Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 7

Research Paper Example Usually, views on contraception varying from positive to radically negative depend directly on religious views and beliefs. However, â€Å"demographic policies and cultural efforts along with other factors can only be effective in birth control when contraception methods are used† (Dezhkam & Darvishi Tafvizi). In fact, this means that family planning and at least partial freedom in fertility help people to create firm family ties, preserve good health of women and children, and prevent undesirable pregnancies. In this area, various denominations have their own specific opinions regarding different aspects of the issue, and I would like to focus on Islam’s attitude towards birth control and religion in order to provide general overview and demonstrate that even this fundamental religion has rather reason in its attitude towards birth control. In Islam, the core belief about family is that marriage, family and relations between women and men are initially intended to serve for procreation. Thus, Muslims see the primary purpose of their sexual relationships in procreation and conceiving a child. Numerous researches even draw parallels between higher fertility of Muslims and lower freedom in birth control given to women (Morgan et al.). However, the key holy scripture of the religion, Quran, contains no direct and explicit statements about birth control and moral aspects of contraception, yet it forbids killing one’s own children â€Å"for fear of want† and strongly encourages procreation and marriage. As a result, this creates ambiguity in perception of family planning and contraception use in Muslim society: some scholars advocate for it, whereas others argue that all family planning methods should be banned. Opponents of birth control believe that it is God’s prerogative to decide on the number of ch ildren in the family. On the other hand, contraception advocates appeal to the precedents of coitus interruptus use (also called ‘azl), which is believed to