From the article:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
By Judith Graham
Tribune staff reporter
September 24, 2006
Emboldened by the anti-abortion movement's success in restricting access to
abortion, an increasingly vocal group of Christian conservatives is arguing
that it's time to mount a concerted attack on contraception.
Their voices were raised in Rosemont on Friday and Saturday at an unusual
anti-abortion meeting that drew 250 people from around the nation to
condemn artificial birth control. Experts at the gathering assailed
contraception on the grounds that it devalues children, harms relationships
between men and women, promotes sexual promiscuity and leads to falling
birth rates, among social ills.
"Contraception is more the root cause of abortion than anything else,"
Joseph Scheidler, an anti-abortion veteran whose Pro-Life Action League
sponsored the conference, said in an interview.
No one knows how many supporters Scheidler and his colleagues have, but
conservative leaders are watching to see if the anti-contraception rhetoric
gains traction.
Of special interest is how closely evangelical Christians are willing to
align themselves with traditional Catholics on the issue. The Catholic
Church long has opposed contraception, but evangelicals generally embraced
its use--until recently, some argue.
"It is clear there is a major rethinking going on among evangelicals on this
issue, especially among young people" disenchanted with the sexual
revolution, said Rev. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary. "There is a real push back against the
contraceptive culture now."
Whether or not Mohler is right about young people, the sympathetic
sentiments of a key leader in the nation's largest Protestant denomination
adds fuel to the debate.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read it at
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0609240334sep24,1,105935,print.story?coll=chi-news-hed
(get a login & password at
http://www.bugmenot.com/view/www.chicagotribune.com)
J. Spaceman
.
|