“As a conservative I am concerned with the strong religious beliefs among those few religions that espouse high fertility. They can skew the numbers upward. For example while the fertility rates m Europe are coming down dramatically, Muslims who have come to Europe as workers or refugees are expected to have fertility rates of 3.4. (6) Population projections are that in the century from 1950 to 2050 the world Muslim population percentage will have doubled, from 14 to 27%, and their actual population will have increased from 360 million to
2.5 billion. Catholics will be about half that number and Protestants will equal Catholics. So Christians and Muslims will be about equal, but the Muslims are gaining at a faster rate. Non- Hispanic whites, who were the majority of Christians earlier, will be only about 20% of the 3 billion Christians because the increases will be primarily in Africa, South America, and Asia—the areas of lower education levels and greater poverty.
“Hindus have lost some ground, especially to the Muslims. This worries somePoliticians in Kolbata, concerned that Hindus are losing population, condemned birth control and proposed instituting rewards for women who had at least 10 children. (7)
“This illustrates a basic view of some religious leaders that their religion must be the largest and take over the world. It also is a tactic of some national leaders who take the short sighted view that more people are needed in their country to pay for their social welfare programs, to make up their armies or to provide consumers for their businesses that want to expand.”
“As the years flow by we find that the more educated people are finding problems either in believing in a creator, or in religions’ paths to salvation. Morality is no longer necessarily a religious domain as it had become under the Mideastern monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The social democratic concept of respect for the person has become more pervading. This may or may not be associated with a religious context but can be merely based on a secular idea.
“Since religions tend to enrich themselves, rather than their followers, many wonder if it is not more difficult for the religious leaders to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle as Matthew wrote in Chapter 19, verse 24.
Mosques, temples and churches hold so much gold while the faithful adherents to the religion are starving in the back pews and outside the holy walls. How much food and medicine would the golden domes, the art collections, the real estate holdings and the gilded idols bring if they were sold on the open market?
“Europe has become far more secular over the years. The U.S. has a 95% population of believers, and many are churchgoers, but the American Catholics are nearly identical in their daily lives to the Protestants. They use contraceptives just as often. They have just as many abortions. They don’t follow the same political party lines in elections. They act as if they are secular—except for a few hours on Sunday. So unless the more secular states want their grandchildren to be ruled by Christian or Islamic regimes, such as in the Middle Ages, they must give some thought to preserving the progress made from the Period of Enlightenment and the rise of secular democracies.
“The lack of education and the unwillingness to study and understand divergent views is a major problem with fundamentalists. You remember back in 2006 when an Afghan, who had renounced Islam for Christianity fifteen years earlier, was brought to court because the
new Afghan Constitution required that nothing could go against the Koran. And the Koran prescribes death for one who renounces Islam. By contrast in the West, Islam is accepted as a legitimate religion. Religious beliefs, but not all religious practices, are tolerated.
“Of course with European educations, the Muslims may follow the patterns of the Christians by reducing their family size, particularly if state welfare payments are insufficient to support them. Unlimited social welfare for all is an idea that is, by necessity, evolving into a limited social welfare for the needy. The European post-World War II social welfare states, that came into being when the populations were young, are being re-evaluated and diminished as the populations age. This also forces a re-direction of their once vibrant economies. Even oil-rich Norway, a social welfare model, is not handling all of its cradle to grave promises.
"Now in many countries financial pressure is often being exerted on parents, both married and unmarried, who cannot support their broods. These are nearly always people with low levels of education.
“It seems that fundamentalists in all religions are seldom well educated. They may know their holy books and have an interpretation of certain passages, often at odds with the interpretations of others in their religion, but they don’t have a broad knowledge of history or science or a comprehensive understanding of philosophy or theology. Their thinking seems to be simply that their Supreme Being exists, He gave them their holy scripture, and He agrees 100% with them no matter what their interpretations of His scriptures are.
“With them all thinking somewhat differently, whether in the same religion or different religions, you’d think that some might wonder about God’s omniscience, letting so many thousands of holy people each think they have the inspired word, when their views are so different. This is a bit different from Las Vegas where a gambler “knows” he has a “sure thing” but still recognizes there is a chance that he won’t win.
“Maybe we should send all these holy men to the ‘Sin City’ with a hundred dollars and tell them just to bet on the sure things when God tips them. Just think of all the gold they can win to gild their churches and mosques! And if God doesn’t give them all the right cards, maybe it will make them realize that perhaps they have occasionally misinterpreted the Almighty’s message. What do you want to say Ray?”
“As your resident reactionary, and I don’t like that epithet! I have to point out some problems with reducing the population. There is the Biblical command to “Be fruitful and multiply.” There is also the sin of Onan cited in Genesis 38 verses 9 and 10 in which “he spilled his seed on the ground” to avoid procreating—and God slew him. Whether his sin was masturbation or coitus interruptus or just not fulfilling the law of marrying his brother’s wife—Onan committed a pretty dastardly sin. As a Catholic I follow the teachings of St.
Augustine and the popes in believing that his sin was related to contraception. Because, as you know, contraception while actively participating in sexual intercourse is a sin. Consequently the only method available to Catholics is abstinence. This therefore allows only the so called ‘rhythm method’ for Catholic married couples.
“But there are social concerns also. How are you going to pay the pensions of the graying populations with fewer younger workers? The realities of pension funding, for example, is a huge dent in the national budget. In Italy 12% of the country’s gross national product goes to pensions—and it will be going higher. You must have young workers to pay for the pensions of the old.
“I have heard that the earth can handle 16 billion people. If so, we are a long way from hitting that mark. So when you talk about the religious leaders who advocate more children don’t you think that they are also thinking?
“And the Pope is certainly concerned about the plight of children. I think it was in about 2008 at his Christmas Mass that he sent out an appeal to help those children who are forced to live in the streets, those who are forced into armies and those who are otherwise abused. He asked the faithful to help those children who are denied parental love and the millions who are exploited in so many ways. He was emphatic that we must help those suffering children. Looks like you disagree Wreck.”
“No offense Ray, but while Pope Benedict was recognizing the problem, he didn’t suggest any solutions and his vehement stands against contraception and abortion are the major impediments to alleviating the suffering. It is easy to recognize many of the problems that plague our planet, but suggesting workable solutions, then implementing them, are the requirements for progress in problem solving. I believe many religious leaders think that they are thinking freely,
but they are so bound up by their basic assumptions from the literature of the past that they cannot be concerned with the future of our world as science is predicting it. We will, no doubt, have this discussion again. Let’s pick it up after we have our discussions with Dr. Wang in Kino.
“But certainly not all religions oppose population control. For example, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church reaffirmed their existing policies on population and, in view of the compelling need now for fewer births, they called for ‘encouragement and support, respect and honor’ to be accorded to couples who choose not to conceive children as well as to those who choose to conceive. Other religious groups have called for the same concern for overpopulation.”
“It’s clear that, just as so many individual and national decisions are made for economic reasons, limiting family size is largely an economic decision. And I’ve certainly seen it out in the business world. So many women are excited about their careers in business, medicine, law and sales that staying home with children is generally not that appealing.”
“I guess that’s true Con. I’ve been away from the business world so long that I’m not really in tune. But I see my daughter who is totally devoted to her two children. She’s very successful in pharmaceutical sales, which she loves—but then can’t wait to get home to her husband and kids. She loves her job and loves her family. She feels doubly blessed.”
“Oh, I know a number of women who are in that category. But they can’t do everything that they would like. There’s little time for housecleaning, so they hire a cleaning service. They don’t have as much time for R & R with their husbands. They can’t leave the kids every weekend for skiing, surfing, general vacationing—but those are not their priorities. We have to realize that we are not all cut out of the same cloth.”
"And Gulliver Returns" Book 1 Reversing Overpopulation--The Planet's Doomsday Threat Page 16
