Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Where does religion fit in?

Hi all,
I'm pushing ahead with my Childless by Marriage book, and I'm in the chapter about religion. I'm Catholic. Using any kind of artificial birth control is a sin. I didn't know that back in the years when I was using it, and now I wonder what I would have done if I did know. In my research I'm reading figures ranging from 60 to 95 percent of Catholic women who use birth control these days. We're supposed to accept all the babies God gives us, but is that realistic, and what if our mates disagree?

In an era where sex seems to be everywhere, kids are still being taught that abstinence is the way to go. It's a nice idea, but in a competition between a holy idea hormones, hormones will usually win.

In my research, I found that only a handful of women said religion was a factor in their decision to remain childless, even though many faiths stress the need to procreate. So my question is: how about you? Where does religion fit in your childless life?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

For me it was why I waited for sex until marriage, why I don't want to use donated sperm to try to get preganant and why I don't cheat on my infertile husband. I was open to kids, he was reluctant and wanted to wait a while. Then we couldn't conceive. I wondered if it would have been possible if we'd tried earlier. Then I re-read my diary about all the condom slip-offs we had when we first married, and I think it's probably always been impossible.Sometimes he says "Maybe you married the wrong guy?" Sometimes I think it.
Thanks for your blog, I feel less alone.