C. Hodge
- "Biblical Approach for Family Planning" by Dennis Rainey - 8 series part of the radio broadcast FamilyLife Today . Audio and transcript are available at the link.
- control methodscomment.htm "Birth Control & God's Will" by Gregory Koukl
- "Christians and Contraception: Comfort or Kingdom Thought?" by Bart Garrett
- "Contraception: Tragic Deception" by Royce Dunn
- "Does the Bible permit birth control?" by John Piper
- "Responsible Family Planning" by Rich Vincent
- "Bible and Family Planning" by James B. Jordan - The article begins on page 4 of the source.
"Birth control pills" Articles about birth control pills including Randy Alcorn's book "What Is a Pill Cause Cause for Abortion?"
- Criticism of the Christian view of contraception
- Religious agenda for BAN contraception
- Catholic contraception
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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