The post-modern thought in Britain is that children are bad for the environment.

This guy is a Professor of Family Planning (what a job - it's not like it's rocket science) and he thinks that:

"The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child."

No, I can't make this stuff up!

I don't get it. The replacement rate is 2.3 children per couple. This will hold the population steady - not even growing. If we are not even replacing our population, what ecological disasters will arise from abandoned property and industrial complexes? Who's going to do the maintenance? Why would we want to limit the number of fortunate, wealthy (in relation to the rest of the globe) educated people with resources - resources to stop poverty and starvation and educate others? Are the Peace Corp, Catholic Relief Services, and other organizations suffering from too many volunteers? Have you ever heard them say, "We could eradicate infant mortality in Ethiopa, if only we didn't have so many people helping and had fewer donations? Too many cooks spoil the broth after all!"

If anything, I think limiting family size is detrimental to the environment, as it divorces us from the natural processes of life. We become jaded, and children become a commodity. If we can decide to kill an imperfect, or just inconvenient, baby, then how will we develop a responsible attitude of stewardship towards God's creation? If an animal or forest is inconvenient, why shouldn't we just get rid of that, too?

These are the attitudes we are fostering and will have horrible ramifications as we pass them from generation to generation. Our children and grandchildren will remember that life is not sacred for its own sake, because God created it, but only as it benefits us right now.

In addition, the estrogens and hormones in our water are wreaking havoc with fish and other wildlife. Seems women take birth control pills, excrete excess hormones into their urine which gets flushed, and right now we don't have a way to get those hormones out of the water before it hits nature. It's Ortho-Evra pollution.

Starry Sky Ranch stirred up a similar debate last month with this post. My comments are a little snippy - sorry for that!

Labels: children, Mama Says, Prolife, Rants and Raves