I was raised without a specific religion. I was taught all the same things about right and wrong, but instead being taught those things in a religious sermon, I was taught by my mother. In paragraph 10, the Pope talks about what is considered a "responsible parent". " In a word, the exercise of responsible parenthood requires that husband and wife, keeping a right order of priorities, recognize their own duties toward God, themselves, their families and human society." In this view, my mother would not be a responsible parent. Although I essentially received the same teachings as the kids who went to church, I did not receive them in the context of God's word. Therefore, by not exposing me to the teachings of the Bible, she was not fulfilling her duty toward God. Another section of this paragraph says the part of being a responsible parent is that "they are not free to act as they choose in the service of transmitting life". In other words, they are to trust in God to determine when they will have a baby. In this aspect, my parents were responsible parents. They certainly didn't choose for my arrival or take any precautions to prevent it. However, once we account for the fact that my parents never married, they are back to being considered irresponsible parents.
I understand and more or less support the Pope's views on responsible parenthood, but as for the religious aspect of it all, this is where I lose my connection. My parents taught me right and wrong and also let a force other than themselves determine my creation. But without their actions being in the context of God's word, they are deemed irresponsible parents.
It looks interesting how you connects your parents with the required patents by the Pope. Actually I do believe that your parents are responsible. They give you the education and whatever they can provide to make your life better.As to that point, they are open and great. When it comes to the matter that "they are not free to act as they choose in the service of transmitting life", I think there may really be something who controls our lives unconsciously. But anyway, it is always good that your parents take you to the world and as we all know that,parents will take any responsibility for us just because they are our parents. I can never imagine anything else could be so responsible. :)
ReplyDeleteI love that you are a your own real life example for this post. It really casts light on the idea of whether the structure that religion provides is even necessary to produce healthy, well adjusted offspring. So, why is the structure of religion so important? I think religion in this case serves as a power structure to control the population. I think during the period that the pope was writing there was a proliferation of this idea that we should mistrust our bodies. (Which doesn't really make sense, didn't God make us this way in the first place?). I think the idea was that if we listened to our bodily urges there would be all of this disorder in society, which I think is a bunch of B.S. but nonetheless, teaching people that their bodies are sinful and need to be controlled or else bad things will happen is a great way to keep people scared and controlled. I'm just glad that your parents were smart enough to break out of the traditional mold and have the kind of family that worked for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you as well. I believe people who are not brought up without religion have the same potential to have "good" morals. I was brought up strictly Catholic, and attended church every Sunday. So did a number of my friends, and lets just say they are far from responsible in the eyes of the church. I also have friends who have never been introduced to religion, but have a very strong moral code. I believe I got my sense of "right and wrong" not from attending mass every Sunday, but from the influence of my family. The balance between religion and personal ethic is a very hard one to reach in my eyes.
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