Catholics don't BELIEVE life begins at conception

Friday, February 18. 2011

Catholics don't BELIEVE life begins at conception

At one of my recent talks, a good friend of mine was asking a question when he said, "As Catholics we believe life begins at conception."

I immediately interrupted him, a bit too zealously I think, and blurted "We do not BELIEVE life begins at conception. We KNOW life begins at conception. That is a scientific fact. We BELIEVE that life has value and should be protected. That is our faith."

The Catholic Church simply acknowledges the facts presented in embryology text books:

"Although human life is a continuous process, fertilization is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed."
(O'Rahilly, Ronan and Müller, Fabiola. Human Embryology and Teratology, 2nd edition. New York: Wiley-Liss, 1996, p. 8 )

It seems this misconception is everywhere from non-Catholics to Catholics alike. Everyone says it, "Catholics BELIEVE that life begins at conception." It is that very line that lets everyone who is not Catholic dismiss everything we have to say about stem cell research, cloning and reproductive technologies.

So please do not perpetuate this miscommunique. As Catholics we do not BELIEVE that human life begins at conception. We KNOW it because science also knows it (whether they want to admit it or not.) Even a child old enough to know about the birds and the bees knows that they began the day their father's sperm meet their mother's egg. Catholics BELIEVE that human life from the very beginning has value and worth and should be protected under the law. THAT is our belief.

Posted by Rebecca Taylor in Human embryo at 08:56 | Comments (15) | Trackbacks (0)

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I might just clarify "Catholics believe life begins at conception because it's basic science-- I think you mean Catholics believe all living humans are people and thus have human rights?"

Otherwise folks think you mean Catholics believe life doesn't start at conception.

#1 Foxfier (Homepage) on 2011-02-18 17:00 (Reply)

I hate using that word "believe" because it allows non-Catholics to dismiss the FACT that life does begin at conception. I prefer to say we do not believe that life begins at conception, we KNOW it. That life begins at conception is not one of our religious tenets, it is a simple fact. We do BELIEVE that every single life from the very beginning has value and should be protected. That is a distinctly Catholic belief.

#1.1 Rebecca on 2011-02-22 09:38 (Reply)

I know, but given the biases of the folks we're talking to, they'll assume ignorance rather than making a point.

Depending on who one is talking to, giving them the hairy eyeball and saying something like "Um... if they've been educated in basic biology, they do...." might work best.

#1.1.1 Foxfier (Homepage) on 2011-02-23 18:00 (Reply)

It is actually not the case that life begins at conception. Rather, life began once, a long time ago, and has continued in an unbroken cycle until the present.

Nevertheless, I understand what was meant, i.e. an individual human being's life began at conception. However, I just wanted to get the point across in case anyone that comes across the site in the future were to meet an intelligent pro-choice supporter.

#1.1.2 Anon on 2012-06-23 19:20 (Reply)

A good point, and one that bears repeating (over and over and over...) Too many people fail to grasp the distinction between a fact that can be verified and known and a tenet that can only be believed or disbelieved, and assume it's all up for debate and right is determined by polling the audience afterward. Our relativistic times, maybe?

#2 cminor on 2011-02-23 17:48 (Reply)

A theological quibble: faith and reason are distinct, but faith and fact are not distinct. An ethics student of mine was concerned about the difference. For example, Catholics believe in transubstantiation -- that the bread and wine do in fact become Body and Blood at the consecration... a fact as true as the awareness that my fingers are touching a keyboard. Separating fact from faith does not help reason as much as it harms faith.

Having discussed various biological issues with various atheists and agnostics, I've not found that they react to the word "belief" as much as they react, in knee-jerk principle, to the fact that they're discussing scientific matters with a Christian.

With that quibble behind me, I'm very glad I found your blog. Religion needs to communicate with science more, and that's a fact!

#3 Laura K on 2011-03-15 18:24 (Reply)

Thanks for this. Yes, even people who ought to know better often get into this "that's just what I personally believe" business about something that's a scientific fact, which creates a rhetorical hole for someone else to drive a Hum-Vee through.

#4 bmmg39 (Homepage) on 2011-03-16 10:59 (Reply)

actually, we believe in life begins at fertilization! just a minor technicality but worth mentioning, i think.

#5 adriana on 2011-03-23 22:57 (Reply)

Good point, conception is sometimes used to mean "implantation"-- I think that's a change since IVF got big.

#5.1 Foxfier (Homepage) on 2011-03-24 08:06 (Reply)

for a fact, science does not proove life begins at conception. It's stilly highly controversial. Please don't generalize your beliefs without knowing both sides.

#6 Anonymous on 2011-04-04 09:46 (Reply)

I know that at fertilization a new genetically distinct human organism is created that can self-direct toward more mature stages. Would you care to enlighten me on how that is not the case?

#6.1 Rebecca Taylor on 2011-04-04 11:03 (Reply)

Evidence?

It'll have to be pretty stinkin' big to re-write basic biology.

#6.2 Foxfier (Homepage) on 2011-04-04 11:16 (Reply)

Foxfier your link isn't coming through so here it is:

http://www.biology.iupui.edu/biocourses/N100/2k4ch39repronotes.html

#6.2.1 Rebecca Taylor on 2011-04-04 11:30 (Reply)

Thank you.

#6.2.1.1 Foxfier (Homepage) on 2011-04-04 11:55 (Reply)

i know what you mean when someone says believe people assume your saying this doesn't it exist but i like to say it does know is more decisive and immediately gets the point across no buts no ifs plain simple fact
good post i also picked up on this

#7 Tom Keast on 2011-05-26 06:26 (Reply)

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