Lesson video

Hello there, my young scholars of religion.

My name is Ms. Marks, and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

Today we're gonna be doing a lesson all about Christianity and family planning, and contraception.

And for this, we're going to be philosophers, theologians, as well as social scientists.

So when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of this lesson, you'll be able to explain different Christian teachings and views on contraception and family planning.

So let's start with our key terms. Absolutist, someone with the belief that there are certain actions that are always right or always wrong.

Contraception, precautions taken to prevent pregnancy.

Family planning, regulation of births, planning when to have a family, and how many children to have by using birth control and oral contraception.

Procreate or procreation, having a child seen as a duty in many religions.

And situation ethics, an ethical theory which argues that the most loving action should guide decisions in a situation rather than following fixed rules or laws.

So watch out for those in today's lesson.

So our lesson today, we'll have two sections, Christian teachings on contraception and Christian views on contraception.

So let's start with our first section, Christian teachings on contraception.

Whatever your personal stance, you can use academic disciplines such as social science, theology, and philosophy to study religious and non-religious worldviews.

And in this lesson, we'll be using philosophy, theology, and social science by using philosophy to ask ethical questions, using theology to explore religious teachings on these questions, and making use of social science to examine how religious people respond to these questions.

So here we have Andeep and Laura asking some of those philosophical questions about contraception of family planning.

So they're asking these kinda ethical questions, really trying to understand about contraception of family planning.

Andeep says, "Should we stop procreation by using contraception?" "Is it right to do that? Should we be stopping procreation?" Andeep asks.

And Laura asks, "Should we plan when we have children or should we let it happen naturally?" Should we control that and plan when it happens or should it just be a natural thing or perhaps an act of God? If somebody's religious, they might believe it is.

What do you think about these two questions? Pause the video and have think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

We'll explore those more together today.

Different christian groups may answer the philosophical questions about family planning and contraception differently.

So within Christianity, we can have different approaches to these questions that we end up with a divergence of views or different views.

So within Christianity, we can talk about there being different groups or different approaches, and these are sometimes known as denominations, so they're different groups within Christianity.

So here's a tree that shows this.

So you've got coming up from Jesus and the disciples, after that point, about a thousand years after Jesus, we have got some of the kind of important splits or schisms that have happened where different groups have kind of branched off, which is why we have it as a tree.

So we can see some of, not all of the different Christian groups, but some of them are mentioned here on this tree.

And Christians in those different groups may use one or more method to make a moral decision.

So yes, they've got the teachings of Jesus and the teachings found in the Bible and the way that their church interprets those teachings, but there could be other ways that they're gonna make a moral decision.

They might emphasise a different source of authority or interpret them differently.

So even within the same source of authority, people might have different ways of interpreting that.

Now, this can lead to different views between and within the different branches of Christian denominations.

So we can't say that all Christians would have this or that view on contraception necessarily.

We can't even say that all Roman Catholics, or all Orthodox, or all Protestant Christians would have a particular view either.

Now why is this particularly important when we're talking about contraception? Well, because the terms contraception and family planning don't actually appear in the Bible.

So Christians will look to linked teachings and other methods to help them make decisions about them.

So the word contraception isn't in there.

So I can't read the Bible and find, "oh, in the 10 Commandments, does it say thou shalt not use contraception?" It doesn't.

So therefore there has to be another way of helping to make a decision.

Are there other teachings within the Bible as that holy book which can help guide a Christian? For example, they might look to their conscience to help 'em decide, so their own thoughts.

Perhaps some Christians might even say that's the Holy Spirit in them, helping guide them and help guide their decisions.

They might look to their church leaders that are in place in their particular church they attend, or it could be as an organisation who's leading that organisation.

What's their view or what do they say on this? There could be other written sources of authority.

So you've got the Bible, but there might be other writings, other teachings that have come from important Christian leaders in the past that a Christian could look to.

Also, there could be whole ethical theories supported by church leaders.

So an ethical approach, a way of looking at making these decisions that's supported by that church could be the way that the Christian could then make that decision.

So there's lots of different ways that a Christian could make these different moral decisions, especially when it comes to contraception that's not just found directly in the Bible.

Let's do a quick check.

Is this true or false? All Christians use sources of authority in the same way when making moral decisions.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a go, and we'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Well done.

It's false, isn't it? But why? It's false because Christians use sources of authority differently, including interpreting them differently or putting a different emphasis on a source.

Well done.

However, the Bible is a very important source of authority for most Christians.

So this is where we're going to look first.

It's the first that a Christian might look to see what the teachings are around a particular issue.

So let's have a look at one.

We've got here in Genesis, which is the first book in the Torah, in the Old Testament section of the Bible, the very first book here, just after Adam and Eve have been created.

It says, God bless them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number." And that's in Genesis chapter one.

So we've said that this could link to the idea of contraception of family planning.

What might it mean to be fruitful? Pause the video and have a think.

You can reread it and talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Fantastic.

Yes, it means procreate or many Christians would say this means to procreate, to increase in number, to be fruitful, to have children, to populate the earth.

Remember this is to the first humans on earth.

That's saying you can populate an increase in number, and that's gonna be through procreation, isn't it? But Christians might interpret this text in different ways because it doesn't say be fruitful and no one should ever use contraception in the future, does it? How could it be interpreted in relation to the use of contraception? It could be used to be saying that you shouldn't use contraception.

How could it support that then? Pause the video and have another think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well done.

Well, some Christians use this to stress that humans shouldn't use contraception 'cause that stops them being fruitful.

If being fruitful is related to procreation, then contraception which stops that process would be seen as not permitted, if that's how someone chooses to interpret this verse.

Other Christians would interpret this to mean that whilst having children is desirable, it doesn't directly forbid the use of contraception.

So you can see here how this one Bible verse, a very important Bible verse that's in Genesis here could be understood in different ways by different Christians.

But not only did we say the Bible as a text is used by Christians to make moral decisions, sometimes there's a whole ethical theory that the Christians might use and apply to issues such as family planning and contraception.

Some Christians use the ethical theory of situation ethics to help 'em make a decision about family planning and the use of contraception.

Now, situation ethics is supported by Christian teachings of agape, and this is a word which means selfless, unconditional love.

Agape, it's a Greek word for love, and that's the word that Jesus used when he said love your neighbour.

So love your neighbour, you might know of, sometimes it's called the golden rule, and that is found in the Bible, and that's what Jesus said in the gospels.

We can see that.

Because that wasn't written in English, it was written in Greek, and the term that's used is agape.

So it's this kind of love, selfless, unconditional love.

So this informs what situation ethics is.

That's the whole basis of situation ethics.

Some Anglican churches support individuals you sing situation ethics alongside their own conscience to make a personal decision on using contraception and family planning.

So situation ethics isn't about there being one rule that everyone has to follow all the time.

It's about deciding what the most loving action is because of this idea of agape and love your neighbour, and so if someone can look at the situation and decide what the most loving thing is to do.

And some Anglican or Church of England churches support this and say, yep, you could use situation ethics 'cause it's based on Jesus's teaching of love your neighbour.

So let's apply this then with a situation from Jacob Here.

Jacob is considering some examples of situations regarding family planning and contraception.

He then gives his opinion using situation ethics.

So, first of all, you think about the situation.

It's situation ethics.

So it's not all the time everywhere ethics.

It's based on the situation.

So you look at the situation and see what's happening and then you decide what the most loving thing is to do, what thing is gonna be the most loving for the people involved.

So for example, we've got a woman who's 18 years old, she wants to use contraception so she can focus on her career.

She doesn't feel old enough to have children.

She wants to focus on her career and get financially stable.

Would it be the most loving thing to say, yep, she could use contraception in this case? Pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, Jacob says, "Yes.

I think it would be loving to use contraception to stop an unwanted pregnancy from stopping her career." So it's not whether he thinks it's always right or always wrong to use contraception.

He's looking at that situation to decide what the most loving thing is to do.

Thank you, Jacob.

What about this situation then? There's a woman who's 40 years old and she feels she's too old to have a child.

Would we say it's the most loving thing to allow her to use contraception? Pause the video again and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Yes, well, Jacob thinks, again, it would be more loving to allow her to use contraception to stop an unwanted pregnancy she might not be able to cope with.

Thank you, Jacob.

And then here we have a man who knows he has a genetic disease that might be passed down to any children that he has.

So here we've got someone who doesn't want to pass on a particular condition to any children.

Would it be the most loving thing to allow him to use contraception? Yes or no? Pause the video, and again, you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well done.

Jacob said again here.

I think it would be loving to use contraception to stop the disease being passed on to protect your children and causing them harm in the future.

And so yes, all of these examples are allowing contraception but not because it's just situation ethics means it's always right to use contraception.

It's because, each situation, it looks like the most loving thing to do.

Let's do a quick check.

Which one of the following is doing the most loving thing in a situation? Is it natural law, situation ethics, humanae vitae, or tradition? Which of these is doing the most loving thing in a situation? Pause video and have a go.

We'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, situation ethics.

The clue was in the word that was on it, situation.

Now, in 1968, Pope Paul VI issued a document called "Humanae Vitae" It's a Latin term.

Let's see if we can understand it.

Humanae and vitae.

So humanae means of human.

So it's to do with humanity.

You can think of that word, humanity, can't you? Vitae means life.

If someone's a full of vitality, they're very full of life, aren't they? Or your vital organs.

So this is being such of humans and life.

So this is a document that clarifies the Roman Catholic church's teaching of family planning and contraception.

Because if it says here Pope Paul VI, then we know that that's to do with the Roman Catholic church, 'cause he was the leader of the Roman Catholic church at that time in 1968.

Now look at that date, 1968.

This is just after the contraceptive pill had been discovered and was starting to be distributed to couples.

And so you can see that this perhaps was a reaction to something that happened in the medical world.

So he has issued this as a document about family planning and contraception.

So here are some of the things "Humanae Vitae" says and what it means.

We've got a quotation here.

Each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.

So that means every time a couple has sex, then it should be possible for procreation.

It should be possible that a pregnancy may happen.

There shouldn't be precautions taken to stop that because this is an important purpose of sex.

It's not the only one, but in the Roman Catholic teachings, it's a very important purpose of sex, and it should be open to that possibility every time a married couple has sex.

Here's the second one, excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse is specifically intended to prevent procreation, whether as an end or as a means.

Now what this means is that any form of prevention of procreation using contraception is not allowed.

Anything before, so that could be somebody taking the contraceptive pill, at the moment of, that could be using a condom, or after sexual intercourse, perhaps emergency contraception or something called a coil or a IUD, which can prevent it happening after sex.

And it says here whether as an end or a means.

So even if you are not taking it for that particular reason, you're not using that contraception specifically to stop the pregnancy.

Even if it's just a side effect, then you still shouldn't be doing it if it prevents that procreation from being possible.

And then we have here, if there are any well-grounded reasons for spacing births, so this is to do with like family planning, spacing out when you're gonna have children, the church that a married couple may then take advantage of the natural cycles imminent in the reproductive system.

So what this means is, okay, some families might want to space out when they have children, but what you can use then is the natural cycle of the woman in the relationship where she is going to be more likely to get pregnant at certain times than others.

So sometimes this is called natural family planning.

Sometimes this is called the rhythm method.

So this is suggesting that those methods are allowed, they're acceptable for family planning because a woman in her menstrual cycle when she has her periods, sometimes you are more likely to get pregnant than others.

People actually use that when they're trying to get pregnant, so they might track their cycle to get pregnant.

So on the flip side, some people use that cycle to think, well, when am I less likely to get pregnant? Now, obviously, that's not 100% guaranteed form of contraception to use, but it is our way, a natural way of people perhaps spacing out some of their births or trying to at least.

Let's do a quick check before we move on.

Which one of the following is a method of family planning accepted in "Humanae Vitae"? Sterilisation, artificial contraception, withdrawn method or rhythm method.

So which one of these was permitted and accepted within "Humanae Vitae" then? Pause the video and have a go.

Let's see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

The only one is the rhythm method or natural family planning.

Well done.

So here we've got Thomas Aquinas.

We've had some ideas from Pope Paul VI, and now we've got Thomas Aquinas.

He's a very important influential Christian thinker from about a thousand years ago.

So Thomas Aquinas developed a theory known as natural law, which we've kind of connected to already with those ideas from "Humanae Vitae." He believed there's a natural order to the world and this was created by God, and you can use that word natural.

You can see the importance that nature's gonna have in this.

And he proposed there are five primary precepts that humans must follow.

The Catholic church supports Aquinas's absolutist approach to contraception.

It applies in all situations, cannot be changed by humans.

So this is different to situation ethics that we looked at earlier, because that's based on the situation.

This is absolutist.

Absolutist, always right or always wrong.

And so that's why we can have in "Humanae Vitae" these commands or instructions that we cannot use contraception because it's absolutist.

It's not saying depending on the situation.

It applies in all situations and cannot be changed by humans.

So of his five primary presets, we're not gonna go into all five now, the second one is really important for our lesson today.

The second primary precept of natural law to reproduce can be applied to contraception in the following way.

God wants humans to procreate to continue the human race.

And this is the second primary precept of natural law, is the natural way that humans reproduce.

So that's what God wants us to do.

However, contraception prevents procreation.

So this is the natural thing according to natural law that humans should be doing, procreating, 'cause that's how God has designed us.

That's what we should be doing.

And then procreation is stopped by contraception.

So that gets in the way of us being able to fulfil that primary precept.

The argument goes that God would not want humans to prevent procreation as it goes against natural law.

So therefore humans should not use contraception because it goes against this primary precept of reproduction or procreation.

Let's do a quick check.

What's the missing word? A person that believes whether something is right or wrong applies in all situations and must always be followed is called an.

what word is missing.

Pause a video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

It's an absolutist, one of our key terms. Let's do a practise task to see what we've learned then.

You're gonna compete this table with a teaching from each of the sources that can be used for the topic of contraception and family planning.

And we've got here the source situation ethics, the Bible, "Humanae Vitae," and natural law theory.

So what teaching could be applied from each of those sources to do a contraception and family planning.

Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, some great thinking there.

So I asked you to find a teaching that could apply to contraception and family planning from each of these sources, and you could have said situation ethics.

You could use contraception if it's the most loving thing to do in this situation.

The Bible, be fruitful and multiply.

"Humanae Vitae," Each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.

Natural law theory.

Using contraception goes against God's natural order to procreate, the second primary preset.

Well done.

So to our second section then.

Christian views on contraception.

So here we've got our denomination tree reminding us that we've got different branches of Christianity, different groups of Christians.

And within those groups, you have different views held by different Christians.

Whilst Christians may belong to a specific Christian denomination, so one of the branches on the tree, they can also use their own conscience to answer ethical questions on family planning and contraception.

Sometimes this might mean that they don't always follow the exact teachings of their denomination, but they have their own personal Christian worldview.

And we can use the tools of social science to actually find out some of these personal views on ethical questions about contraception and family planning.

It can also give us an insight into how far people follow those Christian teachings.

One method is to use a survey.

A survey is when respondents are given different options, and answer data can be turned into numbers, quantitative data.

So then we can start to do some comparisons and see perhaps that link between what Christian teachings are, but then what different Christian views might be.

So here we have the question.

In a survey, is it morally right or wrong to use contraception? And we're going to see how people have answered it.

In 2016, this survey was asked in the United States and America.

So Christians were asked their views about contraception, and the results showed here we've got Protestant, Catholic, and unaffiliated.

So it meant that the person said they were Christian but they didn't necessarily say which group they were connected to or part of.

And let's have a look at some of the data here.

So we've got the highest percentage of people who thought it is morally wrong to use contraception being the Catholic group, although it's still only at 8%.

And then we have the highest percent of people saying it's not even a moral issue being that unaffiliated group that didn't say particularly whether they were part of one religious group or another.

What do you think it means to say it's not a moral issue though? Pause the video and have a thing.

Can you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me? It means they don't think it's even an issue of right or wrong at all.

It's just down to personal choice if people want to use it or not.

Does this data correlate with the Catholic Christian teaching? So correlate means kind of match up with or fit with what we've just had about the Catholic Christian teachings.

Remember the things from "Humanae Vitae" that the Pope had said? Does this correlate with that? Does this match? Pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, it doesn't seem to, does it? Because although it's obviously the highest group saying it's morally wrong, it's still only 8%, which means 92% of people didn't say it was morally wrong.

In the Catholic teachings, it was quite clearly stated that it was morally wrong to use contraception.

It was very strong in those quotes we had from "Humanae Vitae," wasn't it? So it doesn't seem to match with the Catholic church's teachings here.

So why might it not correlate with the Catholic church's teachings? Again, pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, people don't always fully follow the teachings of their religion.

The teachings are there and they can choose to follow them or not.

People don't always match up exactly with everything the religion teaches, which is why it's so important to look at the lives of religious people too and see how they're living out this religion.

Let's do a quick check.

What percentage of Catholics in the survey believed that using contraception was morally acceptable? Pause the video and have a go.

We'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Well done.

The answer is 41%.

So we can use social science methods then to find out personal views on ethical questions about contraception and family planning.

It can also give us insight into how far people follow Christian teachings.

We could use interview questions.

So these are open answers which are the respondents' own words.

So this gives us qualitative data 'cause it gives us kinda wordy responses, and they tend to be longer answers and wouldn't fit just like that on a neat table like we had a minute ago from the survey.

So we're now going to have some interview questions asking some Christians.

Do you think it's okay to use contraception to prevent pregnancy and should we use family planning methods? Jun is gonna interview some Christians and ask them these ethical questions.

So Jun is asking Fiona who's an Anglican Christian of the Church of England.

He says, "As an Anglican Christian, Fiona, do you think it's okay to use contraception to prevent pregnancy? Should we use family planning methods?" And Fiona says, "I believe that using situation ethics is a good way to decide because it supports Jesus' teachings of love and kindness to others.

In this way, a woman can decide, considering our own personal circumstances, if planning for family using contraception is the right choice." So Fiona's saying it's based on Jesus' teachings, but really it's down to that individual person using their own conscience and situation ethics.

And Jun's asking David who's also an Anglican Christian, a Church of England Christian.

"As an Anglican Christian, David, how might you answer our questions on contraception and family planning?" And David says, "I believe that although God told humans to be fruitful, He didn't want us to have children regardless of our situation.

Using our conscience is important.

I use artificial contraception to plan when we have children as part of a happy and loving family.

My church leaders have not forbidden using it." Thank you, David.

Let's do a quick check.

Do all Christians interpret be fruitful or multiply in the same way? Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Well done.

That's false, isn't it? And the clue is in saying all Christians in a particular way because there's so much diversities in there often.

Why? Some Christians interpret it to mean they shouldn't use contraception to stop procreation.

Others may consider it alongside situation ethics and their conscience to plan procreation.

So now Jun is asking Danielle who's a Roman Catholic Christian.

"As a Roman Catholic Christian, Danielle, how would you answer our two questions?" Danielle says, "As an absolutist, I believe that natural law is important as God told humans to be fruitful.

I therefore do not use any form of artificial contraception.

However, I do use the rhythm method for family planning as Catholic teachings allow this.

I believe that God will help provide for anyone that has children." Thank you, Danielle.

"And Niamh, you're also Roman Catholic Christian", Jun asks, "What are your views on our two questions?" And Niamh says, "Although the Catholic church teaches us not to use artificial contraception, I believe that it's a part of everyday modern life for a woman to be able to decide if and when she wants to have children.

I believe that planning for a family ensures my husband and I don't have children we can't afford to look after.

So I take the contraceptive pill.

We use our conscience to do the right thing in our circumstances." Thank you, Niamh.

Now, did you spot there that Niamh's views seem to go against the Roman Catholic churches teachings? However, individual members can make their own informed decisions.

Some Catholic Christians believe there aren't absolute fixed set of rules to select natural law.

They believe God has given humans the knowledge to think carefully about family planning.

They believe their conscience will guide them to use contraception in the right way.

For example, as population control or to prevent spreading sexually transmitted diseases.

Let's do another check.

Which of the following is the correct source of authority for the quotation, "Be fruitful and multiply"? So if you were using this, what source would you give for it? Is it situation ethics, "Humanae Vitae," natural law, or the Bible? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, it's in the Bible.

It was in Genesis, wasn't it? Let's do another practise task to see what we've learned.

Here is a full evaluation question using a statement about artificial contraception.

No Christian should ever use artificial contraception.

In the full answer for this, you would evaluate the statement considering arguments for and against, and you would refer to Christian teachings, refer to non-religious arguments, and reach a justify conclusion.

But for us, you are going to write one paragraph in support of the statement and refer to religious Christian arguments.

So you're just going to do one paragraph in support using Christian arguments then.

So pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment Well done, some great thinking there.

So I asked you to write one paragraph in support of this statement.

No Christians should use artificial contraception, referring to Christian arguments.

And your answer might include, some Christians believe they should not use artificial contraception because the Bible says be fruitful and multiply, which they interpret to mean they should have many children.

This is important because if God told 'em to do this, they should respect His instructions.

Some Christians also believe they should follow the teaching of "Humanae Vitae," which forbids the use of artificial contraception on the basis that procreation should always be possible when married couples have sex.

This was taught by a Pope who Catholics believe is an important source of authority to follow.

Some Christians also believe that procreation goes against natural law because God wants humans to procreate.

This is important because it supports Bible teachings.

Well done.

So let's summarise everything we've learned today then Christianity and family planning.

People may answer ethical questions about contraception and family planning differently.

Christians may use different sources of authority and teachings to answer these questions, which leads to diverse views.

Some Christians use situation ethics to work out the most loving decision.

Roman Catholic Christians may use "Humanae Vitae," an absolutist approach to natural law for teachings on contraception and family planning.

We can use social science methods to find out people's views on these issues, including the use of surveys and interviews.

So well done for your hard work today, and I hope to see you again soon.

Bye-bye.