OBSCURANTISM • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Obscurantism

... reason. Nothing was possible in such a clash of opposing ideas but a feeble and confused compromise such as we still find prevailing in various countries of Old Europe. It was not a satisfactory solution, however inevitable, and especially unsatisfactory by the consequent obscurantism which placed difficulties in the way of spreading a knowledge of the methods of birth control among the masses of the population. For the result has been that while the more enlightened and educated have exercised a control over the size of their families, the poorer and more ignorant—who ...

— Essays in War-Time - Further Studies In The Task Of Social Hygiene • Havelock Ellis