childbirth the result of a carnal sin to
be expiated in pain as defined in Genesis. Accordingly the treatment
given the child-bearing woman was vastly worse than the mere neglect
among the primitive peoples. Her sufferings were augmented by the fact
that she was no longer a primitive woman and child-bearing had become
more difficult. In these "Ages of Faith" which could be better called
the "Ages of Filth," nothing was done to overcome the enormous mortality
of the mother and child at birth. Attempts, however, were made to form
intra-uterine baptismal tubes by which the child, when it was locked by
some ill chance in its mother's womb, could be baptized and its soul
saved before the mother and child were left to die together. But nothing
was done to save their lives. No greater crimes were ever committed in
the name of civilization, religious faith, and smug ignorance than the
sacrifice of the lives of countless mothers and children in the first
fifteen centuries after Christ among civilized mankind.

Approaching our own time, we have the example of Dr. James Y. Simpson,
professor of obstetrics at the University of Glasgow about 1850, first
administering an anesthetic to alleviate the pain of childbirth. He was
bitterly opposed by the clergy on the ground that it was impious to
attempt to escape from the curse pronounced against all women in
Genesis. It was Dr. Simpson who, in defending this humanitarian
practice, asserted that opposition, particularly on theological grounds,
had been presented against every humane innovation in the past.

When Paul Ehrlich, in 1910, announced his discovery of salvarsan for the
treatment of syphilis, the clergy again were horror-struck that man
should interfere with a visitation of the Lord.

The resistance to the spread of information concerning contraception,
commonly known as birth control, is an example of the Church's dominance
of government today; and yet this information is as vital to the welfare
of humanity as is the control of cancer.

In 1926, our newspapers carried conspicuous headlines, "Episcopal Church
Joins Catholic to Gag Birth Control"; four years later, 320 bishops of
the Episcopal Church met in London, and by a majority of 3 to 1 voted in
favor of contraception when "there is morally sound reason for avoiding
complete abstinence." The bishops had by this time become well aware of
the insistence of secular opinion towards this movement, and having done
their best