Condomania?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 8:09 pm by Robert Hunt

Condomania? 2015-03-13T20:09:05-06:00 Robert Hunt

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It isn’t the job of a Protestant to try and interpret the Vatican, yet it is important in inter-religious dialogue to understand one’s partner. And that is true as Christians and others seek to understand just how Pope Benedict’s recent comments about condom use are consistent with Christian moral reasoning.

It appears common for people, and the press, to think of morality in terms of choosing actions leading to different possible outcomes. The goal of moral reasoning is thus to choose the action that leads to the best possible outcome. Looked at in this way the long standing Catholic opposition to the use of condoms in places like Africa, where HIV/AIDS is a near continent wide crisis, seems strange. Doesn’t condom use lead clearly to a better outcome than infecting or becoming infected with HIV/AIDS?

But let’s look at morality in a different way. Let’s look at moral choosing NOT as an act primarily aimed at acting toward the best of two outcomes. Instead think of moral choosing as primarily a process of making one’s self a saint whose character is ever better tuned to serving God’s purposes and thus both individual humans and humanity as a whole. Previously it appears that the judgment of the Vatican was that choosing to use a condom, although it’s use might lead to the best of possible outcomes given that sex would take place, was not a choosing that cultivated sainthood. Cultivating sainthood demanded choosing abstinence. Now it appears that the Vatican has admitted that at a very basic level choosing to use a condom may be a choice that cultivates a saintlike concern for the well being of another. All the Vatican did was affirm that this second motivation could exist, and that thus the pursuit of saintliness might be found in this choice. One assumes in the eyes of the Vatican the more saintly choice would still be abstinence.

This difference between cultivating one’s own character as a saint and merely pursuing good ends is a fundamental, if often forgotten, part of many religious traditions. From a classic Christian perspective the purpose of humans is to become sufficiently saintlike to live in God’s presence eternally. It is not simply to be washed free from sin and thus saved from hell. Nor is it to just make choices that lead to good ends for one’s self and others. This means that what is moral is not merely what we do, but how we think about what we do. Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons really isn’t as good as doing the right thing for the right reasons. Sometimes it can be worse, since in the balance it cultivates the character of a clever con artist rather than a saint. This is why the gratuitous pursuit of goods with no fungible value (like worshiping God who does not need our worship) is such an important gift from God. It not only cultivates saintliness, it helps overcome our despair at understanding our always mixed motives. Random acts of anonymous kindness don’t create saints nearly as well as disciplined acts of gratuitous self-giving.

And by the way, the road to hell is not paved with good intentions. They lead to heaven

Home Page

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 4, 2010

Why Don't Muslims . . . . .

Next Post

December 11, 2010 The Big Picture and the Small - Religion in Malaysia

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Christian Identity Christian Muslim Relations Home Page Inter-Religious Dialogue Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 July 2010 May 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz