Eugenics (American)

“ . . . the Christian God pervades eugenics from the start. . . . To win public support, many eugenicists began to couch their message in religious terms, producing eugenic ‘catechisms,’ sponsoring contests for the best eugenic sermons, and conducting ‘Fitter Family’ and ‘Better Baby” contests based on good moral and mental hygiene” (Bruinius, loc 204, 292). On the other hand, Christian churches, esp. the Roman Catholic Church, were the most powerful lobby opposed to state sterilization bills. Buttressed by a papal denunciation of coerced sterilization, “the Church was the most outspoken defenders of what we would now call the rights of the mentally handicapped to freedom from coerced sterilization” (Hansen & King, ch 1).