Pope's Annual Peace Address Condemns Efforts To Reduce Birth Rates In Developing Countries
15 Dec 2008
Pope Benedict XVI in his annual peace message on Thursday attacked campaigns in some developing countries that are aimed at limiting birth rates to help economic development, particularly campaigns that he said promote abortions, Reuters reports. In his message, "Fighting Poverty To Build Peace," the pope criticized international campaigns to reduce birth rates that he said "sometimes [use] methods that respect neither the dignity of the woman, nor the right of parents to choose responsibly how many children to have." He added, "Graver still, these methods often fail to respect even the right to life. The extermination of millions of unborn children, in the name of the fight against poverty, actually constitutes the destruction of the poorest of all human beings." Population growth does not necessarily lead to increased poverty in a country, Benedict said, adding that developed nations with the highest birth rates "enjoy better opportunities for development" and that "population is proving to be an asset, not a factor that contributes to poverty."
The pope's message -- which traditionally is sent to heads of state, government and international organizations -- also called for disarmament, a fight against child poverty and world hunger, and a "common code of ethics" to narrow the gap between high- and low-income countries in the world (Pullella, Reuters, 12/11). According to the AP/Yahoo! News, Benedict said that modern popes' social teachings consistently have concerned the poor and that globalization has broadened these social questions into international issues (Simpson, AP/Yahoo! News, 12/11).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.
You have to realize that most Christian "moral values" behaviour is not really about "protecting" anyone; it's about their desire to send a continual stream of messages of condemnation towards people whose existence offends them. - Darth Wong alias Mike Wong
"There is nothing wrong with being ignorant. However, there is something very wrong with not choosing to exchange ignorance for knowledge when the opportunity presents itself."
sometimes [use] methods that respect neither the dignity of the woman, nor the right of parents to choose responsibly how many children to have
Yeah- voluntary programs are terribly invasive. This only really applies to China.
As for choose responsibly... isn't this the religion that insists that people are inherently sinful?
Graver still, these methods often fail to respect even the right to life. The extermination of millions of unborn children, in the name of the fight against poverty, actually constitutes the destruction of the poorest of all human beings
Population growth does not necessarily lead to increased poverty in a country, Benedict said, adding that developed nations with the highest birth rates "enjoy better opportunities for development" and that "population is proving to be an asset, not a factor that contributes to poverty."
The richest countries in the world have lower birth rates- in some cases negative. The US has positive rate, but only because we have a constant stream of immigrants who boost it.
Increased birth rates in the proverbial cesspools of the globe will only lead to more visitors for Saint Pete to wave on through in time. You can't enjoy any benefits from society if you're constantly testing it to its limits. On the flip side of the coin, cutting birth rates is just one half of the equation. You need to curb consumption too, else you succumb to the same pitfalls as you would endless baby production: the end result is the same.
Clearly His Holiness wants more people practising their superstition of choice in global overshoot.
Admiral Valdemar wrote:Clearly His Holiness wants more people practising their superstition of choice in global overshoot.
Exactly, there's no other reason for it. It's not like we have an infinite amount of resources to keep supporting an ever increasing population. For a while I thought the Catholic Church was finally growing up, but it seems this current Pope is determined to erase that thought.
apocolypse wrote:For a while I thought the Catholic Church was finally growing up, but it seems this current Pope is determined to erase that thought.
Erase the thought and also whatever growth the Church did undergo in the last forty years. Also, it seems, any chance the people in these shithole countries might ever have to make anything resembling a decent life.
When ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there can be no successful appeal back to bullets.
—Abraham Lincoln
People pray so that God won't crush them like bugs.
—Dr. Gregory House
Oil an emergency?! It's about time, Brigadier, that the leaders of this planet of yours realised that to remain dependent upon a mineral slime simply doesn't make sense.
—The Doctor "Terror Of The Zygons" (1975)
apocolypse wrote:For a while I thought the Catholic Church was finally growing up, but it seems this current Pope is determined to erase that thought.
Erase the thought and also whatever growth the Church did undergo in the last forty years. Also, it seems, any chance the people in these shithole countries might ever have to make anything resembling a decent life.
The Church grew up a long time ago. These days it's just an old geezer shouting about the moral decay of society and glaring disapprovingly at anything that's changed since the glory days when it dominated Europe.
Great Britain is a island with an immense urban density, with the population bursting at the seams and having something of a resurgence in Catholicism brough in by Polish workers, so thanks for nothing Pope Benedict XVI (admitedly this is on top of the a-religous chavs who are more of an ingrained problem). Developed countries with relatively highly educated populations and long life expectency have low birth rates for a reason.
'Alright guard, begin the unnecessarily slow moving dipping mechanism...' - Dr. Evil
'Secondly, I don't see why "income inequality" is a bad thing. Poverty is not an injustice. There is no such thing as causes for poverty, only causes for wealth. Poverty is not a wrong, but taking money from those who have it to equalize incomes is basically theft, which is wrong.' - Typical Randroid
'I think it's gone a little bit wrong.' - The Doctor
Ender wrote:A group of celibate guys are complaining about people not having enough kids?
It's about control - a small group of educated celibate men will have more sway over a critically overstretched and abysmally ignorant population.
'Alright guard, begin the unnecessarily slow moving dipping mechanism...' - Dr. Evil
'Secondly, I don't see why "income inequality" is a bad thing. Poverty is not an injustice. There is no such thing as causes for poverty, only causes for wealth. Poverty is not a wrong, but taking money from those who have it to equalize incomes is basically theft, which is wrong.' - Typical Randroid
'I think it's gone a little bit wrong.' - The Doctor
A group of celibate guys are complaining about people not having enough kids?
LOL! That was beautiful Ender. I didn't even think of it that way until you said it, but yeah..EXACTLY. The hypocrisy is staggering. I was more thrown off at first by the simple arrogance of this idiot who is out there constantly making pronouncements as if he was a social scientist or something with you know...actual DATA to back him up instead of divine belief bullshit.
You have to realize that most Christian "moral values" behaviour is not really about "protecting" anyone; it's about their desire to send a continual stream of messages of condemnation towards people whose existence offends them. - Darth Wong alias Mike Wong
"There is nothing wrong with being ignorant. However, there is something very wrong with not choosing to exchange ignorance for knowledge when the opportunity presents itself."
Big Orange wrote:It's about control - a small group of educated celibate men will have more sway over a critically overstretched and abysmally ignorant population.
Or you know they actually believe this is the word of there God and are following it.
Which could well be the scariest possibility of them all.
"The real ideological schism in America is not Republican vs Democrat; it is North vs South, Urban vs Rural, and it has been since the 19th century."
-Mike Wong
How can they possibly condemn reducing birth rates when they don't even make babies themselves?
"DO YOU WORSHIP HOMOSEXUALS?" - Curtis Saxton (source) shroom is a lovely boy and i wont hear a bad word against him - LUSY-CHAN! Shit! Man, I didn't think of that! It took Shroom to properly interpret the screams of dying people - PeZook Shroom, I read out the stuff you write about us. You are an endless supply of morale down here. :p - an OWS street medic Pink Sugar Heart Attack!
Not surprising at all. They want more souls for salvation and yes they do really believe they are doing what God commands with these sort of directives and condemnations.
Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba wrote:Oh my God, the Catholic Church is not changing their millenia-old support for having lots of children in wedlock?
Shocking news. A real stop-the-presses moment.
It may not be shocking, but it's worth noting that the Catholic Church is making a concerted effort to remind everyone that they are not interested in ever changing their tune, no matter what some reformers may have believed in the last few decades.
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness
"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.
I find in Australia, most Catholics I know are embarrassed by what the Church has to say. Great thing in my opinion. The more ridiculous they look with these retarded pronouncements, the more people leave the faith.
"This statement, in its utterly clueless hubristic stupidity, cannot be improved upon. I merely quote it in admiration of its perfection." - Garibaldi
"Problem is, while the Germans have had many mea culpas and quite painfully dealt with their history, the South is still hellbent on painting themselves as the real victims. It gives them a special place in the history of assholes" - Covenant
"Over three million died fighting for the emperor, but when the war was over he pretended it was not his responsibility. What kind of man does that?'' - Saburo Sakai
Invictus ChiKen wrote:
Or you know they actually believe this is the word of there God and are following it.
Which could well be the scariest possibility of them all.
Religious practices can have a degree of pragmatism to them, since Kosher laws make sense in a era before refrigeration with a hot climate (where pork and seafood do not keep well). A high birthrate was/is desirable in circustances when the early deathrate is shockingly high to us, like any pre-industrial society for example, so evey child counted. But it is ironic that Catholic Italy has a low birthrate, even by Western European standards.
'Alright guard, begin the unnecessarily slow moving dipping mechanism...' - Dr. Evil
'Secondly, I don't see why "income inequality" is a bad thing. Poverty is not an injustice. There is no such thing as causes for poverty, only causes for wealth. Poverty is not a wrong, but taking money from those who have it to equalize incomes is basically theft, which is wrong.' - Typical Randroid
'I think it's gone a little bit wrong.' - The Doctor
bobalot wrote:I find in Australia, most Catholics I know are embarrassed by what the Church has to say. Great thing in my opinion. The more ridiculous they look with these retarded pronouncements, the more people leave the faith.
I hear from a fair number of nominal Catholics who seem to have serious disagreements with the church. I have to wonder if there will be a serious splintering in the near future
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
Big Orange wrote:But it is ironic that Catholic Italy has a low birthrate, even by Western European standards.
Perhaps, but many Catholics in Western Europe and even in the US happily ignore the Church's teachings about birth control. That is one element of the disagreement that Kitsune mentions.
bobalot wrote:I find in Australia, most Catholics I know are embarrassed by what the Church has to say. Great thing in my opinion. The more ridiculous they look with these retarded pronouncements, the more people leave the faith.
I hear from a fair number of nominal Catholics who seem to have serious disagreements with the church. I have to wonder if there will be a serious splintering in the near future
Why would anyone bother? Right now you can ignore them and still go to church because the Church still wants their money. Now if the Priests stopped allowing communion to those who refused to take an oath against birth control or something else whacky stupid then something may happen. But right now the Church doesnt have the power to do anything.
When the Protestant Revolution happened the church had real power. So splitting actually meant something. Today the Church is a hollow shell that constantly says stupid shit and elects leaders who cant get the heads out of the Middle Ages or their asses.
The pope's message -- which traditionally is sent to heads of state, government and international organizations -- also called for disarmament, a fight against child poverty and world hunger,
Did anyone else find this supremely ironic?
"Fight against poverty! And against poverty-alleviating measures!"
Well the United States refused to sign this very UN resolution due to the fact that both State and Federal laws discriminate against homosexuals.
"If the facts are on your side, pound on the facts. If the law is on your side, pound on the law. If neither is on your side, pound on the table."
"The captain claimed our people violated a 4,000 year old treaty forbidding us to develop hyperspace technology. Extermination of our planet was the consequence. The subject did not survive interrogation."
Big Orange wrote:Religious practices can have a degree of pragmatism to them, since Kosher laws make sense in a era before refrigeration with a hot climate (where pork and seafood do not keep well). A high birthrate was/is desirable in circustances when the early deathrate is shockingly high to us, like any pre-industrial society for example, so evey child counted. But it is ironic that Catholic Italy has a low birthrate, even by Western European standards.
An important part of pragmatism is adaptability, i.e., to changing conditions. What was pragmatic in the past might not be so in the present, and what is pragmatic in the present might not be so in the future.
I'm not a Catholic or a Muslim, and I'm depressed at the Catholic and Islamic religious leaders' failure to get their minds out of medieval times and towards contemporary times, i.e., today. Reality is going to hit their followers with such force, a Mack truck moving at max speed will feel like a lover's caress.
Those gun nuts do not understand the meaning of "overkill," and will simply use weapon after weapon of mass destruction (WMD) until the monster is dead, or until they run out of weapons.
They have more WMD than there are monsters for us to fight. (More insanity here.)
"
- PeZook
