Contraception and the Church

Many people in rural Latin America, where the Church is the most rigid, have begun to leave the Catholic Church. Not because they don't believe in God. Because they disagree with the Church's traditional stance against contraception.

Pope John Paul II's stance against contraceptives such as condoms and birth-control pills have forced many traditional families to have large families. Many already poor families would end up with 12 or more children, all of whom would have to compete for already scarce education and alimentary resources. Many Catholic families hope that things will change with the new pope.

While anyone can understand the importance of tradition to an organized religion, the recognition of basic needs such as contraception for families, especially considering the problems of poverty and AIDS, is imperative if the Church wants to retain any sort of constituency. Abstinence does not resolve all of the problems the Church would like it to, and certainly abstinence within marriage is a ridiculous thing for the Church to expect from its laypeople.

It is important for the Church to appreciate that in places such as the Third World, where overpopulation is a tremendous problem, it must begin to play a much more educative and less restrictive role. Otherwise, a great many Catholics will begin to consider the weakening of the Church not so terrible a thing. If Catholicism wants to survive, it will have to adapt to the problems that exist in the world today.

For more information, see the article this post is based upon on CNN.com.