Why does the Catholic Church not allow birth control?

Question

What is the real reason for it? And why can't the church modernize and see that condom use is a neccesity? People throughout the Catholic world are suffering from HIV and AIDS, and much of it could have been prevented with condoms.

The Catholic Church has an ideal that people will not have sex until marriage and then will only have sex with their spouse, but this ideal is not realistic, and their reluctance to change their rules is costing the lives of many of their faithful.

Aside from that, it's not econimically good for a poor couple to have 12 kids that they cannot afford.

Understand what I'm saying?

Answer 1

The voluntary prevention of conception through arrested coition or the use of contraconceptives, for the purpose of limiting the number of offspring. As commonly used the term means the absolute prevention of pregnancy. It is a definition of the law of God, which no power, not even the Church itself, can abrogate or contravene. In the Divine plan the primary purpose of the marital act is the procreation of offspring, and its secondary purposcs are the cementing of conjugal love and the allaying of concupiscence. As birth control defeats the primary purpose of the marriage relation, it is opposed to the Divine Will, which the Church must sustain. This teaching is reenforced by other weighty considerations, e.g., birth control undermines the respect of husband for wife, and vice versa, and thereby increases unhappiness among married people and the consequent number of divorces. The essential evil of birth control, however, consists in frustrating the primary purpose of marriage, the propagation of the species. When Pope Paul VI died in 1978, Pope John Paul I was elected. He only lasted 33 days before dying in mysterious conditions - after he said he was going to allow birth control and do a sweeping reform of the Vatican. The current pope then became Pope John Paul II, from Poland. He was born in 1920, and still reigns in 2004. In 1995 he published the Evangelium Vitae - speaking against abortion and contraception as both being evil slayers of potential children God intended to create. He even says that developed nations who try to bring contraceptives to third world nations are doing it out of "selfishness" - that they want there to be fewer third worlders around so there is "more" for the wealthy people. He says children are the "supreme gift of marriage" that any couple should be waiting for gladly. He is very fond of the Virgin Mary and feels all women should have children as often as God sends them.The full responsibility here lies with Catholic Church members. It's not like NON Catholics can get the Catholic church to change. 96% of Catholic women have used birth control - yet they give money and support to an institution which is the SOLE voice against birth control. It is their responsibility to force the Catholic church to change - or to withhold that income so that the church does not have the power.Nobody else can possibly cause that change to occur.

Answer 2

The Catholic Church does allow birth control - natural birth control. Having said that, the Church does not approve of artificial forms of birth control.

Truth is, no forms of artificial birth control are, as you put it, "necessary". Your position on the issue assumes people have no self-control; that they "have to" have sex.

More Truth be told, all people are called to chastity, that is, no sex until marriage. Physically, mentally, and emotionally mature people will possess the self-control to accomplish living a chaste life. Fact is, there is no better way to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, than abstinence. Abstinence is 100% effective in preventing the spread of sexually trasmitted diseases, as well as preventing unwanted pregnancies for that matter. With this in mind, it is not logical to reject abstinence in favor of a condoms, when condoms are only 70% effective at best. It makes no sense to reject a method of prevention that is 100% effective for one that is only 70%.

Yes, there are many people out there who CHOOSE not to live a life of chastity. It is wrong for all these people to "give it away" before marriage. Since when do two wrongs make a right? The Church would be wrong to alter it's views on sexual morality simply because they are not "popular" amongst those who are sexually immoral.

Rather than blame the Church for being reluctant to morally unacceptable position on sex, you might want to charge the unchaste for being reluctant to adopt a morally acceptable position on sex.

The problem is NOT the Church. The problem is millions of people who are not physically, emotionally, or intelectually capable of behaving in a sexually moral manner.

Certain poor families are a perfect example! Perhaps, if the parents had more self-control, they would not have so many mouths to feed.

I understand what you are trying to say. I hope you can understand why your views are wrong.

Answer 3

I understand perfectly. You want the catholic church...and any other church for that matter to ignore the foundation on which they are based...the Bible... just so you can convenietly enjoy your sexual ...without guilt. Well, guilt comes from going against God and His rules. According to the Bible....not just the Catholic church...life begins at conception. Many forms of birth control kill the tiny child (fetus) which in the eyes of God is murder. Personally I see nothing wrong with the use of forms of birth control which do not kill the children within. ...condoms, spermicidals and barrier methods. Sex outside of marriage is wrong. If people all around the world practiced it...AIDS would not be the problem that it is today. God did tell Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply...and that is what the Catholics want so the church will grow. But God gives us all common sense and natural methods of contaception that we can use.

Answer 4

The Church does not sanction artificial birth control because the act of sexual intercourse is given to create life and anything that inhibits its purpose is by its nature against the will of God. God makes us co-creators of life through sex; this profound gift to man and woman from their loving Father should be taken with grave responsibility and great joy. Sex is meant to feel good, it is meant to be enjoyable - this is a central part of the gift. Natural birth control is encouraged and taught by the Church as a method for married couples to postpone pregnancy and to better control the timing of pregnancy. It is a method using the physical signs of the woman's body to indicate fertility, allowing the couple to practice their sex life in a way that gives great dignity to both partners. It necessitates a degree of responsibilty, control, and maturity from each person.
It is completely practical and possible for mature, responsible couples to abstain from sex outside of marriage. Anyone who speaks against this is obscuring the truth and seeking justification for an act they know to be incorrect. It is a source of amazement that individuals who will cleave to every rule and regulation of a corporate entity in order to advance in their chosen profession in the pursuit of mere money will flee from Holy Mother Church on the pretext that they are indignant at the Church's teachings about sex. Would that these same people would put as much effort into learning the true teachings of the Church as they did in attacking them. Never argue out of ignorance and fear; do not persist in your unbelief, but believe!

Answer 5

Tim,

Your question raises a point that many people have with the Catholic Church. From the question you ask and the way you word it, I take it that you are in favor of contraception, whether it be a condom or pill. I will try to use an organized format where I restate your question and then provide an answer.

Why does the Catholic Church not allow birth control?
The Church's stance on birth control is rooted in scripture along with natural law.

Genesis 38 gives us one of the first accounts of artifical contraception in which Onan "spills his seed on the ground" to avoid impregnating his brother's widow. For this, his punishment is death, which shows the seriousness of the sin. Here is the excerpt of that text Gen 38:8-10.

Then Judah said to Onan, "Unite with your brother's widow, in fulfillment of your duty as brother-in-law, and thus preserve your brother's line." Onan, however, knew that the descendants would not be counted as his; so whenever he had relations with his brother's widow, he wasted his seed on the ground, to avoid contributing offspring for his brother. What he did greatly offended the LORD, and the LORD took his life too.

Teachings of the early church father's include:

"Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted" (The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2) - Clement of Alexandria

Secondly, the natural law is circumvented in the act of contraception. If man and woman were created to complement one another in the sexual act, and the primary function of the sexual act is procreation, than the removal of procreation from that act severly disorders the act.

Basically, sex with the consequence of procreation is a lie comitted against oneself, against one's partner, against nature, and ultimately against God.

What is the real reason for it?

The real reason for contraception has already been stated. There is no "alterior motive". Even the Protestant reformers knew the seriousness of the sin of contraception. Just read there own words.

Martin Luther said, "[T]he exceedingly foul deed of Onan, the basest of wretches . . . is a most disgraceful sin. It is far more atrocious than incest and adultery. We call it unchastity, yes, a sodomitic sin. For Onan goes in to her; that is, he lies with her and copulates, and when it comes to the point of insemination, spills the semen, lest the woman conceive. Surely at such a time the order of nature established by God in procreation should be followed. Accordingly, it was a most disgraceful crime. . . . Consequently, he deserved to be killed by God. He committed an evil deed. Therefore, God punished him."

John Calvin said, "The voluntary spilling of semen outside of intercourse between man and woman is a monstrous thing. Deliberately to withdraw from coitus in order that semen may fall on the ground is doubly monstrous. For this is to extinguish the hope of the race and to kill before he is born the hoped-for offspring."

John Wesley warned, "Those sins that dishonor the body are very displeasing to God, and the evidence of vile affections. Observe, the thing which he [Onan] did displeased the Lord—and it is to be feared; thousands, especially of single persons, by this very thing, still displease the Lord, and destroy their own souls." (These passages are quoted in Charles D. Provan, The Bible and Birth Control, which contains many quotes by historic Protestant figures who recognize contraception’s evils.)

And why can't the church modernize and see that condom use is a neccesity?

The church does not "modernize" because circumstances do not change the truth. Onan's sin would not have been acceptable if done out of necessity. Sin is sin.

There is a danger in caving into secular pressures. Up until 1930 all Protestant denominations and the Catholic church taught that contraception was wrong. After the 1930 Lambeth Conference, the Anglican church broke away from the concensus teaching. Shortly there after the Catholic Church was the lone voice against the dangers of contraception.


People throughout the Catholic world are suffering from HIV and AIDS, and much of it could have been prevented with condoms.

Much more of it could have been prevented through abstinence, but you are not advocating that position? Why? For the moment lets look a the Church as an "ends justify the means" organization for a moment and not "Defender of the Truth".

Condoms have a typical 85 - 90% success rate. Would people decry the church to then adopt the 100% success rate approach, which is abstinence to say the 15% of the people that are dying from STD's? Probably not. Why? Because often arguements made for contraception do not come from concern for the greater good, but concern for one's own selfish desires. I am not saying that this is the case with you, for I do not know your heart nor your motives, but if this arguement were truly based in the greater good of others, then the promotion of abstinence would win this discussion with everyone, because it would be 100% when applied.

The Catholic Church has an ideal that people will not have sex until marriage and then will only have sex with their spouse, but this ideal is not realistic, and their reluctance to change their rules is costing the lives of many of their faithful.

I believe the answer I provide for why the church won't "modernize" should apply very well to this. Again, the church does not sway with wind. The teachings of Christ, that have been passed on to us through his apostles is not subjective. It does not change with the times.

If the church is to do anything, it's mission is to double its efforts and promote reasons why sex outside of marriage is sinful, and why this ideal can be and is realistic.

Aside from that, it's not econimically good for a poor couple to have 12 kids that they cannot afford.

Not everyone that does not contracept is going to have 12 kids. What would be considered "economically good"? Would having 12 kids keep a family from taking more lavish vacations? Probably? Would it mean eating out less and cooking more? Probably so. Would it require some effort and sacrifice? Yes. But it is not impossible. I know 3 families that each live on 1 income. One family has 4 kids, another has 5, and another has 10. Each one has struggles, but each one has faith in God that he will provide for the needs of the child that he created.

Just as the church never modernize's based on popular opinion it does not change the TRUTH to account for economic possibilities.

All in all I hope that this has answered your questions. As you can see the Catholic Church's stance on contraception is rooted in 2000 years of history. It's position on contraception can not be swayed, much like other "hot issues" which people ridicule the church for.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask or let me know.

Answer 6

Judeo-Christian tradition has taught for thousands of years:
1. Single people should be celibate.
2. Married people should be faithful to each other (adultery is wrong).
3. Married couples should welcome God's gift of children and, therefore, artificial birth control was against the will of God.

In regards to sex outside of marriage, the Church makes it a practice not to tell people how to sin.

With love in Christ.

Answer 7

Because they dont care about families and young women in distress and their priests dont have to support a family and their priests will never experience love in their hearts and anxiety and common stress that normal human beings have to endure because they refuse to live with a woman in marriage and experience what real life is about and how to become a man.

The will never be men.

Answer 8

They are still living by old laws. Many Catholics defy the Vatican and use BC anyway, which is what I would do if I was Catholic.