BIRTH CONTROL

Hokitika Guardian, 29 August 1931, Page 6

BIRTH CONTROL

REVIEW OF PROBLEM LAMBETH DECISIONS. ADDRESS BY CANON JAMES. WELLINGTON, August 19. hi an address lust evening on certain sections of the Lambeth Report, Canon Percival James, of St. Paul’s ProCathedral, dealt mainly with the 'subject of birth control, and the conditions under which the use of contrnceptiies was tolerated by the resolutions adopted at the conference. He made it plain that even when their use might be permitted it was to be done in the light of Christian principle. Canon James’s address was delivered at one of the weekly Y.M.C.A. roundtable gatherings. There had been so much misunderstanding about the line the bishops had taken with regard to birth control and the use of contraceptives, Canon James said. The bishops had been bound to devote much time to the problems of marriage, divorce, and sex, because in the modern world these pro blems had assumed very large proportions. In some parts of the world, it seemed that marriage from being ‘ a permanent contract was becoming a temporary convenience which lasted as long as the parties were attracted by each other. Divorce had increased the birthrate had fallen, and along with the fall in the birth-rate there had been a simultaneous increase in illegitimacy. / Canon James quoted in this connection some arresting statistics and ie ~ ferred briefly to New Zealand conditions. His purpose, however, was not to strike any comparisons, things were admittedly bad enough, and when there were all these tremendous evils to deal with, no church could be silent. It was a perfect sin, he “thought that in these days of frankness children should be allowed to grow up without being taught something of sex and marriage. It seemed a dreadful thing that little children could pick up novels, or see films where sacred things were smudged by dirty fingers, and that the first ideas such children got about marriage and sex should come from pointed sources.

Strong Condemnation. With regard to contraceptives, the time had passed when the church could ignore such subjects. It could not shut its eyes —it had to deal with fat ts and conditions as they were encountered hi the modern world. The bishops at Lambeth had spent some time, considering the question of contraceptives, and in their resolutions, which aver - adopted by majority vote, they condemned entirely in the first place the use of contraceptives outside the marriage state. Even between married persons their use was strongly condemned when undertaken lor motives of selfishness, luxury, or convenience.

Continuing Canon James read wit the exception of one small passage the whole of the Lambeth resolutions dealing wit lithe subject. In that form, ''<■ said, it would he noted that they did nothing but strengthen the atittude the bishops had adopted at the previous conference. The effect of the small add'tional passage, however, was to- free from condemnation those who used contraceptives when there was a clearly-felt moral obligation to avoid parenthood and a moral reason for avoiding aomplete abstinence. Under those circumstances it was to he done in the light of Christian principles. Against the use of contraceptives several arguments could lie brought C"lion James said. First, there wsa the great question of race suicide. It was happening among the French, and it was happening among the Anglo-Sax-

ons. The sterility of the Anglo-Sax-on population of the United States was a regrettable fact. The result o c tlii« race suicide was that the menace of colour become more acute. Secondly instead of the principles of eugenics showing up in the world to-day, the contrary was more prevalent. The sections of th e race in which one would expect to find the best stocks were the ones who took advantage of birth control, with the result that the breed ing came from inferior stocks.

“Blown Sky-High.’’ One of tile great arguments for birth-control had been blown sky-hi"h Canon James continued. This was the Malthusian argument that the population of the world, if unchecked, would outstrip the food supply of the world. Nowadays, however, althought he did not profess to understand economics, it seemed cleiar that the world was suffering not from lack rf production but from overproduction Canon JamesV fourth argument was that medical opinion, as far as he could see, was strengthening toward a belief that all methods of contraception were harmful to the woman. This, to his mind was a final argument against contraceptive methods, although, lor a fifth and last proposition, he suggested on the ground of a report prepared by a birth-control clinic that contraceptives, when alii was said and done, were not effective. The speaker could not- condemn, however, the limited acknowledgement the bishops had made that in certain conditions where there was a moral obligation to avoid parenthood and the thing was done according to Christian principles, there might be something to justify the use of contraceptives.

Canon James concluded, his. address with a brief sketch of the Anglican position with regard to reunion and the section of the Lambeth report dealing with , that subject. He was accorded a hearty vote of thanks..