BIRTH CONTROL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19886, 13 March 1939, Page 2

BIRTH CONTROL

CHANGING STANDARDS CRUSADE OF YOUTH ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH An answer to the question why the limited sanction given by the bishops at the Lambeth conference in 1930 to the practice of birth control between married people had not been extended to unmarried persons was given in the Anglican Cathedral in Christchurch by Archdeacon H. W. Monaghan. The question was one or several put in a special box and which the archdeacon had undertaken to answer from the pulpit in a time set aside for the purpose during the service, which was held as part of the "Forward Movement" of the Christchurch diocese. Four hundred extra seats were required to meet the demands of the large congregation, which was estimated to number 1500. « "I suggest that the bishops gave a limited sanction to birth control among married people because they were bishops. They did not give a sanction to the use of contraceptives among unmarried people because they were Christian bishops- and the Christian Church has always held that sexual intercourse between unmarried persons is a sin." Economic Conditions Stating that he could only deal with the problem of birth control in ■ a general way, Archdeacon Monaghan said that he was aware of the argument that changed social and economic conditions in the modern world had made some modification of the old standards necessary. "We have something to thank our modern realists for. In their novels many of them have been quite honest. They depict life as it is and must be when these restrictions are removed. The result is always the same. There is nothing so drab and drear as life depicted by these modern artists. "If economic and social conditions are the excuse, why not try to alter them? Remember Gilbert Chesterton's story. If you have 10 boys who have to be fitted with top hats and only eight hats are available, you can meet the situation in two ways. Either you can cut off two of the boys' heads, or you can get two more hats.

If modern conditions do not fit the old laws of morality, may not the solution be to alter the conditions? Why cannot these, young people find a solution by throwing themselves into a crusade to bring about social conditions which will enable men and women to marry young, to build homes, and bring up families?"