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The Pope's View: Control Women and Increase
World Starvation
But Many Catholics Are Much Wiser Than the Pope
The Catholic view on abortion and birth control assures a world of starving, unwanted
children, but fortunately wise people are ignoring the Pope. Even within the Catholic
Church more reasonable minds are speaking out.
One of the Church's lay panels, the Pontifical Academy of Science, released a study
by Italian Bishops conference saying "There is a need to contain births in
order to avoid creating the insoluble problem that could arise if we were to renounce
our responsibility to future generations." Increases in the human life span
and advances in medical care "have made it unthinkable," the report says,
"to sustain indefinitely a birth rate that notably exceeds the level of two
children per couple."
The study, which took two years, was prepared by eight lay experts of the Pontifical
Academy, a group of more than 80 scientists of different religions and nationalities.
The Pope was infuriated by the report, especially since birth control options would
"enhance the status of Third World women." We know how the Church looks
at women and their rights!
Yet with millions dying of starvation all over the world, the official Vatican position
is there is no urgency of population problems and it opposes abortion options for
women and birth control. This is very sad and hopefully this position will be ignored
by World bodies more concerning about saving and preserving born life, rather than
supporting, what many believe is a very immoral religious doctrine.
The Catholic political agenda on abortion may backfire. The biggest joke was when
Bishop James McHugh threatened that the U.S. position on abortion would offer a
"powerful incentive to American Catholics to walk away from the Democratic
Party." The problem is the ruling Catholic hierarchy in the Vatican has lost
touch with all but the most conservative of its members in the Western democracies.
Its influence is greatest where poverty and ignorance is greatest - in the Third
World countries, in Latin America.
Reasonable people can disagree on abortion. On the issue of contraception, however,
the Vatican is bonkers. If you really want to do away with unwanted pregnancies.
To attempt to deny people access to effective contraception, then condemn the abortions
inspired by the resulting pregnancies seems bizarre.
And a good many Catholics around the world agree. In an open letter to the pope,
Catholics Speak Out, an umbrella group for progressive Catholic organizations, stated:
"Because of the human pain caused by the Vatican opposition to contraception,
because such opposition severely worsens our global crisis of population and resources
and because the majority of good Catholics - after long and prayerful reflection
- have rejected it, we say to you simply: On the issue of contraception, you are
wrong." So much for papal infallibility.
The pope's message doesn't even sell in Italy, home of the Vatican. For some time
now, Italy has had the most liberal abortion laws in Western Europe. The result?
Between 1982 and 1992, the number of legal abortions per year fell from 234,800
to 155,200. And the reason was contraception. Italy has not only slowed its population
growth; it has reversed it.
It really comes down to whether you're willing to let women make decisions that
control their own lives. Little wonder that the pope had to make common cause with
fundamentalist Islamic regimes like Iran on the abortion issue in the UN conference.
Whatever their differences, religious fundamentalists share a view of the world
that places women in an inferior position, one in which they have little to say
in decision making. It's a good deal for the boy's clubs that make up the hierarchy
of the fundamentalist religions and Catholicism.
The fact is the Vatican continues to exercise its influence in the Third World,
where it still does have influence, in the direction of reaction is nothing short
of a tragedy. I think it offers a powerful incentive for thinking American Catholics
to walk away from the Church.
Catholics and Muslims....both want to limit the power of women all over the world
and not allow them to make their own choices in life regarding reproduction, whether
it be birth control or legal legitimate abortion choices.
The Muslim group Hamas says women exist as "a factory
for producing men". Catholics impose their male dominated beliefs
on women. What bothers me is why so many women enjoy being dominated this way. Seems
to show either they have been brainwashed or are very insecure. Issue seems clear....if
you think abortion is wrong, don't have one. What gets me so upset is in light of
world starvation the Catholics still argue against even birth control much less
safe, legal abortion as a legitimate choice for women to make...not some old priest
or pope who never has even been married and certainly never will be pregnant!
Christian women, if they seriously studied scripture would find no soul till birth
and absolutely nothing wrong with abortion. But Catholism wants to keep this a secret
or seem to know better than God. This of course is not surprising considering their
twisting of Jesus's words to Peter and their claim of any Godly authority. Historically
its interest is more to control the masses for money as well as repressing women.
The problem is today, women are starting to think for themselves and are both leaving
Catholism or ignoring most of its teaching as many do.
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