Posted on 01/10/2014 8:06:50 PM PST by marshmallow
Is evangelical unease about contraception really just a cover for conservative white male evangelical leaders to keep women out of pulpits? Evidently some think so, or fear so, or perhaps even hope so.
That was made clear in a recent Religion News Service op-ed by Jacob Lupfer, raising a key question about the controversy over the Obama administration’s contraception mandate: Are evangelical protests rooted in concern about religious liberty or about birth control? The answer is yes.
Lupfer argues that while the concerns are ostensibly about religious liberty, evangelical leaders are actually “attempting to sow seeds of doubt about the morality of birth control itself.” On that count, he understates his own case.
A good many evangelicals hope to do far more than sow seeds of doubt about the morality of birth control. Our concern is to raise an alarm about the entire edifice of modern sexual morality and to acknowledge that millions of evangelicals have unwittingly aided and abetted that moral revolution by an unreflective and unfaithful embrace of the contraceptive revolution.
Lupfer observes that the embrace of contraception “has become a fact of life in America.” Thus, those who push back against the contraceptive revolution are the standouts in this cultural moment, and Lupfer clearly asserts that something other than concern about birth control must really lie behind the evangelical urgency.
What would that be? According to Lupfer, “the intended effect of bemoaning contraception is to idealize pre-feminist conceptions of marriage and family.” Futhermore, he says, the concerns about contraception are “a mere skirmish in a larger theological and ideological battle.”
According to Lupfer, those larger theological and ideological battles include an evangelical ambition to increase “market share” by out-breeding those with other worldviews. He also suggests that male evangelical leaders operate out of a logic that..........
(Excerpt) Read more at charismanews.com ...
The pill as a theological reflection didn’t come first, but in our lives the pill did make us think. When it became apparent that it wasn’t safe for my wife to use, we abandoned it. But, it did cause reflection.
The physical danger it presented taught us that it was not “natural” or healthy for my wife.
And that is a starting point for a theological reflection.
It's generally men making this argument about women, right? I don't believe I have ever heard a woman making it about a man.
Moderation, self-control, self-mastery, continence ... those are considered virtues in every context except sex.
I came to know the Lord as a married woman with one child. As I poured over scripture it became very apparent to me that birth control/family planning is motivated by the desire rule over self. It is a heart issue and only God can change the heart. That being said I have only been able to conceive 2 children in the 24 years I have been married.
Essays for Lent: Natural Family Planning
Divorce Rate Comparisons Between Couples Using NFP & Artificial Birth Control
'Amazing Grace for Those Who Suffer'
Natural and Unnatural (father of 5 shocks mother of 1)
NFP — It Ain’t Your Momma’s Rhythm
Responsible Parenthood in a Birth Control Culture, Part Two [Open]
Responsible Parenthood in a Birth Control Culture, Part One [Open]
Contraception v. Natural Family Planning — Part 5 of 6 [Open]
Journey to the Truth (Natural Family Planning) [Open]
Enslaving Women One Pill at a Time (Birth Control Pills and Natural Family Planning)
New Study Shows Natural Family Planning Technique More “Effective” Than Contraception
Fargo) Diocese set to require pre-marriage course in natural family planning
Making Babies: A Very Different Look at Natural Family Planning
Clerical Contraception (Important Read! By Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer)
(Fargo) Diocese set to require pre-marriage course in natural family planning
Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, July 25, 2004
IS NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING A 'HERESY'? (Trads, please take note)
Thanks Doc: More (and Younger) Doctors Support Natural Family Planning
Couple say Natural Family Planning strengthens marriage
Reflections: Natural family planning vs sexism
British Medical Journal: Natural Family Planning= Effective Birth Control Supported by Catholic Chrch
Natural Family Planning
Ya, I’ve only heard that from men, that mentality drives me nuts. Cars and women are not alike. For starters cars lack a soul, and feelings.
Wait, on second thought, I have heard some girls say this. Two come to mind.
Yes, not only that, but the American Doctor’s association claims that loving relations cures headaches heh.
That is truly amazing.
Remaining a virgin until marriage was a little easier to do back when people married shortly after reaching puberty.
Maybe we should be doing that then? Start marrying again at 20?
You should have listened to yourself in post 19, I will pray that Jesus comes into your heart.
Sandra Fluke perhaps?
And I will pray that intelligence comes into your head.
What was that about #19 again???
Typical RC "see no evil" and lack of objectivity. You have an article on "evangelical unease about contraception" posted by a primary RC publicist, followed by the goading sounding post #4, "The silence [ from Protestants] is deafening" followed by a remark by another RC about protestants being obsessed with sex, all of which has Catholics inferring the high road, thus making the thread about them versus us.
A when i respond by distinctively referring to evangelicals, as the article does, and stating that "evangelicals did miss it on this one," and upholding continence as the alternative to contraceptives, while showing Catholics as also failing in this and other aspects, all you see is your church being impugned and thus the protests against what you all began.
The fact is that that what i stated is true, continence is the alternative to contraceptives, and that evangelicals did miss it on this one, while yet being more conservative than Catholics. But the preeminence of Rome is what is paramount for many RCs.
Well said. We want to have our cake and eat it too. No-consequence coitus. U.S. Population Growth Slows to Lowest Rate Since 1937: http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/us-population-growth-slows-to-lowest-rate-since-1937-140101?news=852050
Very true, and i was advocating just that the other day. Along with the communal context that required one live up to the obligations of marriage in a society with a conscience.
In 1850 America the average age for females marrying, was about 24.
Unless you are a Vulcan.
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