History
St. Augustine wrote in the year 388 of the Manichaeans, who believed that it was immoral to create children, and thus (according to their belief system) trap souls in mortal bodies. To try to prevent this they practiced periodic abstinence.
Christian sects whose views could be seen as supporting a childfree position include the Shakers, a Protestant sect that opposed procreation, along with the Skoptsy and the Cathars. In 12th and 13th centuries, the Cathars were a community which might have understood the contemporary idea of childfree. They accommodated sexual relations but considered procreation undesirable on theological grounds, regarding all matter as intrinsically evil. Most childless communities, such as monasteries or other religious communities, chose celibacy and organised single sex accommodation as means of achieving childlessness but did not regard children as undesirable. Such religious communities were childless (but not necessarily childfree) in order to devote their time to the service or worship of God or even to the care of other people’s children. They also had concerns about legal requirements to bequeath the community's property to offspring.
Read more about this topic: Childfree
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