Overpopulation

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I recently saw a video on overpopulation. It blamed the Catholic Church for overpopulation problems in Central and South America, stating that since it condemns contraception, many children are born to poor and unprepared parents. The majority of these children starve to death, begging on the streets for their short lives. Some Westerners come down to help these people, but too few are ever reached. It seems terribly unfair to me that so many are forced to lead lives in squalor like that, and I’m wondering if controlling population growth in some way could help.

Obviously, the film was very anti-Catholic. It pointed out that the Pope enjoys perfect luxury in Rome (why is that anyway?) while he indirectly teaches that ignorant parents and hungry children are a better alternative to knowledgeable parents with fewer kids. Although I disagree with some of the points the movie made, it did get me to wonder: how does the Church address the issue of overpopulation? We are depleting resources and many of us live in unhealthily overcrowded areas. Although God wants us to “be fruitful and multiply,” do you think it is possible that we have multiplied too much?
 
The church also teaches responsibility. It is up to the individual to practice that responsibility. It is easy for someone to accuse the church, but shouldn’t they really be blaming the people who act irresponsibly? Afterall, we are at choice here.

As far as overpopulation, maybe in some areas we have overpopulated, but have you noticed what is taking place in the areas where artificial contraception is widely used? Many countries are literally losing their culture do to a major decline in birth rates.
 
Other problems that contribute to the myth.


  1. *]Government corruption.
    *]Poor food distribution networks (Food goes to waste rather than the people who need it.)
    *]Greed - people want to own a lot of land and not share it with others.
    *]Governments discouraging productivity.
    *]Wasteful use of natural resources.
 
Go to www.pop.org the homepage for Population Research Institute.

Population Research Institute is dedicated to stopping human rights abuses committed in the name of family planning, and through research and education to dispelling the myth of overpopulation.

Also, go here

catholicexchange.com/vm/archives.asp?vm_id=2&aut=163

for links to articles written by Steve Mosher on Catholic Exchange’s website. Steve Mosher is the president of Population Research Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to debunking the myth that the world is overpopulated.

In Christ,

Debbie
 
OP isnt the problem…

its the greed, bigotry, racism and uncharitableness of those nations and countries that causes hunger and disease…

The Church offers the solutions.
 
I haven’t read anyone else’s response to this thread…the word “Overpopulation” just grabbed my attention… I had to comment… Why is it ALWAYS the Catholics fault for everything… Don’t the Mormons tend to have large families too… Every Mormon I have ever met came from a large family…(Nothing against Mormons, I have many that are my friends… Just saying…It isn’t just the Catholics with big families…)

Second point… There isn’t a huge population of “Catholics” having large families today…What in the heck are they talking about…Is there “factual” data to support such stupid claims…:banghead:

Ok…Off on another tangent…I know…But URG… Topics like this make me nuts…

Tanya
 
This is just another indication of how the Church calls man to believe in the ‘sanctity of life’ as opposed to the secular world’s view of ‘quality of life’. Let’s face it, if the view of the Church were more widely understood and appreciated then we would not have problems like we do today i.e. abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem cell research etc.:yup:
 
T.A.Stobie:
Other problems that contribute to the myth.

  1. *]Government corruption.
    *]Poor food distribution networks (Food goes to waste rather than the people who need it.)
    *]Greed - people want to own a lot of land and not share it with others.
    *]Governments discouraging productivity.
    *]Wasteful use of natural resources.
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  1. Yes, well said if I may say so! If governments and citizens also follow Catholic teaching, people will work well together.
 

  1. *]What about improper distribution of wealth?
    *]I guess the Catholic church is on top. Otherwise no one would take shots at us.
    *]I have five kids, ( our choice thank you) lately the big question is “are you MORMON?”
    *]Catholics aren’t even known for big families any more.
    *]Someone should tell the population Council to start hounding those MORMONS. How dare they keep procreating.
    *]As an aside , i think Mormons have kids to have a more exaulted status in their three tier heaven, don’t confuse it with Catholic teaching
 
Mormons also believe in the pre-existence of souls - so they have to have as many kids as possible so more souls can come to earth and ultimately heaven. It’s basically a big fertility cult.
 
Overpopulation truly is a myth. Start by reading “The War On Population” by Jacqueline Kasun, and do some further research here. As someone else suggested, just type in “overpopulation myth” into a search engine to find more resources.

The problem for the underdeveloped countries is political corruption and maldistribution.

But the developed Western countries–especially Europe–have an even worse problem–UNDERpopulation.

The birth rate in many if not most European countries is below replacement level. They are dying out. Or would be, except—they now rely on immigration, mainly from Muslim countries. Soon Europe could become a part of the Islamic empire without a shot ever being fired.

JimG
 
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kfarose2585:
I recently saw a video on overpopulation.
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Well, let’s start here since over population is a complete myth. Not even the UN tries to claim overpopulation anymore since so many countries are in a birth dearth and not even replacing themselves. Online resources abound, and the book The War On Population by economist Jacqueline Kasun is excellent. Also visit:

www.all.com - American Life League, go to P for Population Control and click on the links for Population Research, Answering the Critics, and Foundation Funding

ewtn.com/library/PROLENC/ENCYC131.HTM - The Persistent Myth Of Overpopulation

ewtn.com/library/PROLIFE/POPFACTS.TXT - Population Facts and Myths
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kfarose2585:
It blamed the Catholic Church for overpopulation problems in Central and South America, stating that since it condemns contraception, many children are born to poor and unprepared parents.
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This statement correctly identifies the Catholic Church teaching on contraception-- it is always gravely sinful. However, it falsely asserts that teaching against contraception is the same thing as teaching against responsibly determining the timing, spacing, and number of children or requiring someone to have as many children as possible or not limit their family size. The Church does not teach any such thing. The Church teaches that there are moral and immoral ways to space and plan a family.
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kfarose2585:
The majority of these children starve to death, begging on the streets for their short lives. Some Westerners come down to help these people, but too few are ever reached.
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Generalities are misleading. I would say that in some specific places many children do starve to death or beg on the streets. However, a significant number do so right here in the US. The causes are many and complex-- government and political climate, distribution of wealth, free trade, culture, economics, natural disaster, and certainly the Western Imperialist attitude that anything other than 2 children, an SUV, and a big screen tv is poverty. To lay the cause at the feet of the Catholic Church with such a simplistic explanation of “teaching against contraception” is ridiculous and certainly shows that the reporter had an agenda and a bias before even beginning the video. The causes of the Civil War are still debated in colleges today-- this can be no different.
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kfarose2585:
It seems terribly unfair to me that so many are forced to lead lives in squalor like that, and I’m wondering if controlling population growth in some way could help.
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Well, controlling population in no way eradicates squallor, it only distributes it among fewer people. Eradicating the underlying problem is the real solution. Ask yourself WHY the people are in squallor? Most likely it will be because of a political situation in their country where a few are rich and the rest are held powerless and in poverty. The article I posted above at EWTN (POPFACTS) makes an excellent case that the way out of poverty for many of the 3rd world countries is an INCREASE in population not a decrease. Population is a driver of the economy. I would highly suggest you read this article.
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kfarose2585:
Obviously, the film was very anti-Catholic.
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And therefore, why should you consider anything it says at face value including the next statement which is ridiculous… continued in next post…
 
continued from prior post due to length…
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kfarose2585:
It pointed out that the Pope enjoys perfect luxury in Rome (why is that anyway?) while he indirectly teaches that ignorant parents and hungry children are a better alternative to knowledgeable parents with fewer kids.
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The pope does not live in “perfect luxury”-- I would assert that he probably has fewer material things than what the average American considers “essential”. And, the second part of this statement just once again underlines the ignorance of the video maker. What a huge leap from “contraception is wrong” to “let’s have a bunch of ignorant people with tons of kids”. Obviously the video maker is unaware of NFP or that missionaries and nuns teach this method of family planning to thousands of so-called “ignorant” people every year. Many families are large because the culture VALUES children and they WANT large families! What a concept-- one completely foreign to liberal, biased, journalists. The video maker also has some preconceived notions of what poverty is and what standard of living should be aspired to-- and would be quite surprised at the number of people living in tents in mountains herding goats because they WANT to be there and think that their life is perfectly FINE without electricity, SUVs, TV, etc. Did anyone ever stop to ask “what makes us think we know what other people want?”
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kfarose2585:
Although I disagree with some of the points the movie made, it did get me to wonder: how does the Church address the issue of overpopulation?
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Read the Catechism sections on Social Justice and Stewardship, along with the reams of documents that the Church has produced on debt relief for poor nations, distribution of wealth and goods, living wages, etc. There are tons of documents that deal with these issues along with so many social programs and missionary groups dedicated to social justice causes. As for overpopulation, again that is a complete myth.
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kfarose2585:
We are depleting resources and many of us live in unhealthily overcrowded areas.
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Some areas are crowded and vast expanses remain uninhabited. We are not depleting resources to the extent that the alarmists would have you believe. Most resources are renewable, and when some resources become scarce, we find substitutes. For example, copper was once used in wiring, now we have fiber optics made out of sand… when do you think we are going to run out of sand?
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kfarose2585:
Although God wants us to “be fruitful and multiply,” do you think it is possible that we have multiplied too much?
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God created the entire universe for Man. God supplies every need. God would not create and command that which could not be done. God made man stewards of creation, so we do have a cooperative role. However, to answer your question-- no, God created Man to increase and multiply and fill the earth precisely because only through procreation are new human souls created… each one destined to be with God. God desires many souls in heaven and we are co-creators with God of new human souls. There can never be too many people.
 
The world as a whole needs about twice as many people in order to maintain our civilization.

In Europe and in the United States, the problem of under population is much more serious. For example the Social Security system which depends on a large number of workers to fund the retirement of a considerably smaller number of workers is in trouble. This is because the large number of workers will not be there.

We can see how our civilization depends on growing population by seeing what has happened to the small towns which have not grown. They have not prospered. They are decaying, dying and are becoming less wealthy.

The large metropolitan areas that have and are experiencing population growth all have an increasing number of amenties and are much more wealthy and prosperous.

History shows that wealth and population increase combine to produce a higher level of civilization. Rome for example.

When the population growth is stagnant or decreases, civilization declines. Cahokia for example. (Cahokia was a city of approximately 100,000 people near St. Louis.)
 
Chris Jacobsen:
The world as a whole needs about twice as many people in order to maintain our civilization.

In Europe and in the United States, the problem of under population is much more serious. For example the Social Security system which depends on a large number of workers to fund the retirement of a considerably smaller number of workers is in trouble. This is because the large number of workers will not be there.

We can see how our civilization depends on growing population by seeing what has happened to the small towns which have not grown. They have not prospered. They are decaying, dying and are becoming less wealthy.

The large metropolitan areas that have and are experiencing population growth all have an increasing number of amenties and are much more wealthy and prosperous.

History shows that wealth and population increase combine to produce a higher level of civilization. Rome for example.

When the population growth is stagnant or decreases, civilization declines. Cahokia for example. (Cahokia was a city of approximately 100,000 people near St. Louis.)
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Is there any limit to the population the earth can support? One trillion? Hundred trillion? Hundred quardillion? Google?
 
Thanks to all who have clarified this for me. I had heard that overpopulation was a myth, but I hear so much more often that overpopulation being a myth is a myth. How confusing!

What everyone said basically makes sense. I do wonder, though, if there are limits. We are constantly being bombarded with warnings about global warming; the depletion of petrol; massive amounts of pollution in our air, water, and land; disease caused by population density (as in Mexico City); and other concerns. Overpopulation is often blamed, but I’m wondering if it isn’t just greed and irresponsible use of technology.

Ken also got me thinking: would the earth be able to handle a quadrillion people? Maybe if we used different resources, redistributed wealth, started inhabiting those uninhabited pockets of the world, and tried to get used to bumping into people a lot. I suppose that could be a good thing in some ways. However, I must disagree with Chris. A thousand years ago we had far fewer people on this planet than we do today, and culture and civilization were doing just fine. Perhaps something else is to blame?

The video did not imply that an SUV, a TV, and a two-kid family were necessary for happiness. If it did, then I would have been even less apt to listen to its message (as it was, I was skeptical but uninformed). It showed a large family living in a dump in Guatemala, a new mother with her baby explaining that no one ever told her that sleeping with a man could get her pregnant, and other such sad stories. Perhaps these things are not as common as the video would like me to believe. Even if they are, I do still believe that life itself is more important than “quality of life;” I just hate to see people suffer unnecessarily, especially while I live in such comfort.
 
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Ken:
Is there any limit to the population the earth can support? One trillion? Hundred trillion? Hundred quardillion? Google?
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If you consider that the technology exists today (yes, very very expensive) to put orbital energy and food satelites in space today and to move into some sea farming, it is hard to give an upper limit.

It would probably come down to a calculate of available chemical elements necessary as components in the human body as well as in the food and air chains necessary to support human life. This would be a large value considering only earth’s elements.
 
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Ken:
Is there any limit to the population the earth can support? One trillion? Hundred trillion? Hundred quardillion? Google?
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There are no limits on what God can do! 🙂
 
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kfarose2585:
Thanks to all who have clarified this for me. I had heard that overpopulation was a myth, but I hear so much more often that overpopulation being a myth is a myth. How confusing!
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Some quick math:

Current world population: About 6.4 billion
Land area of Brazil: About 2.1 billion acres

So…if we (for some reason) wanted to, we could give every person on the planet about a third of an acre, and never leave Brazil!

Of course, 1/3rd of an acre is not enough land to work and live off of, but we have a lot more planet than Brazil.

(Why Brazil? I picked it randomly as some country that was mostly lush – not so much arid land to make the point invalid).
 
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