A debate with the moderator at the Birth Control and Catholic Church Board

Prior to blogging, I had a lengthy stay defending the church’s teaching on an EZ Board entitled, Birth Control and the Catholic Church. That board isn’t open to new discussion now because frankly, the moderator wasn’t really open to real debate, just supporting her view against Humanae Vitae.

But I found this discussion I saved on my hard drive and since it seems to be the topic du jour, I’m posting it here and getting it off my hard drive.

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Moderator: Fallacy #1The simple fact remains that people who use ABC understand that abortion and adultery, for example, are qualitatively different moral issues, and it’s impossible to demonstrate that ABC acceptance leads to these problems.

Me: There are two problems with this statement. While certainly SOME people who use ABC understand there are differences, certainly not ALL or even MOST do. Nonetheless again, this is a red herring issue. Whether or not something is qualitatively as bad or as good, has little to do with if there is a connection. A hole in the dike may not be as bad as a complete collapse, but it’s still problematic and can lead to catastrophe. I don’t see much difference from the Catholic standpoint.

Secondly, it is NOT impossible to show a connection. Paul VI just did. JPII has also. What would be more challenging would be to show that acceptance of same sex unions for example, could have sprung up without the acceptance of ABC earlier in the 20th century first!!

Moderator: I do not see, however, how a Catholic married couple using ABC to space their children (that’s what we’re talking about here on this web site, primarily) has brought about an increase in instances of abortion, adultery, broken families

Me: Catholic couples do not live in a vacuum. As has been argued several times on this site by your side, Catholics in the US unfortunately contracept at the same rates as the rest of the population. They also abort and divorce at the same rates.

Moderator: So can we finally put to rest this nonsense about Paul 6 predicting that acceptance of ABC would lead to acceptance of abortion and other matters?

Me: It’s not nonsense, we haven’t discussed it at any depth at all. If you are using your authority as board monitor to stop the discussion I will have to abide. IT doesn’t mean however that this has been covered in depth, or that you have made your point.

Moderator: In many ways, this kind of reasoning has hurt the pro-life movement for it really does imply a kind of moral equivalency between abortion and ABC–or at least that the elimination of abortion is somehow premised on the elimination of ABC. That’s faulty reasoning!

Me: I completely disagree that it has hurt the pro-life movement. In fact, it has been this issue that has brought many IN to the church particularly when they discovered that many contraceptives are abortifacient

We had a wonderful repartee no? The link above is full such discussions.

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