Ideologies Behind Human Reproduction
Teresa Barro
One of the most influential ideologies concerning human reproduction was established by the Roman Catholic Church, which insists on the need to populate the earth, regardless of the consequences.
According to the Roman Catholic Church, the main purpose of marriage is procreation. A couple should have as many children as possible, such being the will of God. Neither the will of God should be resisted nor Nature interfered with. Consequently, the Roman Catholic Church opposes any form of contraception except the ¨natural rhythm¨ method which is not only highly unreliable but also threatens sexual harmony between the couple.
This inflexible stand against contraception rests entirely on one sentence attributed to Yahweh in the first book of the Bible. Having created the Universe and humankind, Yahweh, satisfied with that work, exclaims: ¨Be fruitful and increase¨, ¨Be fruitful and multiply¨ or something similar, because, of course, there are differences in the translations (Genesis 1-28).
This statement is not, of course, direct revelation, but merely part of the recounting of the myth of Creation. Myths should, in any case, be read as poetry and not as prose, and it would be risible to use them to extrapolate rules and commandments governing the daily activities of men and women. Furthermore, as in the story of Adam and Eve, not even a literal interpretation of those words attributed to God could ever lend support to the odd theory of human reproduction sustained by the Roman Catholic Church.
Yahweh says to Adam and Eve ¨be fruitful and increase¨, or ¨grow and be fruitful¨ as part of a general blessing to the whole of Creation. Those words reflect the joy and contentment of the artist and creator contemplating a finished work of art –finished by God, but at the beginning of its own life and already with a will of its own.
There is no reason to assume that when Yahweh exhorts the recently created man and woman (that is, the human race) to be fruitful and to grow and be fertile, he/she is referring exclusively to their power to beget children. This particular sentence almost immediately follows the assertion that man and woman were created in the image of God, very like him/her and capable, because of their powerful spiritual nature, of administering the physical and spiritual constitution of everything which exists on earth, including their own physical and spiritual nature:
God made wild animals, cattle, and all reptiles, each according to its kind; and he saw that it was good. Then God said, ¨Let us make man in our image and likeness to rule the fish in the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all wild animals on earth, and all reptiles that crawl upon the earth¨. So God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them, ¨Be fruitful and increase, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish in the sea, the birds of heaven, and every living thing that moves upon the earth¨. (Genesis, 1, 25-6-7-8)
Undoubtedly, God´s blessing refers to the human capacity to create and to be spiritually fruitful. By trying to reduce men and womens' talents and mission in life to mindless reproduction, the Church not only degraded human nature in general, but also God´s nature, since it is in the nature of both God and humankind to partake of the same quality, the divine ability to create and to enable the spirit to bear fruit.
Yahweh gives humankind the right to subjugate the earth, which implies that they must learn to make good use of it and to administrate its fruits and products. Implicit is the assumption that humans not only have the right but the duty to make everything flourish and that they have the power over Nature to do so. It is inconceivable that, having announced humankind's authority and talents as destined to the control and management of life on earth, that God would then have required men and women to give free rein to Nature and to let her rule over them in the amount of children to be had. Surely they were supposed to learn to control and administer that side of nature in themselves? The unsystematic and haphazard production of enormous quantities of human offspring resulted in the deepest disharmony on earth. Such disorder is highly detrimental to the well-being of the earth itself and of all living creatures. Is it likely that a God who was asking for control and good administration of the earth was at the same time demanding from humans lack of control and consideration in such a decisive matter as the number of children to be brought to the world?
The Roman Catholic Church certainly assigned a very odd mission to human beings by pushing them to be recklessly reproductive and to overwhelm the earth with their offspring. What is more, the standpoint of the Catholic Church on this matter is inconsistent in more ways than one. The Church insisted in downgrading marriage by naming as its main purpose the multiplication of the human race. Not only that, but marriage also acquired a very dubious status following the Church´s idea that it was needed as a lesser evil to counteract the dangers of the flesh. As a result, marriage came to be seen as inferior to a religious life fully ¨dedicated to God¨. Male priests and even nuns enjoyed a far higher standing than married women and men.
Yet, if God had ordered humans ¨to multiply¨ above all and regardless of any other consideration, surely this command should apply to all men and women without exception and there would be no room for virginity or chastity. Therefore, all those who chose chastity and celibacy within the Roman Catholic Church would have been disobeying God´s orders to propagate without restraint.
In this curious ideology, centred in the belief that God wished boundless procreation, it is also assumed that children are a manifestation of the direct will of God and that God somehow sends them to their parents. Additionally, the poor parents burdened with more children that they could care for, were offered as a solace the conviction that their fertility was a blessing and definitive proof of divine favour. No one explained where the universally scorned children of single mothers, or those born from adultery, prostitution or rape, or those born from Roman Catholic priests, could fit into this general condition. Were they also sent directly by God, as the children of marriage? And if so, why then did the Church not do more to protect them against unjust customs and laws destined to ostracise them, even if that implied defying society? Is it not time for the Roman Catholic Church to face up to the tremendous contradictions in its teachings? Whose are the children, anyway: do they belong to God or humankind? Everything seems to indicate that God blessed in humankind the capacity to grow and flourish spiritually, in order to become more like the author, in his/her image. God also appears to have ordered humans to control Nature at all times. Animals do not procreate in a reckless way: Nature usually intervenes to avoid disorder and imbalance on earth. Boundless reproduction by humans was willed, not by God, but by some men. A human surplus was very desirable in a world where slavery was of paramount importance and had to be protected and promoted by all means possible. And families with more children than they could care for were the perfect breeding ground for providing an endless supply of slaves and serfs.
August 2011
One of the most influential ideologies concerning human reproduction was established by the Roman Catholic Church, which insists on the need to populate the earth, regardless of the consequences.
According to the Roman Catholic Church, the main purpose of marriage is procreation. A couple should have as many children as possible, such being the will of God. Neither the will of God should be resisted nor Nature interfered with. Consequently, the Roman Catholic Church opposes any form of contraception except the ¨natural rhythm¨ method which is not only highly unreliable but also threatens sexual harmony between the couple.
This inflexible stand against contraception rests entirely on one sentence attributed to Yahweh in the first book of the Bible. Having created the Universe and humankind, Yahweh, satisfied with that work, exclaims: ¨Be fruitful and increase¨, ¨Be fruitful and multiply¨ or something similar, because, of course, there are differences in the translations (Genesis 1-28).
This statement is not, of course, direct revelation, but merely part of the recounting of the myth of Creation. Myths should, in any case, be read as poetry and not as prose, and it would be risible to use them to extrapolate rules and commandments governing the daily activities of men and women. Furthermore, as in the story of Adam and Eve, not even a literal interpretation of those words attributed to God could ever lend support to the odd theory of human reproduction sustained by the Roman Catholic Church.
Yahweh says to Adam and Eve ¨be fruitful and increase¨, or ¨grow and be fruitful¨ as part of a general blessing to the whole of Creation. Those words reflect the joy and contentment of the artist and creator contemplating a finished work of art –finished by God, but at the beginning of its own life and already with a will of its own.
There is no reason to assume that when Yahweh exhorts the recently created man and woman (that is, the human race) to be fruitful and to grow and be fertile, he/she is referring exclusively to their power to beget children. This particular sentence almost immediately follows the assertion that man and woman were created in the image of God, very like him/her and capable, because of their powerful spiritual nature, of administering the physical and spiritual constitution of everything which exists on earth, including their own physical and spiritual nature:
God made wild animals, cattle, and all reptiles, each according to its kind; and he saw that it was good. Then God said, ¨Let us make man in our image and likeness to rule the fish in the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all wild animals on earth, and all reptiles that crawl upon the earth¨. So God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them, ¨Be fruitful and increase, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish in the sea, the birds of heaven, and every living thing that moves upon the earth¨. (Genesis, 1, 25-6-7-8)
Undoubtedly, God´s blessing refers to the human capacity to create and to be spiritually fruitful. By trying to reduce men and womens' talents and mission in life to mindless reproduction, the Church not only degraded human nature in general, but also God´s nature, since it is in the nature of both God and humankind to partake of the same quality, the divine ability to create and to enable the spirit to bear fruit.
Yahweh gives humankind the right to subjugate the earth, which implies that they must learn to make good use of it and to administrate its fruits and products. Implicit is the assumption that humans not only have the right but the duty to make everything flourish and that they have the power over Nature to do so. It is inconceivable that, having announced humankind's authority and talents as destined to the control and management of life on earth, that God would then have required men and women to give free rein to Nature and to let her rule over them in the amount of children to be had. Surely they were supposed to learn to control and administer that side of nature in themselves? The unsystematic and haphazard production of enormous quantities of human offspring resulted in the deepest disharmony on earth. Such disorder is highly detrimental to the well-being of the earth itself and of all living creatures. Is it likely that a God who was asking for control and good administration of the earth was at the same time demanding from humans lack of control and consideration in such a decisive matter as the number of children to be brought to the world?
The Roman Catholic Church certainly assigned a very odd mission to human beings by pushing them to be recklessly reproductive and to overwhelm the earth with their offspring. What is more, the standpoint of the Catholic Church on this matter is inconsistent in more ways than one. The Church insisted in downgrading marriage by naming as its main purpose the multiplication of the human race. Not only that, but marriage also acquired a very dubious status following the Church´s idea that it was needed as a lesser evil to counteract the dangers of the flesh. As a result, marriage came to be seen as inferior to a religious life fully ¨dedicated to God¨. Male priests and even nuns enjoyed a far higher standing than married women and men.
Yet, if God had ordered humans ¨to multiply¨ above all and regardless of any other consideration, surely this command should apply to all men and women without exception and there would be no room for virginity or chastity. Therefore, all those who chose chastity and celibacy within the Roman Catholic Church would have been disobeying God´s orders to propagate without restraint.
In this curious ideology, centred in the belief that God wished boundless procreation, it is also assumed that children are a manifestation of the direct will of God and that God somehow sends them to their parents. Additionally, the poor parents burdened with more children that they could care for, were offered as a solace the conviction that their fertility was a blessing and definitive proof of divine favour. No one explained where the universally scorned children of single mothers, or those born from adultery, prostitution or rape, or those born from Roman Catholic priests, could fit into this general condition. Were they also sent directly by God, as the children of marriage? And if so, why then did the Church not do more to protect them against unjust customs and laws destined to ostracise them, even if that implied defying society? Is it not time for the Roman Catholic Church to face up to the tremendous contradictions in its teachings? Whose are the children, anyway: do they belong to God or humankind? Everything seems to indicate that God blessed in humankind the capacity to grow and flourish spiritually, in order to become more like the author, in his/her image. God also appears to have ordered humans to control Nature at all times. Animals do not procreate in a reckless way: Nature usually intervenes to avoid disorder and imbalance on earth. Boundless reproduction by humans was willed, not by God, but by some men. A human surplus was very desirable in a world where slavery was of paramount importance and had to be protected and promoted by all means possible. And families with more children than they could care for were the perfect breeding ground for providing an endless supply of slaves and serfs.
August 2011
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario