"Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down 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 course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law." -Pope, Paragraph 17.
Overall Pope Paul VI is explaining how contraception is bad for people, especially young people because it will lower moral standards by making sex more accessible. The Pope is bringing up the issue that the young are overly exposed to temptations in today's society. The Pope is condemning contraception because he feels that if moral laws are easier to break, then they will be broken.
The Pope's position on contraception is a very dangerous position to be taking on a health standpoint. of course it is taught that abstinence is the best policy when it comes to premarital sex, but premarital sex is going to happen. The Pope's decision is one of ignorance. The point is that assuming that premarital sex is going to happen, why not try to make it safe. Everyone who feels that abstinence is the only policy that should be taught is putting everybody at risk. Abstinence and contraceptives are both ways of fighting STDs and STIs that kill millions every year. With the knowledge that premarital sex is not extinguishable in the world, the only LOGICAL way to move forward is to promote contraceptives, yet stress that abstinence is the only 100% guaranteed way to be totally safe.
It was overwhelmingly supported in class that a woman on "the pill" is a different woman. The idea is the same with contraceptives. Once young people learn about the advantages of contraception, their thinking changes forever. But this needs to be seen as imminent, and the only way to make a safer and more bodily conscious future is to embrace contraceptives for their health benefits. In this case I feel the Pope is holding back his followers from being healthier.
I get where you are coming from, but his followers are supposed to wait until marriage until they have sex. I know it is inevitable that teens won't have sex, but Christians are not supposed to be partaking in that type of behavior. If they wait till marriage then they wouldn't have to worry about STD's because they shouldn't have contracted it in the first place. He doesn't want sex to be easy to have. But I completely agree with you that the forms of contraception make it easy for sex to be available to people who aren't married. This is a conflict between religion and science because science made it possible for contraceptives to be created. The Pope wants his people to be pure and condoms and other forms of birth control make it possible for that not to happen.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your opinion on contraceptives and the church. Premarital sex is going to happen and it is naive to think that people will wait for marriage if contraceptives are readily available.
ReplyDeleteThis is very important in leading a christian lifestyle. True Christians that follow the church closely are not going to partake in this behavior, and believe that it is wrong since the Pope told them so and they don't want to go to hell. Although, it is very important for teens and anyone interested in sex to have easy access to contraceptives, the priest isn't aiming to ban contraceptives, they are just banned from the people of the church. The whole point of this is that there are temptations everywhere for people to fall into, but those who are 'one with God' and follow his teachings closely, will resist the temptations and prove themselves in the face of God himself. Kind of deep stuff.
ReplyDeleteI love that you said the pope's standpoint is one of ignorance, and I believe that's completely true. Attempting to deny what's happening this very minute is going to get you nowhere. I can respect traditional views, as well as the beliefs of every religion, but it's 2011... well basically 2012, and the practices of people today are nowhere near the level that they were twenty years ago. I especially liked the fact that you said his position is a dangerous one from a health perspective..... because it is. It's perfectly acceptable for a person to have the opinion that premarital sex is a sin, and that it shouldn't happen. Teaching kids that abstinence is the smartest choice can, and I think should, be done, but I also believe that contraceptives need to be taught right along side that. Some might not believe it's a good moral decision, but it's definitely a good health decision.
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