Stupid Complaint #5: For Me or For All?

Stupid Complaint #5:  “If an employer is against contraception, that’s fine for him.  But he isn’t the one who will be using it.  There is nothing immoral about giving it to other people.”

Basic Reply: If you believe something is intrinsically immoral for everybody, it would be a violation of your conscience to give it to another person.  

Further Explanation: First we need to differentiate between something which is “intrinsically wrong” and “extrinsically wrong”.  Something which is "extrinsically wrong” might be wrong for some people, or in some situations, but it is not completely universally wrong.

For instance, it can be morally wrong for a person with certain predispositions to drink alcoholic beverages.  It isn’t wrong for everybody, but it would be for a person prone to alcoholism.  However, that same person would not have any issue serving alcohol to others.

The same can apply to cultural situations.  It is morally wrong for a Catholic to eat meat on Lenten Fridays.  But this only applies to people who fall within the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church.  It is perfectly fine for other people to eat meat on Lenten Fridays.  Thus, a Catholic would have no issue serving meat to non-Catholics on Lenten Fridays.

However, there are also things which are “intrinsically wrong”. For instance, it is wrong to torture animals.  It is wrong to abuse children.  It is wrong to murder innocent people.  No qualifications are needed for these –they are wrong by their nature.  And not only is it wrong to commit these evils, it is wrong to support them or be involved in them.

Secularists tend to unconsciously lump all "religious" moral statements into the first category.  They'd say, "Maybe this is wrong for Catholics, but not for me."  In their mind, the only real intrinsic evils are the ones THEY recognize - if they recognize any.

What they cannot imagine is that other people see intrinsic evils where they do not.  And because those people see those things as intrinsic evils, they won’t see the immorality of these actions as applying to only members of their group.  So they’ll want no part of these actions, no matter who does it.

One example a secularist might understand is the objection of a conscientious vegetarian to eating meat from slaughtered animals.  A conscientious vegetarian doesn’t believe it is only wrong for her to eat meat.  No, she believes it is wrong for anybody to eat meat.  People who do eat meat just don’t realize the true immorality of their actions.

[Note:  At this point the person might exclaim, “OK, but we don’t let the vegetarian prevent other people from eating meat.  So how can we allow Catholic businesses to prevent people from having contraception?!”  Refer the person to Stupid Complaint #3]

Similarly, the Catholic stance on contraception does not come from some ecclesiastical policy - (like abstaining from meat on Lenten Fridays).  Rather, it comes from the deliberations of reason and the natural moral law. This means (in the mind of a Catholic) it applies to everyone.

Drawing on these principles, one could say that forcing a Catholic to give contraception to another person is much like forcing a conscientious vegetarian to buy veal for someone.  If we would recognize that it would be cruel to force a conscientious vegetarian to participate in the veal industry like that, the same recognition should be given to Catholics and other Christians.

Unfortunately, many times the person simply doesn’t want to extend that basic human courtesy to Christians because of personal animosity.

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