Gallup: 82% of Catholics say contraception is ‘morally acceptable’

[Elizium23]

Actually, I think 82% is probably too low. It’s time for our bishops to start teaching the magisterium and leave the social justice politics alone.

I rather think that they are capable of doing both.

 

[robwar]

I rather think that they are capable of doing both.

lets pray for them to do both. I think they get gun shy and need encouragement to be bold!

 

[rlg94086]

Actually, I think 82% is probably too low. It’s time for our bishops to start teaching the magisterium and leave the social justice politics alone.

I rather think that they are capable of doing both.

I don’t want the Bishops to leave any issue of importance alone. They need to preach the entirety of Church teaching.

 

[Daizies]

My issue with this poll is as follows: They did not poll 1024 Catholics, they polled 1024 people in general. Now according to the US Census stats there are 313,656,174 Americans as of 6/02/12. That means they polled 0.00000326% of the population. Now according to the pew forum Catholics make up 23.9% of Americans. So assuming the survey contained the average number of Catholics by population, they surveyed 245 Catholics which would represent 0.00000326% of Catholics. So 201 out of 245 people who self identified as Catholic believe birth control is morally acceptable (phrasing used in the survey).
Personally, I find those odds highly dubious.

Edit:
I readjusted the figures to account for the survey respondents being over 18 (76%) we still only have 0.0000043%

 

[tarboy]

Dazies, that’s just the way statistical sampling works. It’s proven you don’t have to poll huge numbers to get high probability results
View methodology, full question results, and trend data.

My issue with this poll is as follows: They did not poll 1024 Catholics, they polled 1024 people in general. Now according to the US Census stats there are 313,656,174 Americans as of 6/02/12. That means they polled 0.00000326% of the population. Now according to the pew forum Catholics make up 23.9% of Americans. So assuming the survey contained the average number of Catholics by population, they surveyed 245 Catholics which would represent 0.00000326% of Catholics. So 201 out of 245 people who self identified as Catholic believe birth control is morally acceptable (phrasing used in the survey).
Personally, I find those odds highly dubious.

Edit:
I readjusted the figures to account for the survey respondents being over 18 (76%) we still only have 0.0000043%

 

[George_Stegmeir]

What no one on this thread has mentioned is that in all probability this issue has been promulgated by the Obama regime and the Secularist editors of the mass media to take the public’s minds off the real issue: The stuffing of Obamacare down the throats of the Catholic Church in violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution of The United States.
Do any of you find it odd that with the exception of FOX News, not one of the major TV networks has interviewed Cardinal Dolan about the law suit about this issue? Or, that there has been almost no outcry in the press about the violation of the Separation of Church and State? I find it terribly onerous that the press will defend the filthiest pornographer, citing that if he/she/it is forbidden to print such dreck it enables the government to censor them, yet they abide and indeed encourage limitations of other parts of the Bill of Rights!
As the old Chinese curse predicted-We do live in interesting times.

 

[Dale_M]

Do any of you find it odd that with the exception of FOX News, not one of the major TV networks has interviewed Cardinal Dolan about the law suit about this issue?

Hm?

I don’t watch television news, but a quick Google shows that CBS did.

cbsnews.com/8301-505267_162-57438959/dolan-white-house-is-strangling-catholic-church/

I am not sure about the other networks.

 

[wynnejj]

It was a trick Gallup Poll question: “Are you against the contraception mandate except in cases of rape, incest and life of the mother?”

 

[wynnejj]

I didn’t know how to answer the question:

“Would you say that it is morally acceptable to have safe sex without exceptions or only in cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother?”.

 

[Daizies]

Dazies, that’s just the way statistical sampling works. It’s proven you don’t have to poll huge numbers to get high probability results
View methodology, full question results, and trend data.

I majored in mathematics in University, so I know how statistics work. I know how to manipulate the data to make it say whatever you want it to say - In one of my classes we actually had an assignment where we had to use the same sets of data to get two opposite results. My point was that the sample size really is not statistically significant mathematically speaking (regardless of what Gallup would like us to believe): You cannot get a truly representative sample with 0.000004% of your target group, at least if you can believe statistics textbooks. 0.05% or higher would be more appropriate. In addition, I question the wording of the survey, as wording is highly significant in determining results. Guess I’m just a skeptic when it comes to statistics.

 

[CaptFun]

Loved the cartoon! It reminded me of this joke.

US Ship Captain: Please divert your course 0.5 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.

Seaman 1st class: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

US Ship Captain: This is Captain Blowhole of a US Navy Ship. I say again, divert your course.

Seaman 1st class: This is Seaman Smith. I can’t comply with that order sir, please divert your course ASAP!

*US Ship Captain: ** I’M COMMANDING THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS CORAL SEA, SEAMAN, DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!!

**Seaman 1st class: ** I’m momentarily in charge here at the ***Rocky Point lighthouse, ***Captain – awaiting your orders.

In this JOKE’S case the authority in charge is wrong. But the wise seaman defers, as much as he can, in obedience.

Artificial contraception - though proposed as solving ‘problems’ - makes it easier for partners to objectify one another in a utilitarian way. The Church allows NFP which involves the partners knowing one another more intimately, exercising restraint, and being MORE intimate and natural with one another.

Those Catholics who were thinking of NFP (as the method when they answered this poll) would be right - it IS morally acceptable, even to the Church! Of course the purpose of this poll and controversy is to defame the Church (as out of touch), its leaders (as arcane martinets) it’s members (as rebels and phonies), and the high-minded crafters of the Gallup Poll as the promulgators of truth (and ever so much smarter than the rest of us).

 

[mark_a]

Wow. This is incredibly sad. We need some hardcore catechesis to change this. That means that priests need to mention in their homilies that contraception for preventing pregnancy is a sin.

Churches in my area are preaching this. They are not beating people up with it, but the word is getting out. It is a very tough subject to tackle from the pulpit.

That said, I don’t expect the pro-life movement to make much greater strides until the pro-life movement largely rejects contraception.

Sounds very Catholic to me!!

 

[tm30]

lifesitenews.com/news/gallup-82-of-catholics-say-contraception-is-morally-acceptable?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LifesitenewscomLatestHeadlines+%28LifeSiteNews.com+Latest+Headlines%29

Wow. This is incredibly sad. We need some hardcore catechesis to change this. That means that priests need to mention in their homilies that contraception for preventing pregnancy is a sin.

100% of the 82% will simply ignore the hardcore catechesis.

A man and woman of this age would rather throw their souls into hell than give up their ability to have “unfettered” sex wherever, whenever. This is a symptom of the diabolical disorientation which has gripped Western civilization. Like a heroin addict who can’t reason between short-term benefits and long-term disaster, most adults, i would venture to say, are not unlike the heroin addict, only they are addicted to the material world and sin.

 

[Elizium23]

Contraception is, in some ways, like marijuana.

Popular opinion holds that smoking pot is harmless fun. Legal inroads have been made such that the laws for users have no teeth. Indeed, some places of the world permit recreational use, and others permit medical exceptions for the “benefit” of the ill.

To me, pot use is still stupid. It is stupid to inhale hot smoke into your lungs, no matter the outcome. It is stupid to break just laws against sales, transport, possession and use. It is utterly stupid to support Mexican cartels who are ruthless and bloodthirsty, or terrorists who threaten innocent lives for unjust causes.

However, I can personally see more justification for pot legalization than contraception. Contraception ruins sexual relations between couples, it turns women into objects, it causes the unwanted pregnancy rate to rise! Needless to point out which of the two the Church has condemned as an intrinsic moral evil!

Legalizing pot would solve a lot of problems behind pot use. It might make a few people stupider. Legalizing contraception was a supremely stupid move that can’t be justified.

I don’t know if catechesis can fix this! We in the USA have poured billions into drug education and diversion, but we can’t stop the tide of public opinion and in its wake, the legislation and deregulation. Catholics will forever be a minority in this belief that contraception is evil, and this minority status is sealed by the fact that Catholics aren’t going to reproduce and take over the world if we keep contracepting ourselves.

Liberalism seems to be a learned trait and not an inherited one - either that or Darwin was very wrong - because liberals should have contracepted and aborted themselves into oblivion by now if it were inherited. I once had a friend tell me that we were overpopulating the world, and the world would suffer if we brought too many people into it. No, the only ones who suffer are the contracepting minorities who drive themselves into extinction while the rest of the world procreates early and often.

Perhaps the only way that we will learn that contraception and abortion are evil is when the contraceptionists and abortionists are an endangered species. Then again, they will probably enjoy protected status when that happens.

 

[SanctusPeccator]

lifesitenews.com/news/gallup-82-of-catholics-say-contraception-is-morally-acceptable?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LifesitenewscomLatestHeadlines+%28LifeSiteNews.com+Latest+Headlines%29

Wow. This is incredibly sad. We need some hardcore catechesis to change this. That means that priests need to mention in their homilies that contraception for preventing pregnancy is a sin.

That said, I don’t expect the pro-life movement to make much greater strides until the pro-life movement largely rejects contraception.

Yes, and the SCOTUS also ruled 8-1 that the mandatory sterilization of the mentally handicapped was “morally acceptable” in Buck v. Bell (1927). Rather fortunate personal adherence to the Church’s authoritative teaching on artificial contraception cannot be subject to majority vote à la the infamous Seventh Lambeth Conference! G. K. Chesterton hit the nail on the head: “Right is right, even if nobody does it. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong about it” (Illustrated London News 11 May 1907).

 

[tvdxer]

Some points I have to make…

1. For all the fighting over whether the sample accurately reflected the Catholic population, look beyond your families and parishes to the outside world. Most that call themselves “Catholic” are nominal Catholics. They religiously identify with the Catholic Church on polls, but that’s about the extent of their beliefs, which are otherwise mainly shaped by secular culture.
2. The Magisterium teaches that to truly be a “Catholic” worthy of the name, one must assent to all that the Church teaches definitively in matters of faith and morals. This is the prevailing view here as well.

However, many Catholics don’t see it that way. To most Catholics, the Church is a part of their identity, and may shape their behavior in some ways - but you can be a good person, and even a good Catholic, and still have disagreements with the Church, even in major issues like the Real Presence. “Heresy” is just a medieval-sounding word to them that many of them do not know the definition of.

1. Most people believe the opposite of what many here state: that contraception necessarily leads to abortion. Rather, they think increasing awareness of different contraceptive techniques, encouraging distribution of them, and developing new, more effective contraceptives will lead to a lower abortion rate. The link, in my opinion (as somebody who is opposed to contraception) is a bit more nuanced then either make it out to be.
2. Abortion and contraception are two totally separate issues in most peoples’ minds. Abortion is much easier to explain as to why it is immoral. Recent advances in 3D sonograms, etc. have made the humanity of the unborn child more apparent. In fact, I just posted to a secular forum that a recent poll found that a record-low percentage of Americans call themselves “pro-choice”.

Convincing others of the inherent evil of contraception is much trickier. Most arguments I’ve seen are based on natural law or “natural order” premises, which do not make much sense to the modern mind, which ironically always sees God’s signature in visible nature but not in the processes of nature.

People in the past simply accepted the teaching as it was received from their pastors. With #3 in mind, that’s not going to work. And then some people are even more skeptical about the church’s teaching on sexual matters than other issues, because of the crises surrounding the Church.

Whatever the case, preaching on contraception from the pulpit has to have a certain amount of delicacy and tact. It is so ingrained into the lifestyle of many parishioners.

 

[irishpatrick]

All this debate over whether or not the poll is accurate is just ridiculous. Even if the poll is 50% wrong to the high side, that is way too many Catholics who say contraception is moral.

For those of you who attend Mass every Sunday and every Holy Day, ask yourself: how often do other Catholics around you give you a strange glance or a touch of an attitude when they find out you are ONE of those sort of Catholics (the sort that actually follows the faith)?

When was the last time you saw Catholics you know who actually gave up meat on Friday, or some other sacrifice?

When was the last time you saw Catholics you know who went to confession regularly?

When was the last time you saw Catholics you know actually broaching the subject that living together before marriage is a sin?

The list goes on and on…many Catholics have been both secularized and Protestantized.

The USA is now a huge mission field ad we are supposed to be the missionaries to that ripe field.

 

[rotlex]

All this debate over whether or not the poll is accurate is just ridiculous. Even if the poll is 50% wrong to the high side, that is way too many Catholics who say contraception is moral.

For those of you who attend Mass every Sunday and every Holy Day, ask yourself: how often do other Catholics around you give you a strange glance or a touch of an attitude when they find out you are ONE of those sort of Catholics (the sort that actually follows the faith)?

When was the last time you saw Catholics you know who actually gave up meat on Friday, or some other sacrifice?

When was the last time you saw Catholics you know who went to confession regularly?

When was the last time you saw Catholics you know actually broaching the subject that living together before marriage is a sin?

The list goes on and on…many Catholics have been both secularized and Protestantized.

The USA is now a huge mission field ad we are supposed to be the missionaries to that ripe field.

You know, it’s funny. Your list is interesting to me. I for one, and most that I associate with at my parish, DO all those things you list above. I openly speak of things such as being pro life, anti “gay marriage”, pre-marital sex being sinful etc. etc. I go to confession weekly, or at least monthly. I abstain on Friday’s, and never miss mass, even when on vacation!

With all that said, I guess, in the eyes of many in this thread, I’m still a “cafeteria Catholic”. Why? Because I do NOT believe that using a non abortificant type of contraception within the confines of marriage is either wrong or sinful. But then again, I guess all those that consider me, and my kind, cafeteria Catholics for believing this, do not disagree with anything the Church teaches. Never sin, and have no problems judging and condemning those that don’t adhere to their standards. Nice for them…

 

[bscastro]

You know, it’s funny. Your list is interesting to me. I for one, and most that I associate with at my parish, DO all those things you list above. I openly speak of things such as being pro life, anti “gay marriage”, pre-marital sex being sinful etc. etc. I go to confession weekly, or at least monthly. I abstain on Friday’s, and never miss mass, even when on vacation!

With all that said, I guess, in the eyes of many in this thread, I’m still a “cafeteria Catholic”. Why? Because I do NOT believe that using a non abortificant type of contraception within the confines of marriage is either wrong or sinful. But then again, I guess all those that consider me, and my kind, cafeteria Catholics for believing this, do not disagree with anything the Church teaches. Never sin, and have no problems judging and condemning those that don’t adhere to their standards. Nice for them…

Umm…you spend the first part talking about how pious you are, then you talk about how you don’t agree with the Church’s view on contraception? And those who think you are a cafeteria Catholic never sins, judges etc.

I’m not writing this to “judge” you, but by your own definition you are a Cafeteria Catholic…and I do sin (and confess and repent) and every time I’ve disagreed with Church teaching I’ve done my research and discovered I was wrong!

God bless,
Bryan

 

[bscastro]

You know, it’s funny. Your list is interesting to me. I for one, and most that I associate with at my parish, DO all those things you list above. I openly speak of things such as being pro life, anti “gay marriage”, pre-marital sex being sinful etc. etc. I go to confession weekly, or at least monthly. I abstain on Friday’s, and never miss mass, even when on vacation!

With all that said, I guess, in the eyes of many in this thread, I’m still a “cafeteria Catholic”. Why? Because I do NOT believe that using a non abortificant type of contraception within the confines of marriage is either wrong or sinful. But then again, I guess all those that consider me, and my kind, cafeteria Catholics for believing this, do not disagree with anything the Church teaches. Never sin, and have no problems judging and condemning those that don’t adhere to their standards. Nice for them…

I won’t “judge” you. And I am a sinner, too. But you don’t agree with the Church’s teaching on contraception…do you think you’re a cafeteria catholic?

I used to disagree with the Church’s teaching on contraception, but after much research, prayer, and eventual repentance, I’m 100% sure that I was wrong.

God bless,
Bryan