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Are you suggesting banning condoms was/ is to create more Catholics to fill the collection plates?

Catholics used twisted logic in their misunderstanding of scripture.They really just want to increase the ranks of Catholics, but they use gobbly gook to hide that fact.

When the hundreds of years of war following the Protestant Reformation petered out(pun intended),other denominations came up with myriad reasons for couples not to enjoy their sex life.

Funny how Irish pharmacies sold opium,cigars,and other drugs,er medicines,thoughout the 1800's and into the early 20th century, but frowned on condoms. Can we say hypocrisy boys and girls?

Regardless of belief systems, there are important psychological benefits to most religion.

First, the belief in God/supernatural force/being is a big relief to the human mind. God is in control, Kharma, leave it to fate, Allah, etc. Belief is relief and comfort in most faiths.

Second, people want to belong to something larger than themselves. Mercy said this well "seek a connection with something outside the triviality of their existence". Speculating that this phenomenon is what would drive people to make decisions like a the pharmacist question. In other words, I am part of the kingdom, order, whatever and therefore above the duties of my job. In the pharmacists mind it is about priorities.

good thought-provoking comments Mercy

I have always been particularly fond of the works of de Chardin for expressing eloquently the essense of my own core beliefs. For example:

QUOTATIONS
Teilhard de Chardin
The PHENOMENON of MAN
Chapter III: The Ultimate Earth

C. The Conjunction of Science and Religion
To outward appearance, the modern world was born of an anti-religious movement; man becoming self-sufficient and reason supplanting belief. Our generation and the two that have preceded it have heard little but talk of the conflict between science and faith ; indeed it seemed at one moment a foregone conclusion that the former was destined to take the place of the latter.

But, as the tension is prolonged, the conflict visibly seems to need to be resolved in terms of an entirely different form of equilibrium ---not in elimination, nor duality, but in synthesis.»

p. 285 .« Religion and science are the two conjugated faces or phases of one and the same complete act of knowledge ---the only one which can embrace the past and future of evolution so as to contemplate, measure and fulfil them.

In the mutual reinforcement of these two still opposed powers, in the conjunction of reason and mysticism, the human spirit is destined, by the very nature of its development, to find the uttermost degree of its penetration with the maximum of its vital force.

Yep. The point needs to be made that society has obligations, and that this society does not require belief in god for citizens to function correctly.

And BTW, the bible lists "moving boundary stones" as a cause for the death penalty, one of surprisingly few capital crimes in the OT. There are none in the Four gospels, i think.

The foundation of society is actually boundary stones.

I have a suspicion that many of the "abominations" in the OT are actually strikes against competing religions. I mean homosexuality, wearing cloth of mixed fibers, eating shellfish, etc. These are different from the Ten Commandments, but many people think that if they keep the lesser, they can ignore the greater.

And Jesus gave one commandment, the one most often broken, especially by some preachers, sad to say. .

This is a blog. People make comments. They should try to be polite. God is god? Is not that what Muslims say?

I do not speak for god, god does not speak to me. We both like it like that, apparently.

A hard core rationalist, would say that belief in the unprovable is not a symptom of sanity. I do not hold that position, but i thought i would mention it.

You know, Arthur C. Clarke suggested that malnutrition was the basis of prophecy, to the extent that fasting in the desert for 40 days could induce hallucination.

Personally i prefer LSD for my visions, or did, long ago. Easier on the body.

And just for the record, i am an agnostic, with gnostic leanings, not an atheist. My primary quibble is that no person can comprehend god, for any meaningful value of god.

Here we go with the ad hominem attacks.. That didn't take long. A religion or cult that prides itself on defying logic and reason is naturally opposed to people who do value reason and logic. You may research "The Age of Reason" which produced Jefferson, Voltaire and Franklin.

If your position was valid, then surveyors would not need instruments, doctors would not need X-rays and Pharmacists would not need to read labels.

There are systems that use such criteria, Christian Science, Voodoo and Faith Healers come to mind. They have a pretty bad cure rate, as witness this from the AP.

" MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Two children and their mother lived for about two months with the decaying body of a 90-year-old woman on the toilet of their home's only bathroom, on the advice of a religious "superior" who claimed the corpse would come back to life, authorities said Friday.

The children - a 15-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy - cried hysterically Wednesday after a deputy who came to their Necedah home looking for Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth ordered them out because of the stench from her body.

The children were in foster care Friday. Their mother, Tammy Lewis, and self-described "bishop" Alan Bushey remained in custody on felony counts of being a party to causing mental harm to a child."

Oh, and if that is the worst thing you ever read, you are not very well read, are you?