Population Control

[Rosa Mystica]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone here could help me. I know an individual who is a "devout Catholic" (notice the quotes), who says that population control is necessary in many Third World countries today (he keeps citing India as an example). Being Catholic, I vehemently oppose this kind of initiative. Does anyone here know any good arguments against population control? My only ammunition is the "It's against God's Will" argument, but you know how many people twist this statement around.

Thoughts?

Rosa

 

[raptor13]

depends on how exactly the population will be controlled. By use of contraceptives? abortion?

 

[thereselittleflower]

And everyone in the WORLD if divided into families of 4, and given a 2000 sq foot house, ALL would fit inside the state of Texas . .

Peace in Him!

 

[Rosa Mystica]

Both, Raptor.

 

[ej]

There are much more subtle ways than abortion or contraception in which SOCIETY alters the rate of population growth.

 

[Rosa Mystica]

And everyone in the WORLD if divided into families of 4, and given a 2000 sq foot house, ALL would fit inside the state of Texas . .

Peace in Him!

Therese, I LOVE your quote. But, what do I say when someone tells me that we could not feasibly group the entire world's population in this fashion?

 

[thereselittleflower]

Therese, I LOVE your quote. But, what do I say when someone tells me that we could not feasibly group the entire world's population in this fashion?

Well, we can't feasibly do this . . but it is not intended to say we could . .but that there is a tremendous amount of room on this planet yet, with tremendous resources if they were used right . . we do not need population control, we need resource control . .


Peace in Him!

 

[rwl]

Read Modest Proposal by John Swift.

 

[Amandine]

Haha..that's a good one. We read that in my English class last year.
-Catherine

 

[rwl]

One of my favorites.

 

[Lifesaver]

Depends what they mean by population control.

Indeed, many countries and cities (mine, São Paulo, is a good example) suffer from overpopulation.

Currently, the world has enough food to feed 12 billion people. People are hungry because this food is unfairly distributed.
However, the world is already incapable of supporting its population if everyone got TVs, cars, fridges and air conditioning in their houses.

Technology advances might help postpone the problem of global over-population, but the fact remains that we live in a place of limited resources. Being that way, our population CANNOT keep growing forever.

If the world's population continues to grow as it did the last 50 years, we'll soon deplete many of our resources.

So, while it would be great to have a big family, it is a luxury that all can't, mustn't, enjoy.
Seeing as the survival of our planet, and the prevention of global catastrophes is at stake, I'd say those are pretty good reasons to use NFP or abstain from sex completely.

But what rule should we use? No-one should be forced to control the number of kids they have (though if they did, it would be great), but a good rule of thumb seems to be one's ability to support children. A very poor couple shouldn't have more than 2 kids, not only for their sake, but for the sake of the whole planet.

If one really wants a big family, go ahead and have one. But not all can enjoy that. Will we, as a society, be able to do that without resorting to authoritary laws?

 

[Debi1967]

Tell them as I do and it has nothing to do with religion.....
If everyone that had money on this earth cared enough about it then there would be no need for population control. Because then they would be recieving the proper education and resources. But do to everyone being greedy all of the time then they suffer. So if she would like to help then help a family there and advocate the same in others instead of birth control and abortion and population control.

Please some people and their ideas make me angry.....

In Christ
Debi

 

[Lifesaver]

It's not about money, debi. Money can't create resources where there are none.

We live in a place of limited resources. We consume resources. Our population can't keep growing until the end of times, or conditions of life will become unbearable.

 

[Axion]

It's not about money, debi. Money can't create resources where there are none.

We live in a place of limited resources. We consume resources. Our population can't keep growing until the end of times, or conditions of life will become unbearable.

People like Malthus said this 250 years ago, when the population of England was about 5 Million. It's now 50 Million, and people live a lot better than when there were just 5 million here. This is true also in the US and in a lot of places in the world.

What we find is that when people have a decent life, hope for the future and good pensions and social services, they do not strive to have dozens of children. In poor countries, "population control" measures will never work because a poor persons only wealth are their children. Children work and raise money when they are young, and they keep their parents when they grow old. The more children you have in a poor country, the better your survival chances. Until this is changed, population control programmes are futile anyway.

God said. "Go forth and multiply." If we shared the resources of the world, everyone could have a decent life and the pressures in the Third World to have massive families would disappear.

 

[Rosa Mystica]

I love all your guys' responses!!! It is so amazing to be surrounded by all these counter-cultural people in this forum! Why didn't I discover you guys sooner?

Lifesaver, I like what you had to say about NFP and abstinence as acceptable means. However, you know what most people say: "NFP doesn't work, and can't feasibly be used in Third World countries." In response to people, I'd say that yes, NFP does take time to learn, and does work if used properly. However, difficulties can arise for different reasons. Hence, if a couple is having difficulty with practicing natural methods, they should abstain, b/c extreme problems demand extreme solutions. You never, ever, commit evil to achieve good.

Does anyone here have a better response?

 

[Debi1967]

It's not about money, debi. Money can't create resources where there are none.

We live in a place of limited resources. We consume resources. Our population can't keep growing until the end of times, or conditions of life will become unbearable.

I take then that it couldn't make their living conditions better or to improve social conditions and education (this being all forms of education) but most importantly teaching these people how to develop their own underdeveloped countries. Oh and then maybe teach them of God too..... I suppose this would not help them in any way..... I think so. I think that any well educated person doesn't do the same things one does not knowing that these things are wrong.... and that is what the y need to be taught....

 

[Markh]

I don't know whetehr this is true, but I read that: the whole population of the world could be queezed into texas and still only be the same density as any major city.

It sounds unlikely, but it was on the internet- so it must be true

 

[raptor13]

here are some sites i found regarding population control. Its a lot of reading, and i don't have time right now to point out specific passages you should use, but i hope they help.

Population Enrichment vs Population Control

World Congress of Families

C-Fam Background Papers

Population Research Homepage

Population Reference Bureau

 

[Benedicta00]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone here could help me. I have a friend who is a "devout Catholic" (notice the quotes), who says that population control is necessary in many Third World countries today (he keeps citing India as an example). Being Catholic, I vehemently oppose this kind of initiative. Does anyone here know any good arguments against population control? My only ammunition is the "It's against God's Will" argument, but you know how many people twist this statement around.

Thoughts?

Rosa

Christianity is needed in third world countries. That will stop the abuse and people can live and prosper and be free. The Catholic Church’s social justice is that we (all men) are responsible for the poverty. The cure is conversions to Christ where governments will stop oppressing their people.

 

[raptor13]

I don't know whetehr this is true, but I read that: the whole population of the world could be queezed into texas and still only be the same density as any major city.

It sounds unlikely, but it was on the internet- so it must be true

It's actually even smaller than that.

Our planet is not currently overburdened. Imagine an extreme hypothetical example: If the world s entire human population were confined to one area representing just 1% of the earth's land surface, each family of five could make their dwelling on one-third of an acre; the population density of that area would be well under that of Boston, Massachusetts today.

This was from a document to President Clinton urging him to take a stand against Population Control. read it here:

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/letter15aug94.html

Look at the credentials of the people who wrote it. Half have PhD's and the other half are executive directors of institutes.