Newsletters Donate My Account. Research Topics. Pagination Next: 5. Nondiscrimination 1. Most say birth control should be covered by employers, regardless of religious objections 2. Americans divided over whether wedding-related businesses should be required to serve same-sex couples 3. Please enter your name Please enter your email Your email is invalid.
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Send to: is required Error: This is required Error: Not a valid value. The fourth-century Christian theologian Augustine characterized the sexual act between spouses as immoral self-indulgence if the couple tried to prevent conception.
The church, however, had little to say about contraception for many centuries. For example, after the decline of the Roman Empire, the church did little to explicitly prohibit contraception , teach against it, or stop it, though people undoubtedly practiced it. Most penitence manuals from the Middle Ages, which directed priests what types of sins to ask parishioners about, did not even mention contraception.
It was only in that Pope Sixtus V took the strongest conservative stance against contraception in Catholic history. However, both church and civil authorities refused to enforce his orders, and laypeople virtually ignored them. By the midth century, some church leaders even admitted couples might have legitimate reasons to limit family size to better provide for the children they already had. By the 19th century, scientific knowledge about the human reproductive system advanced, and contraceptive technologies improved.
New discussions were needed. Victorian-era sensibilities, however, deterred most Catholic clergy from preaching on issues of sex and contraception. By the 20th century, Christians in some of the most heavily Catholic countries in the world, such as France and Brazil, were among the most prodigious users of artificial contraception, leading to dramatic decline in family size. As a consequence of this increasing availability and use of contraceptives by Catholics, church teaching on birth control — which had always been there — began to become a visible priority.
The papacy decided to bring the dialogue about contraception out of scholarly theological discussions between clergy into ordinary exchanges between Catholic couples and their priests.
See full bio. All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work , and Sound Off! Today, many if not most Catholic bishops seem hesitant to confront politicians. Amazingly, 95 million Americans live in states where Catholic Charities have been forbidden from providing adoption or foster care because they would not place children with homosexual couples.
Catholics and other Christians are being pushed out of the public square due to weakness in the face of a rapacious secular state that invites and sustains religious persecution. Now what? Get our priests to preach about repairing for the sin committed. Sure, the burden belongs to the lay Church but if they don't know their faith - then what? Excommunication will work if people believe - even the clergy.
Primarily Judeo-Christians, but with an apparently rising class of Muslims. The fathers of our country never envisioned a secular state hostile to religion, never imagined the promotion of public immorality, the murder of reason, and sanctioned religious persecution. This is an essay that, with a less confused, timid and borderline heretical Catholic hierarchy, could put a stop to Cardinals and bishops hedging on excommunication.
Essential to continue in Your gift will be matched! Read more Next post ». Sound Off! Posted by: [email protected] - Apr. Posted by: bkmajer - Apr.
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