Contraception gave women ‘a completely new freedom’: the latest from the German bishops’ website

Life Site News ^ | Fri Sep 18, 2015 | Maike Hickson

[ebb tide]

The day before publishing a theology student’s apologia for same-sex “marriage,” the German bishops published an article lauding the contraceptive pill for giving women a “completely new freedom.”

The article, an interview with the German Church historian Arnold Angenendt, appeared September 16 on the website of the German Bishops' Conference, katholisch.de. In this interview, the historian praises the invention of contraceptives: “The invention of the pill then was the decisive revolution. Since then, the women do not have to fear becoming pregnant at each sexual intercourse. That gives them a completely new freedom [...]”

Angenendt puts this claim in certain contexts, saying that, in former times, sexuality was only regarded as a means for having children. But, he says, the Second Vatican Council “made a change there and considered sexuality also as a possibility for strengthening the personal bond between the partners.” This German historian – promoted now by the German Bishops – also surprisingly claims the idea that any sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful comes from a “medieval conception” whereby any spoiling of the male sperm was considered to be sinful: “Masturbation, homosexuality, or contraception were considered to be an act of murder. In the light of today's biological knowledge, this is a strong misjudgement.” He also claims that modern science has proven that the homosexual orientation has to be regarded as “its own anthropologically given and fundamental form of human sexuality, just as it is in the case of heterosexuality. Thus, one cannot describe homosexuality as unnatural.”

With reference to the Book of Genesis, Angenendt claims that it is not based on any scientific reality, but, rather, should be called “a myth which describes a statement of faith.” And, he concludes: “Therefore, nothing speaks against our re-assessment of homosexuality, as well.”

This is not the first time that this German professor proposes a re-assessment of the Church's doctrine. In 2011, Professor Angenendt published an article in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, entitled “The Church's Fears About Sexuality,” where he claims that Jesus wanted to overcome the principles that promoted celibacy, saying: “Celibacy was based upon an archaic cult of purity which Jesus wanted to overcome.”

[ebb tide]

The day before publishing a theology student’s apologia for same-sex “marriage,” the German bishops published an article lauding the contraceptive pill for giving women a “completely new freedom.”

[ilgipper]

I’ve got nothing against birth control, but looking at the world through this lens is so convoluted.

[rwilson99]

The pope needs to man up and excommunicate the schismatics.

[IronJack]

It certainly did. It gave them the freedom to indulge every sin of the flesh they had ever imagined, with little risk of pregnancy.

To be sure, there were other consequences: broken homes, venereal disease, sexual abandon (and the anomie that goes with it), dissolution of marriage as an institution, deviancy ...

But it certainly "liberated" women to have casual sex.

[Little Ray]

Contraception is destroying the West and opening it up to invasion from Moslem East.

[Delta 21]

Its ORGY time !!!

[unixfox]

But it certainly "liberated" women to have casual sex.

A lot of them get pregnant on purpose, multiple times, just so they can get more money from welfare.

[goodwithagun]

How is chemically controlling what should be a natural process freedom?

[ViLaLuz]

It looks like freedom, but in reality is a firm of bondage. That’s how Satan works.

[exDemMom]

“The invention of the pill then was the decisive revolution. Since then, the women do not have to fear becoming pregnant at each sexual intercourse. That gives them a completely new freedom [...]”

Contraceptives of various kinds have been around for thousands of years. The pill is merely a more reliable form of contraceptive. The idea that contraception is new is totally false.

He also claims that modern science has proven that the homosexual orientation has to be regarded as “its own anthropologically given and fundamental form of human sexuality, just as it is in the case of heterosexuality. Thus, one cannot describe homosexuality as unnatural.”

Schizophrenia is natural. Autism is natural. Cancer is natural. Just because a condition is natural does not mean that it is not pathological, or that we should not try to find cures or treatments for it. It is unfortunate that so many people have been conditioned to equate "natural" with "good", because it isn't--the list of natural things that can kill or seriously injure you is quite long.

[heartwood]

This German historian – promoted now by the German Bishops – also surprisingly claims the idea that any sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful comes from a “medieval conception” whereby any spoiling of the male sperm was considered to be sinful: “Masturbation, homosexuality, or contraception were considered to be an act of murder.

Many of the ancients, for instance, Greek physicians, believed that the male provided the seed, and the female, only the soil in which it grew. In this day, when it is necessary for an ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman to curtail childbearing because of her health, a rabbi will give a couple permission to use the Pill, but not a condom, because the sperm must get where it is supposed to go, even though hormonal contraception may prevent an embryo from implanting.

So I have wondered if traditional objection to contraception does have some of its roots in scientific misconception. But this does not logically lead to approval of extra-marital intercourse, masturbation, homosexuality, abortion and so forth, although with humans being illogical creatures, in practice it probably does.

[goodnesswins]

Um...what smart women realize us it gave men even MORE freedom to not be responsible and for some to take advantage of girls

[Salvation]

I was looking for something else and found this:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2822214/posts

“The time is coming when princes and peoples will reject the authority of the Pope. Some countries will prefer their own Church rulers to the Pope. The German Empire will be divided. Church property will be secularised. Priests will be persecuted. After the birth of Antichrist heretics will preach their false doctrines undisturbed, resulting in Christians having doubts about their holy Catholic faith.”

[the_daug]

seems similar to 2 Timothy 3

[IronJack]

That’s another hidden evil of “the pill.” It allows women to PRETEND to be avoiding pregnancy, then getting pregnant and holding men for ransom. And the courts aid and abet the fraud.

[Vince Ferrer]

The birth control Europeans already use is causing a demographic winter, which is causing the immigration problem. Catholic views on birth control are not the problem, they are the solution to our current problems.

[ebb tide]

“The time is coming when princes and peoples will reject the authority of the Pope."

There will also be a time when a renegade pope rejects the authority of Jesus Christ on the indissolubility of the Sacrament of Marriage.

And that time is now.

Catholic Divorce: Can zealous Bishops and Cardinals question the Annulment Reform and ask for its abrogation?

[BlatherNaut]

Contraception is “anti-life.”

Contraception contributes to a culture of death by creating an environment in which children are treated as an unwelcome burden, an impediment to personal goals, or even worse, an enemy to be avoided at all costs. This negativity toward new life which is part and parcel of the “contraceptive mentality,” and is why so many children conceived are considered an “accident,” “unplanned,” or “unwanted.”

Blessed John Paul II noted that contraception and abortion are “fruits of the same tree.” “Indeed,” he writes, “the pro-abortion culture is especially strong precisely where the Church’s teaching on contraception is rejected” (Evangelium vitae 13). Recent studies have confirmed something that may seem counterintuitive, but was actually predicted by the leadership of Planned Parenthood as contraception achieved wider acceptance: higher rates of contraception use do not reduce demand for abortion, but rather lead to an increase in abortion because abortion becomes a sort of “Plan C” after a woman becomes unexpectedly pregnant following the type of behavior that naturally leads to pregnancy.[i] This self-ignorance affects women’s identity, and distorts male/female relationships as sex becomes detached from its natural end, becoming meaningless and leading toward an attitude of using the other person for one’s own enjoyment.

http://www.hli.org/resources/introduction-church-teaching-contraception-hli-educational-series/

[gundog]

ding! ding! ding!