Talk:Anthony Comstock

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Add a section on Comstock's influence in Christian fundamentalism.[edit]

Is there a formatting/title name for this type of section?

Comstock is portrayed as a role model in the following works:

  • Birth Control: How Did We Get Here?
  • Outlawed! How Anthony Comstock Fought and Won the Purity of a Nation
  • Anthony Comstock: Fighter: The Special Edition Illustrated Novel

Birth Control: How Did We Get Here? tars birth control rights via the association fallacy ("Margaret Sanger was friends with Lothrop Stoddard and others in the eugenics movement, so birth control = Nazi concentration camps, never mind all the birth control advocates today who are opposed to eugenics), while omitting the fact that the politicians behind the no-condoms-for-soldiers policy in WWI were also eugenics advocates, and forcible sterilization was widespread in the South. The fact that support for eugenics crossed political lines[1] undercuts the assertion that birth control is inherently tied to Evil Eugenics Abortionists, especially given that the National Socialist government severely restricted birth control and adopted a natalist policy--"Kinder, Kirche, Kuche"--in which women were relegated to the home as wives and mothers, rather than being factory workers or programming ENIAC as in the American wartime policy.

Clearly a reference to these three works must be made, since the influence of Comstock is nontrivial in these circles.

Influence in Christian fundamentalism[edit]

Followers of R.C. Sproul, including the pastor of Wake Forest, North Carolina's Hope Baptist Church,[2] view Comstock as a hero.[3][4][5][6][7]

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ↑ [2]
  3. ↑ [3]
  4. ↑ "Birth Control: How Did We Get Here?". ""Long before the tide turned to erode the prevailing attitude regarding the evils of birth control, largely through Sanger’s efforts, one figure stood out – Anthony Comstock. In fact, Comstock didn’t just stand out, he stood almost alone. By age 28, he made an unconditional surrender of his life to the will of God; he gave up his personal ambitions and took God’s will for himself, no matter what might be the cost. He entered the fight. He was and is our country's greatest activist. He began the fight by making citizen’s arrests and incredibly within a year he found himself in Washington, DC meeting with congressmen and drafting the Postal Act of 1873. The Comstock Act, as it soon came to be known, passed in dramatic fashion during the final hours of the 42nd Congress and Comstock himself was shortly thereafter surprised with an appointment to be its chief enforcer with the newly created office of U.S. Post Office Special Agent. Thus, Comstock embarked on the life work in which he would serve for the next 42 years. Over the next 50 years Margaret Sanger would tear down everything that Comstock put into place."" 
  5. ↑ Scott Matthew Dix, Anthony Comstock: Fighter: The Special Edition Illustrated Novel
  6. ↑ Fundamentalist review of Birth Control: How Did We Get Here?
  7. ↑ Outlawed!: How Anthony Comstock Fought and Won the Purity of a Nation

Popular Culture[edit]

Assorted Comstocks appear as baddies in Neal Stephenson's “Cryptonomicon”, including one who gets pushed off a chairlift by Douglas Shaftoe. While it’s not, IIRC, specifically stated that these Comstocks are related to Anthony of that Ilk it’s probably safe to assume, from their generally dickish behaviour, that they are. Mr Larrington (talk) 11:30, 7 October 2022 (UTC)

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