Natural Family Planning (NFP) is a set of Catholic-sanctioned methods of family planning, which help women to achieve or avoid pregnancy by identifying times of infertility and potential fertility. NFP excludes the use of artificial birth control methods and orgasmic acts outside of marital intercourse, promoting abstinence during high fertility times for couples trying to avoid pregnancy.

Some methods of NFP track one of the primary fertility signs: Basal body temperature, cervical mucus (e.g. Billings, Creighton, Two-Day Method), and cervical position. If two or more signs are tracked, the method is referred to as Sympto-Thermal. Other methods make statistical estimates as to when a woman is fertile (eg. Rhythm Method, Standard Days Method). The Lactational Amenorrhea Method helps identify and/or encourage breastfeeding infertility. The Rhythm Method, the most well known method of NFP, has a perfect-use failure rate of 9% per year, while other types of NFP have lower perfect-use failure rates — between 1%-3% per year. The common usage failure rate is up to 25% per year.

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NFP and total abstinence are the only contraceptive methods permitted by the Roman Catholic Church. Worldwide, many Catholics use NFP in obedience to church teaching. The practice of NFP among Catholics in developed countries, however, is rather low. In 2002, 24% of the U.S. was Catholic.Largest Religious Groups in the USA. Accessed November 13, 2005. Of sexually active Americans avoiding pregnancy, 1.5% were using NFP.National Survey of Family Growth Use of Contraception and Use of Family Planning Services in the United States: 1982-2002. Advance Data No. 350

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L.A. Times - Religious News

LAPD names its first Islamic chaplain
Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700
Police leaders hope that the new chaplain, who has a history of building bridges between Muslims and law enforcement, can help officers understand his community better. American Muslims have never been much of a presence in the Los Angeles Police Department, accounting for less than 1% of its nearly 10,000 officers.
Live: Warped Tour at the Pomona Fairplex
Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700
It's a case of deja vu as Bad Religion and NOFX headline in Pomona. Sideshow annoyances aside, the marquee names and promising newcomers prove there's plenty to enjoy in the annual punk road show. It's either a testament to the Warped Tour's longevity or a knock on its creativity that Bad Religion and NOFX, the bands headlining this 15th installment of the youth-skewing summer punk rock road show, could have played at any point in the outing's history.
Northern Ireland Protestant paramilitary groups to disarm
Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700
Holdouts Ulster Defense Assn. and the Ulster Volunteer Force say the time has come for peace and that they have decommissioned or will soon all their weapons. Lasting peace in Northern Ireland took another step forward Saturday when major Protestant paramilitary organizations announced that they had decommissioned some or all of their weapons, following a similar move years earlier by the opposing Irish Republican Army.

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

July 3, 2009: Faith Communities and Disability
stephanie winkler Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:37:55 -0000
Reverend BILL GAVENTA (Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities): In every faith community there is a scriptural basis for welcome and hospitality. But you’ve also got congregations who live in cultures where people with disabilities have been hidden and ostracized and devalued in lots of ways, and too often faith communities sanctify prejudices in the community [...]
July 3, 2009: Aravind Eye Hospital
stephanie winkler Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:30:09 -0000
[media=434] FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Aravind is the world’s largest eye care center, a one-stop shop that even makes many of the lenses and instruments used by its surgeons. It looks like any of India’s high tech centers where rich Indians and medical tourists can get first-world care at third-world prices. The surgical error rate is [...]
July 3, 2009: Interview: Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton
stephanie winkler Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:24:07 -0000
[media=433] Read more of Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly’s July 1, 2009 interview in New York City with Riverside Church senior minister, the Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton: I would say it’s a time of relief, at least for me personally, to know that this moment has the potential to teach so many lessons. So it’s not relief as [...]

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