Birth control politics and theology – Macon Chronicle

I ended up concentrating on the politics of birth control in my column on the issue, since I was running out of space and I’m a lousy theologian.

I will note for the record that I had a long, pleasant lunch last week with a Catholic friend, who is seminary-trained and experienced working with the hierarchy, who strongly disagrees with me on this and many other political issues.  He was kind enough to give me a book explaining Church teachings  on 12 tough issues, including contraception and homosexuality.  I remain unconvinced, mostly because it seems to rest, like most religious arguments, on the “proof” that the Bible tells me so. Frankly, that doesn’t carry a lot of intellectual weight with me.

I will share one theological note that I ended up cutting from a column that was still too long.  As he was explaining that the Church’s teachings on contraception were based on the idea that one should not artificially interfere with the natural process of reproduction, my friend confessed the reservation that “tooth decay is a natural process too, but the Church doesn’t tell us not to get cavities filled.”

In any event, Garry Wills is better versed in Catholic theology than I’ll ever be. He effectively debunks the position of the U.S. bishops here, in Latin where necessary, concluding that the bishops are looking for “religious dictatorship, not religious freedom.”