Gay Marriage and the Contraception Connection
When New York State enshrined the recognition of same sex marriage into law, many pointed their fingers at the LGBTQ+ community for promoting immoral practices designed to destroy the institution of marriage. This is somewhat unfair as the seeds leading to the destruction of marriage were sown long before the gay rights movement was even thought of.
To understand this, we must go back to the year 1930. It was at that time that the worldwide Anglican communion in its Lambeth Conference became the first Christian denomination ever to sanction the use of contraception for any reason at any time. Furthermore, many people at the time understood and predicted the consequences of this momentous decision for marriage and for society as a whole. To paraphrase an editorial by the secular Washington Post, the endorsement of contraception will sound the death knell of marriage as an institution. The church must either reject the Bible or reject the mechanical regulation of human reproduction. The idea that the use of contraception will be careful and restrained is preposterous. Mahatma Gandhi also voiced his objections saying that birth control would put a license on vice and lead man to objectify women. Long before the actions of Lambeth, Theodore Roosevelt had stated that birth control was an unpardonable sin and that a society that embraced it would destroy itself.
Artificial Contraception has become such an accepted fixture in Western culture today that it is easy to forget these damning predictions. However, they have proven to be true. Since contraception has become widely used, divorce and infidelity have skyrocketed and the morality of society has gone down the toilet. What, if anything, does this have to do with the gay rights movement? By separating sex from the act of reproduction so many years ago, Lambeth paved the way for the gay rights movement itself. Instead of berating the gay community for doing what everyone else has been doing for the past 80+ years, a far better tactic would be to clean up the contraceptive culture which is far more widespread and a much bigger problem than gay marriage.
How is this to be done? Christians of all denominations need to turn away from contraception and embrace natural family planning. This has been done to some extent by a small number of Catholics and evangelicals but not nearly enough. Even Catholic priests have shied away from preaching this message. This is the case even though secular studies have shown that modern NFP is just as effective as the pill for preventing pregnancy. Anyone who doubts this should look up the Creighton model developed by Dr. Thomas Hilgers. No one is saying that turning back the contraceptive culture will be easy. However, once this has been done, marriage as an institution will once again thrive.
Note: This is essay is written by Billy Quinn, a student writer for Clarifying Catholicism, where this was originally published. Photo credit: Mercedes Mehling/Unsplash
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