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In Connecticut, there's a controversy. Planned Parenthood of Connecticut released a keychain with the well known picture from the Sistine Chapel of God reaching out to Adam. In God's hand in the image is a condom. The Catholic church and other conservative Christian groups are outraged.

Now, I can understand being a little less than pleased. The Sistine Chapel imagery is among the most beautiful and well regarded pieces of Renaissance art, and this particular act is about as close to painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa as you can get. And, it would be fair to point out that, at least in a creationist perspective (a perspective, I might add, not wholly shared in its literal sense by the Catholic church), that had Adam actually used a condom, well...let's just say we all wouldn't be here. But I have a feeling the reason this is even making news is because a) it involves Planned Parenthood, and the Catholic Church's opposition to birth control such as condoms.

Before I proceed, let me point out to the uninitiated that to say I am no fan of PP would be more than an understatement, it would do my position a gross injustice. I am almost wholly opposed to the organization, its aims, its missions, and its philosophical base. But in this case I am inclined to believe that the message, however offensive, has merit.

Why? Because one of the primary reasons for my opposition to Planned Parenthood rests on the fact that they have acted as agents and propagandists for one of the most murderous regimes that has ever existed on this planet. On their watch, more babies have been killed before they had a chance to live than have died in ANY war or under ANY despotic regime. And those are atrocities I cannot ignore.

But many of those deaths could have been prevented had the parents of those babies been educated as to the use of birth control and provided with the means of birth control. While I hold premarital and extramarital sex to be morally wrong as well, I realize that it happens, and that we must live in the real world where it does happen. And I realize the best way to prevent the tragedy of the murders of these innocents is to prevent their conception in the first place. By promoting the use of contraceptives, Planned Parenthood may potentially reduce the number of babies killed prenatally through abortion. And that, I believe, is a GOOD thing.