Why the Church cannot fund the pill. (Medical video)

This video is an animation showing how the contraceptive pill sometimes causes embryonic abortions.

To read more about the mechanics of "The Pill" visit:http://www.epm.org/articles/bcp3300.html

To learn more about alternatives to taking "The Pill" visit:
1. Natural Family Planning Outreach: http://www.nfpoutreach.org
2. NFP International: http://www.nfpandmore.org
3. Couple to Couple League: http://www.ccli.org
4. Family of the America's:
http://www.familyplanning.net
5. Pope Paul VI Institute
http://www.popepaulvi.com

If you would like to understand the rational for why the Catholic Church rejects artificial birth control read Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical HUMANAE VITAE:http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_2...

For insights on living life in harmony with the mystery of God, and others, check out Pope John Paul II's LOVE & RESPONSIBILITY and THEOLOGY OF THE BODY.

A criticism however needs to be brought to these two aforementioned books. They're built on the premise that humanity is "fallen" and that the trajectory of mankind is to be redeemed back into its "original innocence." Once having entered this mindset of original innocence harmonious relationships follow. And I agree... it's definitely a good mindset to have, but it's not an innocence we lost from the "Fall" of Adam and Eve. I believe there was no "Fall", and the only innocence we're returning to is the innocence we felt as children.

Evolutionary biology is showing us that we are born from something more complex than the snap of God's fingers, and whatever our genesis, it includes severe conflict and competition. And this competition goes deep into our beings. For example, the book Sperm Wars by Robin Baker shows that a good portion of the sperm in a man's ejaculate is designed to fight and kill-off sperm from another male in the woman's cervix.

Reflection on this biological fact unwinds for me so much Christian theology, especially the premise referenced above in JP2's two books. They're built on Jesus words in Mathew 19:8... that before "the fall" man and woman (Adam and Eve) were one in marriage, and that it was a result of the fall we need to return to how it was "in the beginning." 

Jesus is the supposed Redeemer who will deliver us to the harmony of how it was "in the beginning," but we know that the beginning was an awful place. Our physical bodies tell us that millions of years ago reproduction was a gang bang nightmare where after the men nearly fought to the death over who'd have the woman first, even then their sperm had to fight like gladiators. Is this God's design from 6000 years ago? I don't think so.

And it is because I can't reconcile traditional Catholic theology with science and its reasonable methods my conscience and prayer-life are being pushed to find a new understanding.

Today I argue that the Christian mission is not to have us return to some mythical Eden, but to have us evolve into our potential... to go where we have never been before. It's no longer Jesus as savior delivering us back to Eden's innocence, but Jesus as older, wiser friend inviting us over for dinner, and in that conversation, we discover for ourselves those areas that need maturity and purity.

It's a new Christology, and maybe it converts much of Jesus into allegory, but it connects the reality of evolutionary science with our human experience... and by that, I mean that deep quiet desire we all have to want to be more than we are and to live up to our potential. Jesus lived up to his potential, and modeling our lives after his brings out the virtues, which are universal and are not exclusive to any religion. [Side note: it just occurred to me that the virtues are nothing more than God's personality traits. This might be worthy of meditation.] 

As a complement to this way of looking at life, I believe one's own personal physical nature is to be in harmony with the mind and spirit. Medicines are important in this as they help heal us when we're sick, but the contraceptive pill is not a medicine. It is not fixing something that is broken, it is breaking something that is working just fine (i.e., female fertility). 

This is why I'm opposed to it, and I think there's a better way for couples to manage their reproduction. And, I think people should know the facts and risks regarding how "The Pill" may cause embryonic abortions. This alone should bother a lot of Christians, especially those precious few who still believe that although we are "fallen," that's not an excuse to be passive, but that we still have an obligation to try to live up to our potential.

Slaughter of homosexuals begins again in Islamic Iraq

Excerpts from BNI  http://barenakedislam.com/2012/03/07/no-sooner-are-u-s-troops-out-of-iraq-and-the-slaughter-of-homosexuals-begins-again/ 

New barbaric attacks have started against Iraqi homosexuals in many cities like Baghdad and Basra. Religious savages are torturing gay victims by repeatedly hitting their heads and beating their bodies with concrete building blocks until they die, or throwing them to the street from the roofs of high buildings.

Workers Liberty  The actions of killings, torture, and dismembering against those who were described as “adulterous” by Islamic Shia militias, besides hanging lists on the walls of several sections in Al-Sadr city and in Al-Habibea region, had all terrorized the society at large and especially the Iraqi LGBT community, knowing that those attacks are directed against anyone suspected with gay practices or appearance.

“The first killings took place on the sixth of February 2012 and continued or rather escalated till the current days. One of the hanged lists in Al-Sadr city included the names and addresses of 33 person, while other lists included other tens of names in other areas. News confirmed that 42 gay men were tortured and killed so far, mostly by concrete blocks, while some by dismembering.

“The Islamic militias in Iraq believe that the religious family should consist of a male husband and a female wife, and is the cornerstone of building a pious Islamic society. Such an institution is handed to the males to rule and control.

Under such an institution, they deny the right-to-life, or rather they command a death sentence against all who do not fit under the religious description of a family.

“Based on those rules, the campaigns of honor killings happen against women and LGBT under the same token. Just as women face honour killing as a result of extra marital affairs, the lesbians and the gays face the same destiny because of their sexual practices which do not relate to marriage.

“We call on all freedom-lovers of the world, the women’s and human rights organization and governments in the advanced world to put pressure on the Iraqi government to provide protection to the lgbt in Iraq, and establish legislation for defending their right to life, and criminalizing all aggressions against them.

We demand also a full enquiry into the groups and criminal behind the killing campaign and that they get full punishment from the legal and correctional system.”

Rush bad, Maher OK: the Liberal inconsistency.

Democratic Congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee and Jan Schakowsky repeatedly refuse to condemn Bill Maher's crude comments that former Gov. Sarah Palin is a "c*nt" and a "dumb twat." They also refuse to call for President Obama's SuperPAC to return Maher's $1 million contribution to the President's re-election effort.


Comment:
"Hypocrisy. Unfairness. Inconsistency. Dishonesty. Democrats & Muslims - uncivil, unethical, immoral."