Changes

== Religious Perspectives ==

== Religious Perspectives ==

In general, the [[Catholic Church]] is officially opposed to contraception, but the great majority of Catholics ignore the prohibition.  Catholic pastoral practice on family limitation and birth control dates from 1875, the date of the earliest pastoral document dealing with family limitation, and 1919, when the American Catholic bishops issued their first public statement condemning contraception. Although Catholic priests spoke only reluctantly about birth control prior to the 1920s, they clearly condemned contraception. Catholic views on fertility control, marriage and marital sex, and the use of confession to deal with these matters, as well as mission preaching by Paulists and Redemptionists on the various methods of birth control, reveal that the clergy's silence diminished gradually rather than overnight. By increasing the frequency of confession, priests raised the consciousness of sin and gave greater deference to a clerically defined morality, which considered contraceptive marital intercourse a heinous sin.<ref>Leslie Woodcock Tentler,  "The Abominable Crime Of Onan": Catholic Pastoral Practice And Family Limitation In The United States, 1875-1919. Church History 2002 71(2): 307-340. 0009-6407 </ref>  

In general, the [[Catholic Church]] is officially opposed to contraception, but the great majority of Catholics ignore the prohibition.  Catholic pastoral practice on family limitation and birth control dates from 1875, the date of the earliest pastoral document dealing with family limitation, and 1919, when the American Catholic bishops issued their first public statement condemning contraception. Although Catholic priests spoke only reluctantly about birth control prior to the 1920s, they clearly condemned contraception. Catholic views on fertility control, marriage and marital sex, and the use of confession to deal with these matters, as well as mission preaching by Paulists and Redemptionists on the various methods of birth control, reveal that the clergy's silence diminished gradually rather than overnight. By increasing the frequency of confession, priests raised the consciousness of sin and gave greater deference to a clerically defined morality, which considered contraceptive marital intercourse a heinous sin.<ref>Leslie Woodcock Tentler,  "The Abominable Crime Of Onan": Catholic Pastoral Practice And Family Limitation In The United States, 1875-1919. Church History 2002 71(2): 307-340. 0009-6407 </ref> However among the Catholic laity the prohibition on birth control is essentially dead.

Other [[Christian]] denominations vary.  [[Islam]]ic and [[Jewish]] views are quite diverse.

Other [[Christian]] denominations vary.  [[Islam]]ic and [[Jewish]] views are quite diverse.

==See also==

==See also==

* [[Fertility]]

* [[Fertility]]