Intelligent Natural Law
**** Saturday, December 27, 2008
I support the Catholic doctrine of Natural Law as the rational basis for morality. But for this kind of ethics to produce humane guidance, an earnest effort must be made to look objectively at the workings of nature. A simplistic understanding of the role of sex in creation can lead to cruel moral teachings.
It is true that babies are made by young male-female sex. Yes, but it does not follow that sex has only this purpose. For example, there are sexually active couples who are beyond child-bearing age or who know they are infertile. Are they perverted?
There are people who seem to be naturally homosexual, and there are homosexual relationships that seem as committed and loving as the best heterosexual relationships.
Perhaps what the natural law is telling us is that sex is a bonding force in human relationships. And perhaps nature has incorporated reproduction within young heterosexual relationships because it gives the best chance for the survival and nurturing of the offspring.
Philip O'Carroll