I left the Catholic Church several months ago.

[Brigid]

I returned to the Methodist church. I attend the one I used to go to when I lived here before. It is quite progressive, even for a Methodist church, and always has been. Today, I am more certain than ever that I did the right thing. I had been having some doubts, because the Catholic church still does much good in the world -- but until the hierarchy gets out of the Middle Ages on women's issues, its mission of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and healing the sick will be hindered. The Methodist Church does just fine in those areas, without the baggage. Life is good.

[MisterP]

1. women in the Middle Ages were actually way ahead of where they were in the 19th c.--

when most of what we call "reactionary" policies were actually formulated

[RainDog]

2. Birth control in the middle ages

was generally limited to women of "ill repute" - just as it was in the Victorian era. Sheepskin condoms that were tied onto a penis were available and advertised discreetly to men as "French Letters" from the 1600s to the Victorian era in GB. Annie Besant was one of the few that talked about birth control for women - a sponge was available in the Victorian era and before.

People in the middle ages and into the Victorian era could be and were arrested for sharing birth control information. And, of course, women midwives who knew herbal abortifactants were punished by the church during the Inquisition and before, with various panics in various places.

But in the middle ages, babies who were not wanted were smothered in their sleep or exposed in the woods - religious people need to acknowledge that humans have always limited their family sizes when under duress.

That's the reality of past life. In the 1700s, people would send their babies to wet nurses who would starve them to death - so the kids in the sewer at the Irish Catholic Orphanage has a long pedigree in human action.

People who pretend that children were not left to die because parents could not care for them make me sick. Abortion is a much better option for anyone who has a birth control failure who cannot carry a child to term (because birth control failures still do happen, even with conscious use.)

If someone cannot accept reality, they should not be making decisions for other people.