Why is the Catholic church against condoms, birth control and abortions?

Question

I mean I could understand if they were against abortion but birth control and condoms are the way of preventing abortions from happening by stopping the baby from ever being concieved in the first place and condoms also stop the spread of STDs. I mean I know they say abstinence but that is so unrealistic I mean it is a human instinct to have sex.

Jon B. I am not bashing Christians because I am half Christian. I am just wondering because it makes no sense to me and not all Christians follow what the Catholic church says.

I am also half Jewish...so I see both sides of the religious spectrum

Brian I lumped it in because not using birth control could lead to kids who can not be supported and then the mother may be forced to get an abortion. I just does not make sense that they do not support abortion but then they also do not support birth control either

I asked it here because it has to do with abortion as well

No we are not wild animals but it is unrealistic that people only have sex for procreation in my opinion because it is just human nature and our brains are not really "civilized" when they go into instinct mode.

Answer 1

The Catholic Church is against pre-marital sex. Abstinence really is a 100% sure way to prevent STD's and unwanted pregnancy, but using birth control and condoms can help. A recent study found that teens who take "abstinence pledges" are just as likely to get an STD and more likely to allow for anal and oral sex. Using condoms is like using a seat belt. A seat belt is just in case...Some argue that giving out condoms promotes sex, but then that would mean using a seatbelt is promoting an accident. Neither is true. Using a condom prevents something unwanted from happening, either a sexually transmitted disease or a pregnancy. Using a condom says you have respect for yourself, respect for your partner and respect for the potential life you could create.

Answer 2

I was raised Baptist and recently converted to Catholicism. The reason the Catholic church is against those things is they feel that it takes away from what God as planned for us. From a Catholic viewpoint, we were put on this earth to reproduce. Now, there are contraceptive methods approved by the Catholic church (thank God). This is also called natural family planning.Also, a lot of people do not know this but the birth control pill actually is a kind of abortion. The pill allows eggs that have been fertilized to not attach to the uturan wall, causing it to "abort". I guess this depends on your opinion of when a baby becomes a baby, too. My fiance is a very strict Catholic, and I'm more liberal. So I've done research on this because I'm not ready for children. There are methods like the ryhthm method, the billings method, abstinence, etc. But in my liberal quest for a more reliabe type of contraceptive I found a wonderful product that is 99.3 percent effective, which is outstanding. This makes it as effective as the pill, and almost as effective as condoms. While Catholics believe it is God's plan to have children, the Church also recognizes that there is sometimes a need for contraceptive methods because of financial hardships or medical reasons. The catholic church does allow ( i believe) abortions where the mother or baby has a life-threatening medical condition. The link for the contraceptive method I found is below if you would like it.

Answer 3

the church is against condoms and unnatural contraceptives because they are unnatural in preventing child birth. the only contraceptive that they would allow is not having sex or considering natural family planning techniques. sex should only be done in the context of conceiving a child. the church is not against alcohol because it is referenced so many times in the bible and in those times, alcohol was always used to symbolize something positive like unity, togetherness, fellowship etc. but then what about getting drunk and stuff? well, everything in excess is bad right? that's why there are the 7 deadly sins with gluttony being part of it. and about that not working on the 7th day of the week, that's a very corrupted concept. if you remember, the pharisees were persecuting Jesus for preaching and healing on the sabbath. and what did he do? absolutely nothing. why the hell should there be anything wrong with working on a sunday? especially if you've got mouths to feed and rent to pay.

Answer 4

Let me say that I agree with you, first off. But here is the point of view of the church:

Although they believe that abortion is right because they believe that life begins at conception, they also believe that sex should not be occurring at all, except for procreation. Condoms and birth control also allow people to have pre-marital sex, a big no-no in Catholic tradition, without any consequences. From their point of view, they are promoting clean living, marriage, family values, and safe sex through abstinence.

In regards to your argument, they might argue that it is often human instinct to kill people, but murder is still wrong. So human instinct is hardly a good excuse. Truth is that some people choose abstinence all the time, and it doesn't hurt them. They would also argue that by avoiding sex altogether except in a monogamous relationship when you want children also prevents STDs and abortions. All it takes is one broken condom to give you a disease that will ruin your life. Can't get that from abstinence, short of getting a bad blood transfusion that wouldn't be your fault at all.

Realistic? Probably not. But the truth is that if you CAN control yourself and live up to their lofty ideal, you WILL be safer; even safer than if you use a condom and birth control, which are not 100% effective, especially if you factor in human error. I guess it is a matter of deciding whether you want to shoot for the stars, or settle for the mountain. One may be nearly impossible, but the other is potentially dangerous. I think that the church's view is lofty and unrealistic, but as hard as people try to, I think it is difficult to really argue that their intentions are not in the right place, or that it is impossible. It really IS a matter of choice.

But here is the best argument against their point of view: some people are poor and ignorant and living in an environment that prevents them from making sound decisions. Take some parts of Africa, for example, where thousands are dying from AIDS. Simple condoms will help more people there than lofty ideals under extreme circumstances.

Answer 5

They aren't interested in anything stopping the formation of a child. Ideally, according to the Catholic Church, every act of sex results in a living child. This is a group of supposedly celibate men making decisions on reproduction for men and women who must support the large families they wish to promote. The Catholic church benefits in terms of numbers of adherents, and the more Catholics, the more influence in government. They are convinced that by banning birth control, except for the rhythm method, which involves abstinence during specific times of a woman's cycle, will keep the unmarried chaste. If they are chaste then they won't get STDs. Its unrealistic all right, but its the Church's right to tell its members what it wants them to do. If they don't like it they can go elsewhere, which is what many of them have done. Or they could make it a matter of personal decision, but this new Pope is a stricter one than we have had for a long time.

Answer 6

Well, the basis behind those are that people get married and stay together and only have sex with that one person. So there woudlnt be risk for STDS.

However, it is, in our society now to expect people to stay "pure" until marriage.

I have klnown many Catholics that felt that they could use their own brains and make sure to protect themselves and use family planning.

Not everyone is a mindless drone.

Answer 7

because the church views sex as being for one reason and one reason only...to have children!! condoms are artificial birth control and thats why the church is against them...if a person were to say have a sexual problem that prevents them from having children then thats a different story...

Answer 8

The Catholic Church is not against birth control. She is against artificial birth control.

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 is against the will of God.

Here is the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop's website on Natural Family Planning: http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/nfp/

With love in Christ.

Answer 9

Abstinence is not unrealistic to devout Catholics. I am not Catholic but I have friends who are and who saved themselves for marriage. After marriage I don't understand though, I mean, even married couples often want to have sex without pregnancy.

Answer 10

the catholic church believes that sex is only to be done when trying to make a child. but it may go deeper than that. watch The Da Vinci Code or email me for an explaination.