Archive for the ‘The Contraceptive’ Category
The Contraceptive
The contraception has been known to mankind from the most remote times. Ancient hebrew sources, medical texts of islamic early data and indian scriptures indicated with unanimity as contraceptives of herbs can cause sterility temporary. In our days, however, there is no uniform position with regard to contraception in the midst of the main religious traditions; rather, the issue is marked by a plurality of points of view of followers, religious leaders and scholars. All traditions described below are founded on notions of fertility and procreation in the framework of the family and, therefore, while the points of view on the contraception are trikes, no religion calls for a marriage without children or the use of contraceptives outside the institution of marriage.
The hebrew Bible encourages the offspring prolific -procreen and multiply (Gen 1:28) has been taken by both Jews and Christians as the “first commandment” of God- while there is only an explicit reference to birth control; Genesis 38:9-10, in which Onan “shed his seed in the soil” (interruptus). This was “malignant in view of the Lord” and was punished with the death of Onan. The hebrew literature talmudic is structure on this passage and prohibits men use of any artifact contraceptive that waste the “seed male”; the contraceptives female can reach allowed for health reasons (danger to the mother or for the possible child). It remains the orthodox position on contraception, which accepts the abstinence as the only method of contraception allowed for the birth control except when they apply health reasons. The criteria conservative and Reform, who warn that the sexual pleasure in marriage is legal and ratified by the rabbinical literature, authorize the birth control for social reasons, cultural and economic apart from those of health accepted by the orthodox practice, and leave waged to individuals decision (officially declared in the Central Conference of the Rabbis of USA, 1930; and the Rabbinical Assembly of the USA, 1935)
Before the 1930S all branches christian were united in their firm rejection of contraceptives. The Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church (1930) marks the start of the end of the unanimity, recommending the use of artificial contraception when abstinence is considered impractical. Similarly, the Federal Council of Churches (1931) sponsored in the form moderated the use of methods of birth control artificial. The majority of the most important rites protestants followed suit, and for 1961, the National Council of Churches took a course of conduct liberal in the use of contraceptives, leaving him subject to the mutual consent within the scope of the couple.
The absolute prohibition of the methods of birth control by the Roman Catholic Church, declared by Pope Pius XI in their encyclical de1930, Almost Connubii, was maintained by the Humanae Vitae 1968 (the encyclical by Pope Paul VI), and represents the current policy of the church. The catholic position on the contraception is highly influenced by the theory of natural law of Aristotle, Augustine and Aquino, who believe that the ultimate purpose of sexuality is the procreation; interfere with this aim would be a violation of the natural law, and therefore, a sin. They also argue this position some branches anglican, evangelists and Christian fundamentalists. The Catholic Church only approved of the abstinence and the method of planning natural family (FAM) as appropriate techniques for the birth control.
Unlike the Catholic tradition, the Eastern Orthodox Church does not make a distinctive morale among the methods of birth control artificial or natural. They note that many parents of the Church, as well as the texts of Paul in the New Testament, do not limit the sexuality to the strict reproductive; the orthodox position is that sex is also an expression of love within the conjugal society. It has not been made any official statement in order to prohibit the artificial contraception, while the abortion, infanticide and permanent sterilization itself had been convicted. The Orthodox Church allows a married couple take their own decisions regarding the use of contraceptives.
There is a oscillation considerable on attitudes toward the contraception in the Islamic faith. The Koran stipulates: “No mates to your children for fear of empobrecerte” (5:31 PM; and 6:151). Critics of birth control argue that this precept can be extended to the point of include the prohibition of any method of family planning, while the supporters of birth control indicate that this passage is referring explicitly to infanticide, and point out that there is no such prohibition against birth control in the Koran. It is more, the literature Hadeeth or Sunna clearly allows the practice of interruptus (“azl), and there are sources indicating that the same prophet Muhammad practiced ‘azl (Sunna narrated by Jabir). Those in favor of contraception argue that the birth control artificial equates morally to ‘azl and therefore should be accepted. The majority of moslem traditions allow the implementation of co resources of the birth rate when there are involved health reasons or the welfare of the family is concerned, this provides an interpretation of great flexibility and breadth and is reflected in the vast differences of opinion on family planning of different groups and Muslim countries. In spite of the various modes of view, is maintained the emphasis on the procreation in the family as religious obligation. There is a unanimous rejection to the sterilization and abortion.
The hinduism actively promotes the procreation fruitful within marriage but there is no prohibition against birth control in this religion. The Upanisads describes a method of birth control (Upanisad Brihadâranyaka) and in the Shastras recommended abstinence temporary, while disapproves of the abortion. Even so, there is a wide range of views on contraception in the scholars hindus: Gandhi was in favor of birth control cemented in the abstinence and without pull to artificial means, while Radhakrishnan and Tagore, on the other side, promoted the use of artificial methods. India was the first nation to establish a government strategy of population based on measures of birth control.
Common Interests linking the main religious traditions in the subject of birth control. In each of them, the opponents of family planning fear that the contraceptives promote immorality and illicit sex, although it should add that many faiths non- western fear that the liberal policies encourage contraceptive a model of western life that it would destroy the family and family values. The speakers feminists have considered the prohibitions that weigh on the control of the birth as an obstacle to the sexuality and the independence feminine.
Bibliography
Most of the literature on contraception and religion is in the sociological studies, health or environment for the population control. Specifically on the relationship between birth control and religious institutions there is very little material, but you can find references (especially feather feminist) in texts more general on women and religion or articles dealing with the religious stance on abortion.
The views of catholicism and islam on the birth control are the who have been treated in a more comprehensive by the extra literature. The book of Janet E. Smith “Humanae Vitae: a generation after” (Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later, 1991) gives us a systematic review of the moral implications and theological arguments against the current ban catholic on the artificial methods of birth control, and submits that the regulation of the Church in the birth control is a logical extension of its traditional lessons on morality and family; although this is a text conservative that supports the ban on contraception without doubt offers us the historical information more detailed information on the reasons against birth control sustained by the Catholic Church to date. Similarly, the book “Abortion, birth control and substitute parents: a islamic perspective” (Abortion, Birth Control & Surrogate Parenting: An Islamic Perspective) by Abul Fadl Mohsin Ebrahim, from the point of view muslim maintains a conservative position on contraception, although offers a list clear and precise of the main texts and religious references on the matter. The feminist analysis on contraception in the Islamic tradition includes “Islam, gender and social changes” (Islam, Gender and Social Change, 1998) edited by Ivonne Yazbeck Haddad and John L. Esposito and the “Islam and population” (Islam and Population) of Theodora Foster Carroll included in “Women, religion and development in the third world” (Women, Religion, and Development in the Third World, 1983). The latest information on the approach to religion in regard to contraception can be found in the records of the Conference of the United Nations on Population and Development carried out in September 1994 in Cairo, document A/Conf.171/13). See, in particular the chapter VII: “reproductive rights and reproductive health” and the objections to this chapter made several Islamic countries and the Holy See. They are also available files of the International Conference Islamic in Rabat, 1971, in written format, as well as “Islam and planning household (Islam and Family Planning, Isam R. Nazer et al. eds, International Planned Parenthood Federation, 1974).
In “Ethics hindu to modern life” (Hindu Ethics for Modern Life, pp. 5-35, in World Religions and Global Ethics, S. Cromwell Crawford ed., 1989) S. Cromwell Crawford includes an extensive section on birth control in a context hindu. Bardwell Smith delivery a description of the prospects japanese buddhist on contraception in “Buddhism and abortion in Japan contemporary” (Buddhism and Abortion in Contemporary Japan, pp. 65-90 in Buddhism, sexuality, and Gender, Jose Ignacio Cabezón, ed. , 1992). The book of Susan Power Bratton “Six billion and counting: Regulation of the human population and ethics cristiana2 (Six Billion and More: Human Population Regulation and Christian Ethics, 1992) links the moral theology christian with issues of contraception and population control. “The morale of contraception: An opinion eastern orthodox” (The Morality of Contraception: An Eastern Orthodox Opinion, Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Vol. XI, No. 4, 1974, pp. 677-690) by Chrysostom Zaphiris, himself a theologian orthodox, contrasts the views of the Roman Catholic Church with those of the Eastern Orthodox on several issues of family planning. Similarly Harmon L. Smith collates the points of view anglicans on contraception with the theory of natural law of Catholics in “Contraception and natural law: Half a century of moral reflection anglican”