Unaccountable Urges

This great post is from Ignatius Insight columnist Greg Olson. It speaks with crystal clear clarity to Prime Minister Blair's comments and serves as a bookend to the recent post about this same topic taken from Whispers in the Loggia.

Sex, in modern understanding, seems to be the only drive, the only urge that people, and society, don't want to see controlled (even if self-controlled). If one feels the urge to abuse money, food, tobacco, power or any number of things, public outcry is great. If one feels a penchant or urge to temper, violence, gluttony, sloth, or greed (amongst any number of things), we are told to learn self-control.

We care so much about the pollution of the worldly environment (concern over which isn't a bad thing), but seem to care very little about the pollution of the family, the culture, or our society. This latter pollution is far more insidious, and will kill us much faster then the former.

Questions and comments are welcome and appreciated. God love you.

"Condomism"

Over at NRO, Jennifer Roback Morse considers the "rubber ideology" embraced by those enamored with sex without consequences, attachment, or meaning:

This ["condomism"] is the belief that all problems surrounding sexual activity could be solved with enough contraception. Some adherents, such as contributors to the recent special issue of the Lancet, go even further. They believe that we could end world hunger and save the environment, if only we had enough condoms. Here are some of the tenets of condomism:

1. Every person capable of giving meaningful consent is entitled to unlimited sexual activity.

2. All negative consequences of sexual activity can be controlled through the use of contraception. Sexual Transmitted Diseases can be controlled through the use of condoms. The probability of pregnancy can be eliminated through contraception, properly used.

3. No one is required to give birth to a baby, in the event of pregnancy. Abortion, for any reason or no reason, at any time during pregnancy, is an absolute entitlement.

4. Any negative consequences of sexual activity that can not be handled by contraception or abortion are not worth talking about.

Sounds about right. Advocates of such stupidity will gush about how wonderful, liberating, and fulfilling is sex without commitment or moral strictures (#1), but cannot conceive (pun intended) that there could actually be a dark side to this amoral/immoral approach to such intimate and powerful actions (#2). But isn't it a basic fact of moral reality that the greater the good, the more devastating are the consequences of misusing and abusing that good? Yet, somehow, through the alchemy of psycho-babble and liberated lifestyles, sex only has meaning if you want it to have meaning. Just like a fetus is a baby only if you want it to be (#3, #4). As has been said numerous times in different ways, there are simply to approaches to life: you can conform yourself to reality and truth, or you can attempt to conform reality and truth to yourself.