By Matt Abbott
Op/Ed
Catholic Online

The Pew Research Center has released the results of a survey they conducted last month. According to the summary of findings:

“Americans cannot be easily characterized as conservative or liberal on today's most pressing social questions. The public's point of view varies from issue to issue. They are conservative in opposing gay marriage and gay adoption, liberal in favoring embryonic stem cell research and a little of both on abortion. Along with favoring no clear ideological approach to most social issues, the public expresses a desire for a middle ground on the most divisive social concern of the day: abortion.

“Together, the results of the latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life suggest that the public remains reluctant to move too far from current policies and practices on many key social policy questions. Despite talk of ‘culture wars’ and the high visibility of activist groups on both sides of the cultural divide, there has been no polarization of the public into liberal and conservative camps….”

You can check out all the stats on their Web site, people-press.org, if you’re interested. But even a cursory glance shows that America is most certainly divided over key moral issues. I realize some people’s apathy comes into play here: Those who don’t seem give a darn about the killing of pre-born children, the prevalence of pornography or the disintegration of the family probably don’t think we’re in the midst of a cultural/spiritual war. But that doesn’t mean “there has been no polarization of the public into liberal and conservative camps.”

Of course there is polarization! Just who is the PRC trying to kid?

The cultural/spiritual war is raging.

Conference on contraception

The Pro-Life Action League (my former employer) is sponsoring an important conference on the issue of contraception. From the League’s Web site, www.prolifeaction.org:

“In the mid-twentieth century, the industrialized world embraced contraception as the way to eradicate poverty, lower the birth rate and guarantee freedom for women.

“But contraception ushered in widespread promiscuity, divorce, sexually transmitted diseases, single parent households and abortion. While abortion was hailed as a triumph for women's rights and the solution to ‘failed’ contraception, it brought a host of its own problems, including post-abortion trauma, sterility, and an increased risk of breast cancer.

“Even supporters of abortion now admit that it is not a good choice. They once again turn to birth control as the answer to the problem of unwanted pregnancy.

“But a closer look at birth control reveals that it is not the answer. It is, rather, a large part of the problem. Consider, for example, that 54% of women who have abortions report that they were using birth control at the time they got pregnant.

“The rhetoric surrounding contraception betrays an anti-child mentality. Contraception has succeeded in separating marital intimacy from procreation and turning sex into a recreational activity rather than an expression of love and commitment.

“‘Contraception Is Not the Answer’ presents a fascinating program of eight speakers on the various ways in which contraception has impacted society—its effect on women, on men, on marriage, on the culture—and will show that contraception is, indeed, the taproot of abortion….”

Contact

Matt Abbott
http://www.catholic.org  IL, US
Matt Abbott - Author, 

Email

mattcabbott@gmail.com

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