| | Gottfried confessed:
Yes, I am that "mystical dummy" who voted in opposition to contraception in any form.
As I suspected. Thank you for your confession.
I suspect I know the name of the other culprit, but perhaps he would like to step forward and follow Gottfried's lead of confession.
I didn't know this was a witch-hunt. :)
Anyhow, I'd like to expand a bit on what I said earlier. Discussion over contraception inevitably raises a number of other important questions pertaining to the nature of (and distinction between) the male and female sexes, human dignity, the effects of sex, the purpose of sex, child-rearing, the place of marriage in society, the place of children in marriage, etc.
Just to start us off, I'd like to talk about societal changes that have occurred over the last century. Before 1930, every Christian denomination condemned birth control, as did the mainstream public as a whole. The Anglican Church became the first to condone birth control in their 1930 Lambeth Conference, which propounded that:
...[I]n those cases where there is such a clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, and where there is a morally sound reason for avoiding complete abstinence, the Conference agrees that other methods may be used provided that this is done in the light of the same Christian principles. The Conference records its strong condemnation of the use of any methods of conception-control for motives of selfishness, luxury, or mere convenience.
Only 10 years before the Anglican Church had categorically condemned birth control, saying:
In opposition to the teaching which in the name of science and religion encourages married people in the deliberate cultivation of sexual union as an end in itself, we steadfastly uphold what must always be regarded as the governing consideration of Christian marriage. One is the primary purpose for which marriage exists — namely, the continuation of the race through the gift and heritage of children; the other is the paramount importance in married life of deliberate and thoughtful self-control. When the Federal Council of Churches followed suit in 1931 (by permitting the "careful and restrained use of contraceptives by married people"), the Washington Post (!) responded:
Carried to its logical conclusion, the committee's report, if carried into effect, would sound the death knell of marriage as a holy institution by establishing degrading practices which would encourage indiscriminate immorality. The suggestion that the use of legalized contraceptives would be "careful and restrained" is preposterous. Wow. Look how far we've come. Consider the following, while keeping in mind that we've been a chemically contraceptive culture for the last 47 years, since the pill became cheap and widely available in the 1960s.
- In 1960, six percent of white babies were born out of wedlock. In 1992, 22% were born out of wedlock.
-In 1960, twenty-two percent of black babies were born out of wedlock. In 1992, sixty-eight percent were.
-Currently "50% of all women aged 40-44 who practice contraception have been sterilized, and another 18% have a partner who has had a vasectomy." (http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_contr_use.html)
-Overall, 27% of women who practice contraception are sterilized.
-So it's come to self-mutilation.
-"In 2001, 6.7 million women, including 1.9 million teenagers, received contraceptive services from publicly funded family planning clinics in the United States." (ibid.)
-So folks like me have to pay for condoms so that women and teenagers who have been taught by society/parents that pre-marital sex is "OK" won't get pregnant. There's something wrong with this picture.
-"21 states now have laws in place requiring insurers to provide contraceptive coverage if they cover other prescription drugs" (ibid.)
-So now contraceptives are treated as medicinal. Unbelievable.
-58% of children in the U.S. are born out of wedlock or to divorced parents.
Note: That's both sad and pathetic.
-Between the late 1970s and early 1990s, the number of Americans with genital herpes infection increased 30%
-Every country in the world has a declining fertility rate.
-Now 50% of couples get divorced; in the 1960s, it was 25%.
-Almost no couples (<1%) who use Natural Family Planning (instead of birth control) get divorced.
-85% of couples cohabitate before marriage
-Studies show that delay in sexual activity leads to greater marital stability
-Studies show that delay in sexual activity is linked to greater happiness.
-10% of pregnancies had by married women are conceived by a man other than the husband.
-"75% of those who live together before marriage, not just have sex together before marriage, but live together before marriage, get divorced within the first three years" (http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0002.html)
Now, assuredly the trends I've cited are not entirely due to contraception, though it is obvious that many of them, at least to a certain extent, are. Such is what happens when the sexual act is divorced from the intention to procreate.
(Edited by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz on 3/05, 2:46pm)
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