Overpopulation: as someone said, it is propaganda. The world is not overpopulated, plain and simple. Take a look at the world population and the square footage of the state of Texas, then do some simple math. Divide the area of Texas by the world population, and viola! We discover that every man, woman, and child could all have something like a football field with the entire rest of the world left to harvest and replenish natural resources.
Petrol: The truth is we have no idea how much oil is hidden beneath the earth’s crust. By improving fuel efficiency, conserving electricity, and constantly developing alternative forms of energy, we will be ready to cross that bridge when we come to it. It is childish to behave as though there is an impending crisis due to every oil well running dry next year. When you consider the energy needs of a community, one more or even ten more children are just a drop in the bucket.
Global warming: You see, the funny thing about global warming is that it isn’t even happening. Since 1998 the average temperature has actually declined, but this fact seems to be largely ignored. I have a link to a great article with some key observations regarding climatic trends in different historical periods that I will post after I finish this response. The idea that humans can cause such dramatic fluctuations in global temperatures makes us seem very influential. Isn’t it ironic that the same people who believe humans have caused global warming think that we are an unimportant, insignificant species compared to all the other organisms out there?
“Each country is by itself” Your friend has entirely the wrong understanding of world relations. Ask any person in the US who has lost his or her job to outsourcing to India, and it will be clear that no country acts in isolation. While some people would like to think or even enforce completely independent sources of sustenance, that is simply not the way the world works at this time. The world is a very co-dependent community.
“[Countries with more natural resources and less population] can afford to ask their people to have more babies” Since when are Catholic Christians called to base their actions upon what another society can or can’t, will or won’t do?
Poverty and Ignorance The part about education is correct, but it is only part of the solution. How about teaching everyone the dignity of human life, and empowering the poor and impoverished to do something about it? A person does not have to be rich or well-educated to have a positive impact on the world around them.
My issue with your friend’s response is that she is trying to apply the very important, life-changing decision of how many children to have to an entire society. The church has never and will never mandate that a certain number of children is appropriate in any given circumstance. Similarly, it is inappropriate to assume that the concerns of an entire society should determine how one couple plans their family size.
Rather, decisions on family size are a personal one between the couple and God, within the guidance set forth by Holy Mother Church. The concept of “responsible parenthood” so fervently promoted in historic church documents has been almost entirely lost. For a family living in the poorest of poor villages where access to clean water and food are limited, I’m sure they don’t have to consult world population statistics to determine that having another child would not be “responsible parenthood.” Conversely, affluent families who can make slight lifestyle changes to have the ability to populate the country with responsible, educated, and concerned children also has a responsibility to do so.
The beginning of the solution, IMO, is encouraging those who have the ability within their own family unity to procreate as generously as they can. These children, who grow up to be Catholic Christian adults, will be better equipped than their parents to affect major changes in the whole society, and can continue the cycle.
,” thanks.