The American Rebellion Against Humanae Vitae

From the time of Genesis until the Anglican Lambeth Conference in 1930, contraception was taught as intrinsically evil first by Rabbis and then by all Christian teachers. This was such a sure doctrine that Saint Augustine in his writings condemned contraception by married couples. The history of the Catholic Church clearly documents that the doctrine against contraception made the transition from the Old to the New Testament. During the Reformation the teaching against contraception was one of the very few things that Luther, Calvin, and the Catholic Church all agreed upon.This book follows the path that the doctrine took through the ages from the teachings of the Early Church Fathers, through Ecumenical Councils that taught contraception to be intrinsically evil up to modern encyclicals. How evil was it one might ask? So evil that God slew Onan for practicing contraception. Gen 38:9-10. Times changed, and science changed. Devices became less cumbersome and more effective. The Pill came on the scene about the same time as the Second Vatican Council opened. The Council deferred the question of changing the Church's teaching on artificial contraception to the Pope. Against a web of agenda and intrigue, Pope Paul VI saw no justification to change the Church's doctrine.Across the ocean in the United States, a rebellion against the Pope's encyclical, Humanae Vitae formed. The encyclical was rejected even before the first print copies were available. The opposition was stunning in its size and rejection of sound doctrine.