ARTIFICIAL BIRTH CONTROL BANNED BY THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH UNDER PAIN OF MORTAL SIN
The Roman Catholic Church forbids artificial birth control under all
circumstances.
Catholic teaching notes that husband and wife may have sex out of the motive of
satisfying sexual desire and not love or procreation. But warns that it is
venially sinful even if open to conception (page 8, 26, Contraception and
Chastity). Do not forget that Catholicism teaches that venial sin is a serious
evil. It is just that it does not indicate a break in your relationship with
God.
It is interesting how it is a venial sin for a husband and wife to have unloving
sex together but if they love one another and use a condom it's a mortal sin!
That is warped!
The Church says that if you steal money to give it to the poor this is an evil
action because despite the good motive it was still dishonest. You still
intended to commit the evil of dishonesty (page 18, Contraception and Chastity).
This intention is the evil not the helping of the poor. From that the Church
concludes that artificial birth control is always dishonest no matter how good
the intended results are.
This doctrine proves that Catholicism is judgmental. It is possible to argue
that the person never intended to be evil but to be good. Just because somebody
does good the wrong way does not mean they should be judged as wilfully evil. A
religion that judges unnecessarily cannot ask to be believed when it says it
loves sinners. The Church would answer that through natural law, we have innate
knowledge of what is wrong or right so while you may do good the wrong way you
cannot do what is immoral with good intentions. What it means is that you can
set up a business, a good thing, but it could be set up the wrong way. You meant
for the best. But this is not a moral matter thus you cannot use contraception
or have sex outside marriage without knowing it is wrong.
Sperm can live for a week inside a woman’s body. With that in mind, the natural
method recommended by the Church is no good in cases where sperm survives a long
time. The married couple who cannot afford to have another child perhaps for
health reasons are not supported by this religion.
Catholics use slippery slope arguments to scare people into thinking that
contraception is dangerous. They argue that if it is okay to have sex while
avoiding conception then sex is for recreation so nobody should say that having
sex with a consenting animal is wrong. It doesn't matter that there is no such
animal - it is hypothetical.
Slippery slope arguments are usually useless and ignore the fact that what seems
to be the road to disaster can be a pleasant surprise.
Every right claimed in the world is open to abuse. But with religious rights it
is different. We can claim rights as human beings. We can claim rights as
religious beings. But only the human rights are the real rights. They are the
real needs. Religion invents needs and provides more things in life to be abused
and cause slippery slopes about as if there is not enough already! For example,
you need food. You do not need a Bible. Slippery slope arguments against
religion work because religion is an extra and a privilege and not a right. They
do not work against natural rights.
Contraception has nothing at all to do with it if somebody wants to have bizarre
and dangerous sex. It is not the condom's fault if a rapist puts one on and goes
out to find a victim. The Church talks as if contraception corrupts but it is
only people who corrupt.
Moral relativism for most people is limited to the belief that they can do what
they like sexually. Moral relativists tend to argue that if you perceive even
wrongly that an act will result in more good than bad then the act is right for
you and you have acted morally. The Church however states that this is wrong. It
argues from natural law that relativism is nonsense.
Natural law says that there is three criteria for setting the line.
1 The nature of the act.
2 The intentions of the doer of the act.
3 The context of the act.
The Church allows killing in self-defence but artificial birth-control is never
allowed. A woman trapped with a rapist is not allowed to insert a diaphragm even
if the rapist has HIV.
The Church lamely says that situations like that are very unlikely. But that is
not the point. Even if they were common occurrences the Church wouldn’t change
its mind. Such lameness is an insult to women in general.
The Church says that contraception is godless because it is trying to prevent
God from creating new life and implies mistrust of God. But God can make
contraception fail. How could it be that godless if you use it believing that if
God deems it right for conception to take place then it will happen?
The Church says that contraception implies that having a baby is somehow bad or
that the blessing of fertility is a curse to be fixed. But if you believe that
if God sees that a baby is the right thing for you, he can make the
contraception fail so it all depends on your intention. Your intention to use
contraception to beat God would be a sin. But how could it be a sin to use it
when you believe that God is working through it to plan your family? Your
intention cannot make contraception a sin in itself.
The Church always seems to stress the bad side of contraception when it condemns
it. This is motivated by a wish to frighten people away from it and to sneakily
rouse antagonism towards those who promote contraception. How do we know?
Smoking has more bad consequences than good and it doesn’t get condemned. It is
not a sin of any kind!
The Church says that contraception loosens the marriage bond for it helps
couples to cheat. It says it increases promiscuity. But these would be abuses of
contraception. They would have nothing to do with proving it always wrong.
The Church permits using the safe period - the time of the month when a woman
cannot conceive as a method of birth regulation. This is called Natural Family
Planning. The Church says this method is open to life and so it is not a sin.
They mean that though conception is very unlikely it can still happen and the
method permits God to send new life.
This is really saying that God should be allowed to plan families not birth
control. If the Catholics believe that then why bother with the method at all?
Natural Family Planning is an attempt to make it harder for God to send a child.
Catholics will reply that this is not true for it is the method he laid down.
They will say that using it is co-operating with him fully. But in reality it
can be intended to stop God causing a pregnancy. The Catholic reply is a lie.
The Church may say that the method respects the human body. The implication is
that a man does not really love his wife if he uses artificial birth control.
Do not claim that the Church means well. How could it mean well when it is not
open to changing its mind and when it is so extreme? The Church listens to the
critics and then though it knows fine well that it is wrong it just chooses to
forget what they have said.
Contraception outside marriage has these advantages. It prevents illegitimate or
unwanted children. It saves woman from the trauma of abortion and back street
abortion. It prevents the transmission of disease.
The alleged disadvantages are that it helps people to have sex without being
married which does not lead to human happiness or true love on the whole.
Contraception inside marriage helps the parents space out the children so that
they can make the best life for their family. They have the size of family that
is wise for all concerned. It helps couples limit their families to their
resources. It takes away the fear of unwanted pregnancy from the wife. It can
help increase their love as the years go by because they are able to make love
without fear. The disadvantages are that it can be used to prevent conception
when one partner wants a child. It takes way some of the freedom and excitement
of love making.
The pope eats well and sports a portly figure. This is the man who wants to keep
poor women from knowing how to control their fertility. They end up having too
many babies and they end up hardly able to feed themselves or their babies.