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There is scarcely anything more tragic in human life than a child who is not wanted.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"The worst problem is to possess plenty of children with inadequate means."
...The Prophet Muhammad
Planned parenthood is an obligation of those who are Christians. Our church thinks we should use scientific methods that assist in family planning.
Desmond Tutu, Former Anglican Archbishop of CapeTown
"When wisdom dictates that you do not need more children, a vasectomy is permissible."
...Ayatollah Ali Khomenei
"Will our grandchildren praise us for being part of the sustainability transformation? Or will they curse us for clinging to old fashioned habits that used up their heritage?"
"Woe unto them that join house to house, lay field to field, till [there be] no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!"
Isaiah 5:8 - The Unbound Bible
"Almost all the influential figures in the world's religions had small families," observed McGill University's Arvind Sharma at the 1999 Hague Forum. "Rama, the popular God of Hinduism, had two sons; the Bud-dha had one son; Mahavira, the last prophet of Jainism, had one daughter (if that); Confucius had one son; Lao-tzu, the founder of Taoism, none. Abraham had two sons and two daughters; Moses had two sons; Jesus none. The prophet Mohammed was survived by a daughter."
Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and most of Judaism and Christianity see responsible parenthood in marriage, including the use of contraception, as a moral good. Highly respected religious leaders, including two Nobel laureates, have opened the door to admit abortion in some circumstances. Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu supported the South African constitutional provision legalizing abortion. And the Dalai Lama, while generally opposed to abortion, said in a New York Times Sunday Magazine profile, "I think abortion should be approved or disapproved according to the circumstances." Indeed, in mainline Christianity, fairly widespread support exists for population stabilization (not a women's-rights issue) and for family planning and even abortion, as necessary, to save the planet.
2000
New York Times*
Religion and Cairo
In the original Cairo conference, 170+ countries approved the principals, but objections came from nations with extremist religious factions, including Catholic and Islamic fundamentalists: Argentina, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the Vatican; Algeria, Libya, Malta, and Sudan.
Specific objections that have been raised include the Commission on Population and Development's recommendations that (a) reproductive health services should include new methods of emergency contraception, (b) abortion be made safe where it is legal, and (c) that young people have full access to sexual and reproductive health education and services.
| In the original Cairo conference, 170+ countries approved the principals, but objections came from nations with extremist religious factions, including Catholic and Islamic fundamentalists: Argentina, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the Vatican; Algeria, Libya, Malta, and Sudan.
Specific objections that have been raised include the Commission on Population and Development's recommendations that (a) reproductive health services should include new methods of emergency contraception, (b) abortion be made safe where it is legal, and (c) that young people have full access to sexual and reproductive health education and services. |
While doing a search on Bill Gates I happened across your Website:
I am certain you are aware that this Website cherry picks its materials. Unfortunately, they do not stand up to peer review evaluation. Most have been discredited and the balance are overly subjective.
I want to say at the onset that most people will take great exception to the statement that the purpose of your organization is "to save lives." Mrs. Brown, your enthusiasm may be heartfelt, but clearly misplaced. It is hard to imagine the toll of misery and number of deaths that have resulted from the pro-life efforts. If organizations such as your's promoted family planning as vigorously as their Life agenda, abortions would have almost been totally eliminated. In fact it is quite probable they wouldn't have a cause and the need for these organizations would have disappeared.
You write that philanthropist funding organizations striving to better the human situation by promoting family planning are doing it a disservice. You write,
Resolving overpopulation is a complex undertaking. If the world and each of its nations are to reach a point where numbers, resources, and biological systems are in balance, the growth of the human population must first be brought to a halt and then reduced. The challenge is how to address the issue of our burgeoning populations and provide for their welfare on a sustainable basis while maximizing biological diversity and minimizing environmental degradation. Unfortunately, the American Life League agenda doesn't appear to take these issues seriously.
Some examples:
As the above poignantly demonstrate the American Life League program needs to understand that a number of factors require balancing. How the planet reaches the balance point of human carrying capacity or even an optimum level, while providing for all other life is the issue.
The important issue is one of sustainable, or better, optimal population level, and of providing for future generations. I keep thinking about the future for my children -and your's, and those elsewhere and how decisions we make today will determine their future; or if they will have a future. It's a serious bet you're making.
Sincerely,
Dell Erickson
Pimentel's Answer to Judy Brown
Judie Brown reported an impending population implosion, and implied that the world population was stabilizing to the point that we do not have too many people in the world. Unfortunately, Brown presents less than half the story. It will take about 70 years before the global population stabilizes, even if we adopt a plan of only 2.1 children per couple starting tomorrow. The total number of people will more than double before it stabilizes, because of population momentum, or the young age structure. Some populations in Africa have a median age of 16 years. Similarly, if China is able to limit the number of children per female to one, China's population will add a population equivalent to that of the U.S. in about 30 years. In both of these examples, it is the young age distribution and the large number of females who will be at reproductive age that create the population problem. Some people believe that the U.S. population has stabilized. To the contrary, the U.S. population has doubled during the past 60 years. Based on the U.S. Bureau of Census rate of growth, the U.S. population will double again within the next 75 years and will reach 540 million people. The U.S. adds nearly 3.5 million people to its population each year. For each person added to the U.S. population, about 5 acres of land are needed for food production, urbanization, and highways. Based on a recent joint statement made by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and 57 other nations' academies of sciences, serious imbalances already exist between the level of world population and the basic resources that support human life. Shortages of food, fertile land, water, energy, and biological resources now exist throughout the world. The World Health Organization reports that at present more than 3 billion people are malnourished, the largest number ever reported to experience serious food shortages. Per capita grains, which make up 80%-90% of the world's food, have been declining for nearly two decades because of shortages of cropland, fresh water, and fertilizers. Much fertile cropland has been removed from production as humans have expanded throughout the earth for housing, industries, and roads. Through continuous cultivation, soil erosion has damaged cropland to the extent that nearly one-third of the world's cropland was abandoned during the past 40 years. These activities have left us with substantially less cropland to plant, just at a time when food supplies must be increased to feed more people. Pure water is another resource declining as populations expand. Crop production requires enormous amounts of water. For instance, 120-1200 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of grain. Because food harvests must be increased, current water supplies must be stretched. Increased numbers of cities, towns, and industries sharing water supplies are further stressing our water supplies. For example, 7 U.S. states and Mexico take a share of the water in the Colorado River. By the time that the river reaches the Gulf of California, the river is nothing but a trickle because 99% of its total water has been consumed. Large quantities of fossil fuel in the form of fertilizers and pesticides are used to power farm equipment and are essential for U.S. food production. Approximately 400 gallons of oil equivalents per American are used in the U.S. food system. The United States is currently importing more than 60% of its oil. The U.S. Department of Energy and others project that in about 15 years, we will be importing approximately 100% of the oil we need. How will the United States pay for oil imports after the U.S. population doubles to 540 million in a few decades? Environmental degradation is partly due to population growth and is causing a rapid increase in infectious diseases in the world. Even in the United States, deaths from infectious diseases have increased 58% during the last decade! Certainly, all of us desire freedom to reproduce. However, while we are protecting our freedom to reproduce, we are losing our freedoms from malnutrition, hunger, poverty, pollution, and disease. In addition, we are losing our freedom to enjoy our natural environment. Adding nearly a quarter million people daily to the world's population reduces everyone's freedom -- now and for the generations of the future.
CIRTL - Another Critic - This time Warren Buffet, who has given millions for population, is the target.
Chris Smith and the Religious Right
In his op-ed column, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) wrote that President Clinton vetoed a foreign policy bill "because he objected to a provision restricting U.S. support for foreign organizations that promote abortion around the world." Rep. Smith misled readers--the bill President Clinton vetoed would prevent women from receiving lifesaving family-planning services. According to a 1996 report from one of the few U.N. organizations Mr. Smith supports--the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)--almost 600,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth each year; 75,000 die attempting to abort an unwanted pregnancy themselves or with the help of an untrained provider. These deaths render at least 1 million children motherless every year, and for every woman who dies, 30 more incur lifelong injuries. Recently, UNICEF joined the World Health Organization and the U.N. Population Fund in calling on nations to commit themselves to reduce maternal deaths. At the top of their action list was ensuring access to family planning. If Rep. Smith truly cared about the life and health of women and children, he would do everything in his power to ensure that both groups have access to food, education and primary health care, especially family-planning services. With a single word, Rep. Smith could sit in Washington and save 1.6 million lives.
The Rome Declaration:
Religion Counts, an interfaith group of religious scholars, experts, and leaders, met in Rome in January and issued a declaration in support of the International Conference on Population and Development. The declaration asserts that, "People of faith readily recognize many of the values and principles in the concepts and commitments in the ICPD Programme of Action because they resonate with moral convictions that are deeply rooted in the heart of religious traditions." The group is composed of Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, and Christians--Protestant and Roman Catholic--from more than twenty countries. The Rome Declaration states, "Sexual and reproductive health are of significant religious concern as integral components of human well-being. Reciprocity and mutuality in relationships is the appropriate moral and ethical foundation for policies related to sexuality. Both women and men must exercise responsibility in their sexual behavior. Most faith communities accept modern forms of contraception and family planning, and even where there is official religious condemnation the evidence suggests that a great many adherents make use of artificial contraception without a sense of being unfaithful to their traditions. Sexual and reproductive heath care, including education and access to comprehensive health services, should be available to all women and men." "People with HIV/AIDS have human dignity that must be respected. There is no justification for stigmatizing them. Religious leaders and teachers have a particular duty to dispel the myth that AIDS is a punishment from God....Those who value life should support access to services that prevent the transmission of HIV. The world's religions are compelled to assert their most fundamental teachings on the sanctity of life by advancing comprehensive sexuality education, assertive positions on the use of condoms, confidential HIV testing, and support for those affected by the disease." "The world's faiths...share common moral sensibilities. The different traditions highlight complementary values. In many indigenous faiths there is a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between human beings to the earth; in Hinduism a great appreciation of diversity and tolerance; in Buddhism a deep understanding of suffering and compassion; in Confucian teachings a powerful awareness of reciprocity and duty in human relationships; in Taoism an enduring emphasis on harmony and balance; in Judaism a profound regard for the sanctify of life; in Christianity a rich understanding of charity and mercy; in Islam a boundless devotion to equality and justice." These values are splendidly expressed in the Programme of Action adopted in Cairo....The conference articulated a new approach to the positioning of health and education as central components of human development replacing a prior concentration on fertility regulation and population control. Finally, the ICPD acknowledged over-consumption in the developed world as both socially unjust and ecologically damaging. The declaration was organized by the Park Ridge Center for Health, Faith, and Ethics, and Catholics for Free Choice. "Far too often in the age of the soundbite, it is only the most extreme and most conservative religious views that grab the headlines," said Larry Greenfield, Research Scholar of the Park Ridge Center. "Religion Counts gives the mainstream majority a voice on issues that greatly concern people of faith from every part of the world." A delegation of 25 members attended the recent ICPD forum at The Hague and the group will be represented at the forthcoming PrepCom in New York.
The 210th General Assembly (1998) urged ratification of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, which sets specific targets for greenhouse gas reductions; and, in "Hope for a Global Future: Toward Just and Sustainable Human Development" called "for Presbyterians and other Christians to lead the way to a reconceptualization of the 'good life', one that, in accordance with our Christian and Reformed Heritage, is less materialistic and more frugal"; and, recognizing "the formidable problems that substantially reduced consumption ... would pose for an economy geared to growth," called "church members, economists, politicians, and citizens to wrestle with the issues of fashioning economic arrangements that affirm global solidarity and participation by all in sustainable sufficiency".
The 210th General Assembly (1998) reaffirmed existing policies on population and , in view of "the compelling need now for fewer births, "called for "encouragement and support, respect and honor" to be accorded to couples "who choose not to conceive children" as well as to those who choose to conceive.
1999
Religion and Science
I'm not sure it's necessary to choose between faith and science to solve our problems. I rely on science, but I notice that more and more of the people who rely on faith are joining us in concern about nature. Here in the U.S., the Bible is finally being noticed as a strongly pro-environment document. Isaiah warns of overpopulation with his "Woe unto those who set field beside field and house beside house" and Noah is told by God not to fill the Ark with humans, but to save "every creeping thing." Here we find the world's very first Endangered Species Act. Even before there are people, God tells all the other living things go forth and multiply, and that is the opposite of the extinction we see taking down one species after another today. We learn in the Bible that God made people in God's own image, but look again, because in Genesis God says we are made of dust. The Bible is earthy, not focussed only on Heaven. It even tells us of our obligations to the rest of Life, and in Revelations we find this: Now is time.......for destroying those who are destroying the earth. I forget now where it is, but at one point in the Bible God says something like this: I brought you into a fruitful country, but you made it a wasteland. I'm working on a book. Of its eight chapters, one is about the strongly pro-nature face of the Bible, and it briefly mentions other religions and philosophies that stress the great importance of nature. More and more American religious leaders are taking that view of Christianity. I prefer the scientific approach to reality, but when it comes to the environment, religion and science aren't really very far apart. I think we find the basic solution for ourselves by taking the path to a human population of, for example, two billion people. Six billion is just too many of us. Nothing can save us from the huge weight of our numbers.
American Life League: USAID Responsible for AIDS Epidemic, AIDS Orphans; Genocide Hidden in AIDS Relief Package.
[Can you believe this?] "For the past few decades, funding for condom distribution abroad has fueled the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus," said the American Life League, attacking Clinton's $54 million HIV/AIDS relief program for Africa-a program titled "Leadership and Investment in Fighting an Epidemic," or LIFE. "AIDS mortality has skyrocketed over the past decade and a half, concomitant with USAID's massive condom distribution campaign. ... by occasioning promiscuity under the false guise of 'safe sex,' condom distribution has created genocide in the name of AIDS relief. .. By USAID's own admission, over one billion condoms have been provided to men, women and adolescents throughout the developing world over the past few decades."
Didn't the Catholic Church inhibit the use of condoms until the epidemic was well under way? How can only one billion condoms (many of them never used) distributed between a billion young couples in the third world over several decades possibly promote any significant degree of promiscuity? What should they do - the millions of wives who need protection from AIDS because of the acts of errant husbands?
July 17, 2000
PRNewswire
American Life League: Ted Turner the Racist Strikes Again! .
According to ALL President Judie Brown, "Ted Turner's personal population agenda is dead set against brown, black and yellow people," apparently because Turner compared Mexicans who cross the Rio Grande border to an "army of thousands of men", in statements made before a group of teenagers attending the National 4-H Congress in Atlanta. "He must not be reading about the impending population implosion the world is facing," Brown said. "In every aspect, there has never been a better time in the world's history to raise a family with many children. (Several inaccuracies in Ms. Brown's statement, including the misinterpretations of Turner's remarks, would merit a letter to Ms. Brown at
(not just Pro-Life, but Pro-Birth)
Nigeria: State Outlaws Condom Advocacy.
It is now illegal to encourage the use of condoms in Nigeria's Anambra State. The state government has also banned the advocacy and distribution of other forms of contraceptives. "Instead of teaching children how to use condoms they should be taught total abstinence," the state commissioner for health, Amobi Ilika said. Many sociologists, family planning and AIDS support groups disagree.
More than 3 million people, 3.9% of the adult population, are living with AIDS in Nigeria. The rate is rising by 300,000 people a year, according to a joint UN program.
Condoms are available throughout Nigeria because the federal government, in partnership with family health organisations, has programmes to distribute and sell them.
Many religious groups back condom use, having recognised that abstinence has failed to yield the desired results.
Anambra State has a history of political instability and violence and is now making "a desperate attempt to uphold morals".
Commissioner Ilika also railed against abortion. He said. "All fetuses must be allowed to live no matter the circumstances that led to the pregnancy, even rape."
He added that medical practitioners in the state will face stiff penalties if they are caught carrying out any 'anti-life' activities. "The state government will withdraw the license of any medical personnel who flouts this directive".
April 07, 2008
UN Integrated Regional Information Network
U.S.;: The Quiet Campaign Against Birth Control.
Mitt Romney set out to convince anti-abortion leaders he was their candidate. He wants to overturn Roe v. Wade and supports teaching only abstinence.
But Mr. Romney was acknowledging something more. He implied an opposition to the birth control pill and a willingness to scale back access to contraception. He defines life as beginning at conception. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines pregnancy as starting at implantation. Anti-abortion advocates want pregnancy to start at the moment sperm and egg meet. They'd like you to believe that the birth control pill prevents that fertilized egg from implanting in the womb.
Romnwy told the crowd he had some practice redefining contraception and had vetoed a bill that gave young girls abortive drugs without prescription or parental consent.
To the anti-abortion movement, contraception is the ultimate corruptor. And so candidates seeking the support of anti-abortion groups must offer proof they are anti-contraception too.
Brownback, Republican of Kansas, co-sponsored a bill to de-fund the largest contraception provider, Planned Parenthood. John McCain has voted against taxpayer-funded contraception programs and reports that his adviser on sexual-health matters is Sen. Tom Coburn, who leads campaigns claiming condoms are unsafe and opposing emergency contraception.
Another candidate, Rep. Tom Tancredo, says emergency contraception uses a woman's body to dispose of the child instead of a doctor.
The new wave of anti-contraception activism makes it much easier for politicians to appease the anti-contraception base. The candidates for the Right to Life endorsement are doing their best to avoid directly answering mainstream voters simple questions on the subject.
August 21, 2007
The Baltimore Sun
US Agrees Not to Fund Abstinence Programme.
In response to a claim that government funds were used for Christian proselytizing, the government agreed to stop funding The Silver Ring Thing programme which won't be eligible for more funding unless it ensures the money won't be used for religious purposes. The programme, related to a Christian ministry based in Pittsburgh has received more than $1 million in federal funding during the past three years. In The ACLU complained that the ring given to teenagers was inscribed with a Biblical verse exhorting Christians to refrain from sexual sin and group members testified how accepting Jesus improved their lives. The organization said teenagers can chose between religious or secular programmes.
February 27, 2006
Push Journal
Ban Family Planning, Abortion: Puri Sankaracharya.
Sankaracharya of Puri Swami Nischalananda Saraswati advocated a ban on abortion and family planning. He alleged that family planning measures were proving to be the bane of Hindus who would 'become a minority quite soon if these practices continue'. The Sankaracharya said that 'self-control' was the best process and 'not abortion or family planning measures'. He demanded that Ganga Sagar, a place of Hindu pilgrimage, be declared a holy place like Haridwar, and that the Left Front government in West Bengal should respect the sentiments of the Hindus and take steps to ban non-vegetarian food at the holy site.
Karen Gaia says: I guess he thinks India's rapid population growth is sustainable and does not lead to povery and depletion of resources.
January 23, 2006
Press Trust of India
Tanzania: Catholic Bishops Oppose Teaching of Condom Use.
Roman Catholic bishops in Tanzania have condemned as "unacceptable" a new science syllabus for primary schools that incorporates the teaching of proper condom use. Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, the archbishop of Dar es Salaam, said "Teaching children, some as young as 12 years old, the use of condoms is disastrous." The disputed syllabus is a section that lists means of preventing the spread of HIV. The Episcopal Conference has remained steadfast in its opposition to condoms, despite the fact that at least two million Tanzanians are HIV positive. The Conference said the church was obliged to defend the dignity of human beings and, had to speak out. However, Halima Shariff, an official of the Tanzania AIDS Commission said: "The clerics say the only way to check further spread of HIV/AIDS is to abstain from sex or having a single partner, but what do you do with those who cannot manage to abstain or stick to a single partner?"
How is there human dignity in the pain and suffering of AIDS and having no parents due to AIDs?
January 10, 2006
News (UN)
U.S.: Conservatives Step Up Activities Overseas.
U.S.-based conservative groups are engaged in abortion and family-planning debates overseas. U.S. advocacy groups are now waging their culture war worldwide as they try to influence other countries' laws and wrangle over how U.S. aid money should be spent. Pro-lifers feel there's an opportunity to stop the U.S. government from promoting abortion and sex education and population control in the Third World. NGOs have been the playground for the leftist activists, and it's only been during the Bush administration that there has been an opportunity to be on a level playing field. Liberal activists acknowledge that U.S. conservatives have gained clout overseas and intimidated some foreign advocacy groups because of their influence on Bush administration policies. The Bush administration has implemented foreign-aid restrictions demanded by the religious right. At issue are conservative allegations that the U.N. agency contributes to coercive abortions in China. Several prominent U.S. groups are helping prepare for a World Congress of Families in Poland in May 2007. The chief organizer said U.S. conservatives view Poland - where the new president staunchly opposes abortion and gay marriage - as a rare holdout throughout the European Union. In Peru, the Population Research Institute contended that two local groups had violated U.S. policy by using American funds to promote legalization of the morning-after pill. Both groups were warned, and one will have to return some funds. Women's rights activists plan to seek to end Colombia's status as one of three Latin American countries prohibiting all abortions. Several U.S. conservative groups have been helping rally opposition to family-planning legislation in the Philippines. American conservatives have supported Bush policies emphasizing abstinence in overseas HIV/AIDS prevention programs. U.S.-based groups focusing on abstinence have received grants for work in Africa, in some cases drawing criticism that political ties overcame their lack of expertise. With Bush as president, they feel empowered and have been particularly active in Latin America.
The Population Research Institute is an ultra conservative group that is opposed to most forms of contraception and seeks to prove that population growth is not a problem.
January 14, 2006
Associated Press
Women's Rights Fading in U.S.?.
In 1920, U.S. women won the right to vote but other rights are in peril. The right to birth control and abortion is under ceaseless attack by religious conservatives. Roe v. Wade has been chipped at by parental-notification and consent laws, 24-hour waiting periods and other requirements. Two-thirds of states deny abortion coverage to needy women. Abortion providers are found in only 13% of counties nationwide. Since 1993, antiabortion zealots have killed seven abortion physicians, clinic workers and volunteers as part of the campaign against abortion rights. Foes of abortion are targeting the right to contraception. Efforts to make emergency contraception available over-the-counter nationwide have stalled. A majority of states do not require insurance companies to cover contraception. As a senior legal adviser to President Ronald Reagan, Roberts once endorsed a controversial service for aborted fetuses as "an entirely appropriate means of calling attention to the abortion tragedy." The lack of women's status and value is clear from the Democratic capitulation on Roberts' nomination. Senators should be objecting to Roberts on the basis that his appointment would ensure only one female justice on a court of nine. The Canadian Supreme Court, has four women justices out of nine. Why should U.S. women, be so underrepresented on our nation's high court?
August 26, 2005
Detroit Free Press
U.S.: Role of Religion in US Politics under Question.
While the US is robustly secular in its separation of church and state, George W. Bush is not exceptional among presidents in using religious themes to explain his policy. It has been a constant theme of presidents that the US has a mission to transform the world, and represents the forces of good over evil. More recently the tendencies of the early Protestants have been joined by conservative evangelicals who have lobbied for a greater Israel and defended Christians against persecution. But the furore over Ms Schiavo seems to be turning inward to emphasise the "culture of life" that smacks of hypocrisy and double-standards: The Pope's opposition to the Iraq war and capital punishment were ignored by the US. Religious ideology is driving US health policy abroad. Global abstinence, not condom use, has become the main anti-Aids policy. Even church members fear that the Republican party, has overstepped the mark. John Danforth - an Episcopal minister, former Republican senator and former UN ambassador recently attacked his party for allowing its traditional principles to become secondary to the religious right's agenda. He said the party had ultimately "become the political extension of a religious movement".
April 08, 2005
Financial Times (London)
Religion Reproductionists
Some religious groups encourage their members to have as many children as possible. They do not believe in chemical means of birth control, but most do not have any religious objections to fertility timing, abstinence, and delaying of marriage. These religions usually teach that God will send down an apocalypse which will wipe out almost everyone except those that believe they same way that they do. Therefore, it is important for them to increase their numbers. They brush aside the conclusion that God seems to indiscriminately allow children of all types to die from malnutrition, disease, genetic defects, ect, because of the lesson of Job; it is a test of their 'faith'. They frequently will not listen to statistics and will liken efforts to slow population to Adolf Hitler's programs, and will call detractors 'agents of Satan'. Many have become convinced that the physical love between a man and a woman and the consequential procreation is sacred, and that most means of birth control are 'unnatural'. They overlook the fact that modern medicine, improved water purity, and modern farming practices, which have decreased the infant mortality rate, are man-made and also not natural. Many believe that a human embryo is to be held in the same regard as full term infant, even though it looks and behaves pretty much like a chicken embryo until further along in development.
Karen Gaia
Human Life International .
"There is no overpopulation crisis anywhere in the world." "Contraceptives are the stepping stone for abortion". "Use of contraceptives often leads to divorce."
Says the Pill, Norplant, and Depo-Provera cause non-surgical abortions.
"There are actually between 300 and 1000 abortions per minute globally."
Hard to believe since the net world growth rate is
about 2.8 per second, or 170 per minute! We'd be standing on each others'
heads if this was true and people stopped using contraceptives!
2001
Church Sex Education Program Preaches More Than Abstinence; Our Whole Lives Takes Broader Approach Than Other Faith-based Classes.
Our Whole Lives, a product of Unitarian-Universalists and the United Church of Christ, has proved popular at both churches, each has trained more than 1,000 teachers.
Unitarian and United Church of Christ youths will lobby their congressional representatives for more money for comprehensive sex ed programs in public schools.
Our Whole Lives stresses of abstinence, also includes birth control, safe sex practices and sexual orientation.
These are done within the context of a loving, committed relationship. Only one family has ever opted out. In another case, the parents took the materials home and taught the course themselves.
Many say the misinformation that abounds in the schoolyard mandates a pre-emptive approach.
Although 15- to 24-year-olds make up a quarter of the nation's sexually active population, they account for nearly half of all new sexually transmitted infections a year. People are going to develop sexually whether ready for it or not.
One of its goals is to open communication, so that children can chat comfortably with parents about intimate issues.
The state requires schools to give only HIV/AIDS education, once in middle school and once in high school. A 2004 California law calls on schools that do offer broader sex ed to make sure the courses are medically accurate, age-appropriate and free of religious ideology.
In choosing to teach about condoms and contraception, the state passed up millions of dollars the federal government makes available to abstinence-only programs.
More than half of Americans believe that teaching teens how to obtain and use condoms does not rush them into sex. A survey found nearly two-thirds of adults and more than three-quarters of teens calling on faith institutions to do more to help prevent teen pregnancy.
March 27, 2007
Contra Costa Times (US)
The Presbyterian Church.
The 202nd General Assembly (1990) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) adopted policy on climate change, which among other things: called upon the United States to take the lead in addressing global warming, urged "firm international agreements for steady and substantial reduction of the gases causing climate change"; recommended that the U. S. government undertake serious measures to increase energy conservation and efficiency and "to accelerate the transition to an economy based upon renewable, safe non-polluting, affordable energy"; and called for assistance, including technology transfers, to help developing countries achieve much needed energy sufficiency while minimizing pollution.
U.S.;: Global Warming Film Unites Preachers and Politics.
With a new documentary "The Great Warming" as their campaign tool, a coalition of religious leaders, environmentalists and businesses are spreading copies into churches around the country.
The aim of the screenings is to turn the conservative Christian constituency into a voting block united behind making the reduction of greenhouse gas.
In the past, white evangelicals have been largely Republican and the environment a Democratic issue.
The movement by faith communities has become more active on environmental issues over the last several years. More than 70% of people of faith believed global warming was occurring.
But the movement to turn that into a political power base on global warming is only now getting under way.
"The Great Warming" starts in the U.S. in October. The plan calls for more than 500 sermons on global warming.
Many conservative political and business groups challenge the conclusions as faulty and alarmist, and say efforts to rein in CO2 emissions will hurt the economy.
"Great Warming" backers claim scientific data and growing public concern. And many businesses are recognizing action is needed.
September 12, 2006
Reuters
U.K.: Christians Draw Swords on Climate.
Stop Climate Chaos brings environmental groups such as Greenpeace together with Christian agencies, asking the government to cut Britain's greenhouse gas emissions, and to ensure overseas aid is invested in clean technologies. The group plans to expand into faiths other than Christianity. It brings together voices to ask for definitive action on climate change. Its key demands are: The UK to reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions, cut CO2 by 20% by 2010 and commit to an EU-wide greenhouse gas reduction target of 30% by 2020. The UK government has made climate change a top international priority, global warming capped at a rise of 2C above pre-industrial levels, which requires that global emissions to be declining by 2015. The government must invest in low-carbon technologies and clean energy and provide assistance to the developing world to adapt to climate change. The government says that the national 20% target is unlikely to be met, as emissions have risen. The involvement of Christian groups may bring a new moral dimension to climate change. Christians should be involved with all of God's creation, not just people. The idea that Christians have a duty to campaign on climate change is well established in the US. Christians compose 40% of the Republican party and are beginning to say that this is an important issue. The Religion and Technology Project has produced a liturgy on climate change, and took part in a silent protest outside Gleneagles, where leaders concluded a climate agreement. Caring for God's Planet, endorsed a concept under which all countries would limit greenhouse gas emissions in an equitable manner. Religious groups in Britain have confined themselves to pointing up the problem and urging individuals to change lifestyle rather than political lobbying.
September 1, 2005
BBC News
I'm not sure it's necessary to choose between faith and science to solve
our problems. I rely on science, but I notice that more and more of the people
who rely on faith are joining us in concern about nature.
Here in the U.S., the Bible is finally being noticed as a strongly
pro-environment document. Isaiah warns of overpopulation with his "Woe
unto those who set field beside field and house beside house" - Isaiah 5:8 and Noah is told
by God not to fill the Ark with humans, but to save "every creeping thing."
Here we find the world's very first Endangered Species Act. Even before there
are people, God tells all the other living things go forth and multiply, and
that is the opposite of the extinction we see taking down one species after
another today. We learn in the Bible that God made people in God's own
image, but look again, because in Genesis God says we are made of dust. The Bible
is earthy, not focussed only on Heaven. It even tells us of our obligations to the rest of Life, and in Revelations we find this: Now is time.......for destroying those who are destroying the earth. I forget now where it is,
but at one point in the Bible God says something like this: I brought you into a fruitful country, but you made it a wasteland.
I'm working on a book. Of its eight chapters, one is
about the strongly pro-nature face of the Bible, and it briefly mentions
other religions and philosophies that stress the great importance of
nature.
More and more American religious leaders are taking that view of Christianity. I prefer the scientific approach to reality, but when it comes to the environment, religion and science aren't really very far
apart.
I think we find the basic solution for ourselves by taking the path to a
human population of, for example, two billion people. Six billion is just
too many of us. Nothing can save us from the huge weight of our numbers.
December 2002
Lance Olson
The Greening of Evangelicals;
Christian Right Turns, Sometimes Warily, to Environmentalism.
Despite wariness toward mainstream environmental groups, a growing number of evangelicals view stewardship of the environment as a responsibility mandated by God in the Bible. In October, the National Association of Evangelicals leaders adopted an "Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility" that emphasized every Christian's duty to care for the planet and the role of government in safeguarding a sustainable environment. Signatories included highly visible, opinion-swaying evangelical leaders and some are to meet in March to develop a position on global warming. Last fall, Christianity Today, an influential evangelical magazine, said that "Christians should make it clear to governments and businesses that we are willing to adapt our lifestyles and support steps towards changes that protect our environment." Polling has found a consensus among evangelicals for strict environmental rules. In 2000, about 45% supported environmental regulations but jumped to 52% last year. The political clout of evangelicals has increased as their cohesiveness in backing the Republican Party has grown. The latest statements and polls have caught the eye of environmental organizations who are attempting to make alliances with the Christian right on issues such as global warming and the presence of dangerous toxins in the blood of newborn children. Leaders of the major environmental groups spent an entire day trying to figure out how to talk to evangelicals. While evangelicals are open to being good stewards of God's creation, they believe people should only worship God, not creation. But the evangelicals have a stereotype of environmentalists who worship trees. Evangelicals don't know many environmentalists and have the idea they have strange liberal, pantheist views. The way to bring evangelicals on board as political players in environmental issues is to make arguments that tie problems of global warming and mercury pollution to family health and the health of unborn children. Even for green activists within the evangelical movement, there are landmines. One faction called dispensationalism, argues that the return of Jesus and the end of the world are near, so it is pointless to fret about environmental degradation. Unusual weather phenomena have captured the evangelicals and made many more willing to listen to scientific warnings. Many evangelicals find it difficult to criticize the president who has the moral authority of the presidential office and a record of standing on moral issues like abortion.
February 06, 2005
Washington Post
Unlike plagues of the dark ages or contemporary diseases we do not understand, the modern plague of
overpopulation is soluble by means we have discovered and with resources
we possess. What is lacking is not sufficient knowledge of the solution
but universal consciousness of the gravity of the problem and education
of the billions who are its victim.
-Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968
Invoking the Spirit: Religion and Spirituality in the Quest for a Sustainable World.
World Religious institutions are supporting the environmental movement as religious people begin to partner with advocates of sustainable development. The past decade has seen a growing number of meetings by the two communities. The two groups must overcome mutual misperceptions and divergent worldviews, which have historically kept them apart. Secular environmentalists worry about the history of religious involvement. Religious institutions have perspectives on the role of women, the nature of truth, and the moral place of human beings that diverge from those of environmentalists. Misperceptions and misunderstandings persist, but engagement is growing. Religious people would do well to favor sustainability, and environmentalists would gain by appealing at an emotional/spiritual level.
March 15, 2003
World Watch Institute
Alternatives for Simple Living.
Known widely as simply Alternatives, the group Alternatives for Simple Living was founded in 1973 as a non-profit organization dedicated to equipping "people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly." An active and progressive group dedicated to leading an international fight against consumerism, Alternatives has focused on rescuing Christmas from the clutches of big business, who they believe "usurp our holy day" and "exploit people and the environment."
1999
Indonesia: Discrimination Over Access to Reproductive Health.
Unmarried women have been discriminated against by lawmakers in a health bill with religious overtones. This bill, which precludes them from reproductive health treatments, and which requires a recommendation from a religious panelas a requirement for approving abortions in life-threatening pregnancies or for rape victims - will replace the 1992 Health Law, which does not regulate reproductive health.
"The bill is a step backwards from the current Health Law."
In Jakarta, many sexually active unmarried women have found it difficult to get professional advice about reproductive health without having to face judgmental medical workers.
There is concern that there would be more bureaucratic procedures in hospitals to access reproductive health.
The legislation would increase the psychological trauma rape victims suffer. Especially as the provided period only allows for abortions in the first six weeks of pregnancy, which is basically unrealistic because in this period, women are often not aware of their pregnancy.
In Mahayana teachings, abortion is considered murder.
One woman said: "For me, giving birth to a human without being able to be fully responsible for them is also a sin."
July 25, 2009
Jakarta Post
Religious Group Attacks Religion in U.S. Health Care.
A coalition of religious leaders took on the Catholic Church, the U.S. Supreme Court and the administration with a plea to take religion out of health care in the US.
Last week's Supreme Court decision outlawing a certain type of abortion demonstrated that religious belief was interfering with personal rights and the U.S. health care system in general.
The group said it planned to submit its proposals to other church groups and lobby Congress and state legislators.
Concerns are being raised in religious communities about the ethics of denying services.
The group also complained about Catholic-owned hospitals that refuse to sterilize women, refuse to let doctors perform abortions and do not provide contraception.
Doctors, pharmacists and nurses are also increasingly refusing to provide essential services on moral or religious grounds.
The government is codifying these refusals, through legislation and the recent Supreme Court decision, where five Catholic men decided that they could better determine what was moral and good.
The group includes ordained Protestant ministers, a Jewish activist, an expert on women's reproductive rights and several physicians.
Health care decisions ought to be made freely, based on medical expertise and individual conscience.
Allow doctors to use best medical practices, providing comprehensive counseling on sexual or reproductive health and honor advance directives -- including "do not resuscitate" orders.
Refusal to provide health care would be balanced by alternate service delivery so that no one would be victimized when another exercises his/her conscience.
April 24, 2007
Reuters
Religion; the Combat of America's 'culture Wars' Takes Place Within Political Parties Instead of Between Them .
There has been no polarization of the public into liberal and conservative camps," the Pew Research Center said. Two-thirds of poll respondents supported finding a middle ground when it comes to abortion rights, a solid majority. About 31% want abortion generally available, 20% want to impose some restrictions, 35% want to make it illegal with few exceptions, and 9% want it banned.
On abortion rights, stem cell research, gay marriage, adoption of children by gay couples, and availability of the "morning-after" pill, most Americans did not take consistent stances.
Only 12% took the conservative position on all issues, while 22% took the opposite stance. The bulk of Americans had mixed opinions.
About 56% opposed giving gays the right to marry, 53% favored allowing gays to enter into legal agreements for the same rights as married couples.
August 04, 2006
New York Times*
Ideology Only.
A report by an investigative arm of Congress, finds that efforts to stem AIDS are undermined by the insistence of the administration that a large portion of the funds be used to emphasize sexual abstinence.
Because of an amendment to the law financing AIDS efforts, 33% of prevention funds must be used for abstinence-until-marriage and fidelity programs. That limits the money for strategies to combat AIDS, including the condom.
The stress on abstinence ignores the situation in countries like India or Russia, which have exploding H.I.V. problems stemming from the intravenous use of drugs and prostitution. The result is abstinence overkill, with some countries having to cut spending on effective prevention strategies. With no intervention, a pregnant woman with H.I.V. stands a chance of infecting her infant, a possible death sentence because, without treatment, some 60% of infected children die by their third birthdays. Treatment with antiretroviral drugs can reduce the risk of transmission by up to half.
May 13, 2006
New York Times*
U.S.: Republicans Split Over Religion's Growing Role in Their Party.
Republicans, who have profited politically from faith and family values, are finding those issues dividing the party. Economic conservatives and secular Republicans complain their message is being drowned out by Christian conservatives. On the other side, "values" advocates say they have provided the party with crucial support, when they mobilized religious conservatives to help re-elect President Bush. Such concerns are turning Republican tensions over the role of religious conservatives into an election-year split. Former governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman has started a political action committee to elevate issues such as government spending and health care. Representative Davis said too much focus on abortion and gay marriage may weaken Republican support where economic matters and other issues count more. Ten years ago, small-government Republicans outnumbered religious-values voters by as much as 20% to 25% but now their numbers are almost equal. The schism in the party is whether or not you believe God's Law should be used to set public policy. Conflict between religious and moderate Republicans will intensify ahead of the 2008 presidential election. In a complaint the accusers said Russell Johnson of the Fairfield Christian Church and Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church violated a provision of the tax code barring political advocacy by churches and other nonprofits. The IRS said it was stepping up enforcement of the ban on political advocacy by tax-exempt groups amid an increase in the amount of money such organizations are spending on political campaigns.
March 28, 2006
Bloomberg (US)
Bangladeshi Couples Hold Dowry-free Weddings at Islamic Gathering.
Some 100 couples were married in a mass wedding ceremony in Bangladesh, during the world's biggest annual Islamic event after the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The three-day World Muslim congregation was due to end Sunday with organisers estimating it had attracted at least four million devotees, including 101 couples who married without dowry in accordance with the rules of Islam. But disputes over dowry are frequently cited as triggers for violence against women. The mass wedding ceremony, however, was attended by only the grooms and the brides' guardians who had arranged the matches. Arranged marriages are common in Bangladesh although the majority of couples do meet before their weddings. For the next few weeks the grooms will be taught by their religious leaders how to lead a good conjugal life according to Islamic law. Then they will meet their brides for the first time. Some 22,000 troops were deployed at the festival. At least 28 people including four suicide bombers have been killed in the attacks since August. The Biswa Ijtema is organised by a group launched to encourage Muslims to follow Islamic tenets in their daily lives. Secular Bangladesh, a nation of 140 million people, is the world's third largest Muslim-majority country.
January 29, 2006
Agence France-Presse
U.S.: Christian Groups Find New Allies at USAID.
Bonicelli, the former dean of academic affairs at Patrick Henry College - a small fundamentalist Christian college - was appointed by the George W. Bush administration to oversee USAID programmes. His responsibilities "will focus on the rule of law and respect for human rights; promoting genuine and competitive elections and political processes; development of a politically active civil society; and implementing a transparent and accountable governance." A posting at the Herescope blog argued that his ties to Patrick Henry College made the selection significant "because USAID has been a major player in the 'transformation' of the African continent". Here scope is organised by Discernment Ministries, Inc because they had become "deeply concerned with a radical shift away from the authority of Scripture". In December 2002, a Centre for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives was established at USAID, like the others created at more than a dozen other U.S. agencies. Christianity Today interviewed a former missionary doctor to Zimbabwe and Zaire who was appointed by the Bush administration as head of global health for USAID. Ashe was asked about the policies regarding AIDS in Africa, and to comment on the work Christian evangelical groups were performing there. A posting on the website of USAID says "Community and faith-based organisations have a critical role to play in the provision of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment. This makes them an invaluable asset in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Pres. Bush proposed spending 15 billion dollars fighting AIDS and in Africa over a five-year period. He told a Philadelphia audience: "I think our country needs a practical, effective and moral message. We need to tell our children that abstinence is the only certain way to avoid contracting HIV. The administration announced 100 million dollars in new grants for abstinence-focused programmes. One of the projects listed among USAID partnerships with faith-based organisations appears not to have turned out so well. Swaziland has one of the world's highest HIV rates. According to USAID, trained pastors talk to their congregations about abstinence until marriage, fidelity to one's partner, and reducing stigma. Unequal treatment of women contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS, so he challenged pastors to make clear that men and women are created equal. In 2004, The New Republic's Andrew Rice reported that the World Christian Encyclopedia noted that while 17 million Africans attended Pentecostal churches in 1970, that number had jumped to "more than 125 million and demographers predict that the continent's Christian population will nearly double by 2025. Politically, that's good news for the Bush administration which, since its war on Iraq, has lost more friends than it gained. USAID is in a position to help ensure that evangelical faith-based organisations, steeped in the reactionary politics of the Christian Right, receive a lion's share of money from Bush's Emergency Plan.
January 18, 2006
InterPress Service
U.S.: Zealots Find Risk of Death Preferable to Teenage Sex.
A cure for cancer has run afoul of the morality police. A vaccine prevents human papilloma virus, known as HPV which HPV is sexually transmitted. Conservatives object to putting it on the list of immunization shots that girls receive before puberty fearing that protecting a girl's health in this way could encourage promiscuous behavior. Never mind that cervical cancer strikes more than 10,000 women each year and kills more than a third of them. The subtext of the morality-police is that the risk of death is an acceptable penalty for premarital sex. Prompted by a similar controversy over whether the FDA should approve over-the-counter purchase of "morning after" pills, a study was conducted last year to see if more access to the drug would affect sexual behavior. Results showed that improving access to the emergency contraceptive does not increase unprotected sex or sexually transmitted diseases. By opposing the vaccination of girls against HPV, social conservatives are saying, `If people have sex outside of what we say is permissible, they're going to get punished.' Girls aren't likely to change their sexual behavior because of a vaccine. Getting cancer later in life is a terrible price to pay for making a bad decision as a young adult.
January 22, 2006
San Jose Mercury News
India: Hindu Women Urged to Stop Using Contraceptives; the More Babies the Better, Says Nationalist Leader.
Calcutta Hindus have been urged by their representative body to stop using contraceptives so that India remains a Hindu-majority nation. Hindu couples should produce at least three children that runs counter to a "two-child norm" aimed at keeping a cap on growth in the world's second most-populous nation. Mr Sudarshan said: don't practise birth control. We are instituting awards for women who produce 10 children. These remarks stem from the fallacious theory that Muslims and Christians are breeding faster than Hindus. According to a 2001 census however, Hindus account for an 80.5% of 1.03 billion Indians. India's Muslim community is 13.4% of the population, Christians 24 million and Sikhs 19 million. The ruling Congress Party called the National Volunteers' Force chief's remarks anti-national and irrational. India's leading population expert said that between 1991 and 2001, the Muslim community's growth rate has declined at a greater rate than the Hindus. The All India Democratic Women's Association accused Mr Sudarshan of "communalising the electorate". "Are women reproductive machines for serving the Hindu nationalist agenda? Mr Sudarshan has contempt for a woman's rights over her body, her well-being and health".
November 21, 2005
South China Morning Post
Ukraine Faces Population Crisis.
Fertility in Ukraine reduced twice for the last years, with the divorce rate 160-165 thousand annually. As a result, more than 150 thousand children live with one parent only and is not compensated by second marriages. The number of families which do not want to have children due to social, financial or psychological reasons, increased for the last years. As a result, there is population decrease and worsening of its qualitative characteristic. This is the result of state education. Socialism teaches equality between men and women. It's from Carl Marx - it's not natural and is against the Bible. A man and a woman have a different role in the family. It is the result of economic policy of Ukraine and low living standards plus the minimum care from the state. Women are not going back to the kitchen and why should they. Biblical or not- who cares - especially if you're not Christian. Get over it. Birth rates will continue to fall until men take an equal active role in the day to day caretaking of their children and household chores.
Interesting opinion, we offered it here to understand various attitudes towards population and women's equality.
October 20, 2005
For_UM
Abortion Still Supported; Despite Decades of Debate on Subject, Pew Poll Shows Majority of Americans Endorse It, with Restrictions .
A new poll shows that 65% of Americans support the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, but almost three-quarters favor restrictions. The abortion issue is of most interest to people at the extreme left and the extreme right. People in the middle have a more complex and ambivalent view: They support a woman's right to have an abortion, yet they favor many of the reforms. For the first time, the study found that a narrow majority of Americans (53 percent) favors civil unions that would give gay couples many of the legal rights as married couples, even though they continue to oppose gay marriage. The survey shows growing support for stem cell research among all major religious groups - with the exception of white evangelical Protestants. About a third of white evangelicals support the research, compared with 70% of mainline Protestants, 61% of white Catholics and 77% of nonchurchgoers. For liberal Democrats, no issue facing the Supreme Court rivaled abortion. Conservatives and white evangelicals ranked the rights of detained terrorist suspects 69% and permitting religious displays 68% nearly as high as abortion 75%. Large majorities in all religious groups and about two-thirds of nonchurchgoers told pollsters they believe girls younger than 18 should receive parental consent before an abortion. The poll found less agreement on allowing women to obtain the "morning after pill" without a prescription, with 52% in favor, and 37% opposed.
August 05, 2005
Newsday
The Methodist Church.
The Population Institute is an international, non-profit organization that seeks to reduce excessive population growth in order to achieve a balance between world population and a healthy environment. The institute was established in 1969 by the United Methodist Church and is located in Washington, D.C.
2002
The Bride was 7; in the Heart of Ethiopia, Child Marriage Takes a Brutal Toll .
There are, according to child-rights activists, an estimated 50 million young teen or preteen girls whose innocence is being sacrificed to arranged marriages, often with older men. While humanitarian campaigns have focused attention on childhood AIDS in Africa, female genital mutilation and child labor, one of the underlying sources remains ignored. Child marriage was only denounced by the U.N. as a human-rights violation in 2001. Early pregnancies are the leading cause of death for girls age 15 to 19 in the developing world and medical relief groups believe that 2 million women are living with fistulas, from bearing children much too young. Untreated they can be fatal, and survivors are usually left incontinent. Often treated like servants, young brides are subject to beatings by their husbands and in-laws. Thousands of girls end up in the sex trade, through organized trafficking rings or by drifting from abusive marriages into street prostitution. Child marriage pries millions of young girls out of school and cheated of education, are condemned to lives of ignorance and poverty. According to UNFPA, 49 countries face a child bride problem. The epicenters of child wedlock are sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where cementing clan ties through marriage, a preoccupation with bridal virginity and fear of contracting AIDS are strongest. Ethiopia has started prohibiting early marriages yet the tradition is hard to stamp out. Among Ethiopia's rural Amhara people 82% of brides are underage. But virtually every little girl is already spoken for. Amharaland has the highest child marriage rates in the world, in some corners of the highlands, almost 90% of local girls are married before 15. And because daughters rarely inherit fertile lands, keeping them at home and feeding them are considered a folly. Better to marry them off quickly, to strengthen family alliances for the lean times. Parents push their daughters into wedlock before puberty because they fear the onset of menstruation may be mistaken for premarital sex. And the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has long played a role in early matchmaking encouraging marriage before 15, declaring that this was the age of the Virgin Mary at the Immaculate Conception. In Ethiopia, education is mandatory for both sexes until the 6th grade. But many families keep girls at home to tap their farm labor. Parents also fear for their daughters' virginity at the mud-and-wattle schoolhouse 3 miles away. Child-rights workers agree that education is the most important key unlocking the prison of child marriage. Schoolwork also gives her body time to mature before the rigors of childbirth. Convincing parents of the benefits of schooling works better than just banning child marriage. In countries such as India, secondary education has slashed child marriage rates by up to two-thirds. And across the developing world, girls who complete primary school tend to marry four years later and have two fewer children. Conservative parents distrust education as most pupils never want to go back to the farm and be their mother-in-laws' slaves. In Addis Ababa, a metal structure towers over the houses, a multistory homeless shelter made from stacked shipping containers. It is a training center for escapees from early marriages. Countless runaways end up mired in the sex trade. The plagues of HIV and child marriage go hand in hand throughout the developing world. Research shows that because their husbands are often sexually experienced and possibly carrying the virus already, child wives are more at risk of AIDS than single girls. The infection rates of child brides are even higher by the folk belief that sex with virgins can cure AIDS. A girl's highest function is to produce boys, quickly and often. Starting at 14, an Amhara girl will give birth every year for 15 years and be left with seven surviving children. For millions of child brides, initiations into sex can be traumatic. Among the minority Gurage people, brides are softened up with purgatives and fasting, and their fingernails clipped. The groom forces himself on his weakened wife and she is expected to resist. A 14-year-old schoolgirl shot dead her rapist and would-be husband with a rifle and was acquitted of murder, to the astonishment of the conservative public. In a hospital in Addis Abbaba there is the reek of feces, urine with disinfectant from the patients, women and girls whose reproductive tissues have been ripped apart by too-early childbirth. For every one of the 1,200 girls who are operated on yearly for fistulas there are at least 10 others left untreated. 2 million women worldwide suffer the devastating ailment. Husbands and families disown them. They end up as beggars or hermits.
December 12, 2004
Chicago Tribune
Faith-Based Parks? Creationists Meet the Grand Canyon.
At a park run by creationists near Pensacola, visitors are informed that man coexisted with dinosaurs and accommodates the creationists' view that the Earth is only 6,000 years old. Among the exhibits is a long trough filled with sand and fitted at one end with a water spigot. Above the trough is a sign reading "That River Didn't Make That Canyon." and when visitors open the spigot, the water cuts a gully through the sand, supposedly demonstrating how the Grand Canyon was created, practically overnight, by Noah's flood. Some four million people annually visit Grand Canyon National Park, and in Park Service (NPS) affiliated bookstores, they can find literature informing them that the great chasm runs for 277 miles along the bed of the Colorado River and was formed about 4,500 years ago, a consequence of Noah's Flood. This is the ill-informed premise of "Grand Canyon, a Different View," on sale at the bookstores. The head of the Geologic Resources Division of the Park Service sent a memo to headquarters urging that the book be removed as it is not based on science, but on religious doctrine. But when Grand Canyon National Park superintendent attempted to block the sale he was overruled by NPS headquarters, and that a high-level policy review would be launched and a decision made by February, 2004. So far, no official decision has been announced.
November 21, 2004
Druggists Refuse to Give Out Pill; Say Their Religion Forbids the Use of Contraceptives.
Some pharmacists refuse on moral grounds to fill prescriptions for contraceptives and states have proposed laws that would protect such decisions. Mississippi enacted a statute that allows health care providers, including pharmacists, to not participate in procedures that go against their conscience. South Dakota and Arkansas had laws that protect a pharmacist's right to refuse. Ten other states considered similar bills. The American Pharmacists Association has a policy that druggists can refuse to fill prescriptions if they object on moral grounds, but must make arrangements so a patient can get the pills. In Madison Wisconsin, a pharmacist faces disciplinary action for refusing to transfer a woman's prescription for birth-control pills to another druggist or to give the slip back to her because of his religious views. The House of Representatives passed a provision that would block federal funds if they make health care workers perform, pay for or make referrals for abortions. While some pharmacists cite religious reasons, others believe life begins with fertilization and see contraceptives as capable of causing an abortion. A Texas pharmacist at an Eckerd drug store wouldn't give contraceptives to a rape victim. The American Pharmacists Association says it is rare that pharmacists refuse to fill a prescription for moral reasons and less common for a pharmacist to refuse to provide a referral. Medical workers, insurers and employers increasingly want the right to refuse certain services. In Wisconsin, a drive is underway to revive a proposed law that would protect pharmacists who refuse to prescribe drugs they believe could cause an abortion or be used for assisted suicide.
November 09, 2004
Push Newsfeed
Unchecked Epidemic.
Early in the epidemic, world leaders were slow to act because AIDS was seen as a gay man's or foreigner's disease. Since then, AIDS has claimed 17.5 million lives, and 37 million people are living with AIDS. Women and girls account for 60% of new infections in Africa and a vaccine is years away. Organizers of the 15th International AIDS Conference were forced to cancel a summit of world leaders because only Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni accepted the invitation. We need leadership, especially from the United States, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said. The Bush administration has committed $15 billion over five years to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean but all of that money isn't going into the UN Fund, as the administration favors abstinence-only programs over those that endorse condoms in addition to abstinence. Bush isn't willing to risk alienating his conservative constituency, for whom condoms are a horror. The administration announced it will withhold congressionally approved funding of $34 million for the UNFPA because the administration claims that the fund abets forced abortions in China - a claim that has been discredited.
July 21, 2004
United Nations Population Fund
God, Satan and the Media.
Nearly all of the news business is out of touch with 46% of Americans who call themselves born-again Christians. America is experiencing a religious revival like those that have periodically swept America in the last 300 years. President Bush doesn't believe in evolution and a poll shows that 48% of Americans believe in creationism, only 28% in evolution. Acording to a recent Gallup poll, 68% believe more in the devil than evolution. There are negative consequences to this religious influence. Evangelicals' discomfort regarding sex has led to policies that lead to more people dying of AIDS, more pregnancies and abortions. Fundamentalist Christianity is racing through the developing world and the boom is among charismatic Pentecostalists. One of the deepest divides in America today is the gulf of suspicion that separates evangelicals from secular society, and policy battles over abortion and judicial appointments will aggravate these tensions further. Both sides need to display some of the wisdom of Einstein, who wrote "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
March 04, 2003
New York Times*
Philippines: Catholic Church Praises Arroyos Natural Family Planning Campaign.
The Roman Catholic Church welcomed efforts by the government to spearhead an extensive campaign to promote natural family planning methods. The government admitted that it is advocating natural family planning in accordance to the Catholic Churchs encouragement. The campaign targets 20% of couples within five years. The health department has allotted P150 million for the program. Meanwhile, the last shipment of contraceptives purchased by the United States Agency for International Development for the Philippines arrived in Mandaluyong City. USAID is gradually reducing its condom shipments as part of an effort to build the countrys self-reliance in providing contraceptives to Filipino couples. USAID is also set to cut back its supply of pills, IUDs, and injectables to the country until 2006. Reduced amounts of each type of contraceptive will be channeled directly to government clinics for poor couples.
March 04, 2003
Push newsfeed
Dioceses Fight N.Y. Over Contraceptive Law.
Roman Catholic dioceses in New York are suing to block a new state law that requires them to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives. New York is the 20th state to require coverage of contraceptives. Churches and seminaries would be exempt but not Catholic schools, hospitals and social service agencies. New York exempts only institutions whose primary purpose is teaching religious values. The plaintiffs seek a court injunction to exempt them from the requirement. A similar lawsuit in California, is pending before California's Supreme Court. Advocates say religious-affiliated hospitals and other institutions employ and serve people of other faiths, accept public funds and must abide by the same laws as secular institutions. Bush had campaigned on expanding the role of religious groups in using federal dollars for social services. But Democrats objected to provisions that would exempt religious-based charities from anti-discrimination laws. In challenging the New York law, the Catholic Church is arguing that its health care is part of its religious ministry.
January 06, 2003
USA Today
Catholic Bishops Share Responsibility for Spread of HIV/AIDS.
All 100,000 Catholic hospitals and 200,000 Catholic schools and social service agencies are prohibited by local bishops and Vatican policy from providing condoms to HIV/AIDS patients, clients or students. 10 million people with HIV/AIDS who are "treated" by the Church have no access to condoms from their caregiver. This unnecessary transmission of HIV/AIDS is caused by a church that neither educates HIV/AIDS patients about how to save lives nor provides them with the means to do so. Even our priests and bishops have difficulty following church teaching on abstinence. For such people to tell ordinary people in desperate circumstances that they cannot use condoms to prevent the spread of a deadly disease is to preach a culture of death.
December 2002
The Washington Times/Catholics for a Free Choice
Gotta Have Faith.
The Bush administration has removed barriers between church and state, insisting that the new policy isn't to allow government-funded proselytizing. George W. Bush is careful to speak in favor of faith in general. Last spring Tom DeLay, soon to be House majority leader, said he was on a mission from God to promote a "biblical worldview" in American politics. Mr. DeLay suggested that the Columbine school shootings tragedy occurred because our school systems teach our children that they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolutionized out of some primordial mud and that Charles Darwin kills people. Don Nickles, is aligned with the religious right. Mr. Ashcroft gives every appearance of placing his biblical worldview above secular concerns about due process.
December 2002
New Moral Order?.
President George W. Bush wants support for the globalization of Bush family values. This president was born again at age 39, and he speaks against abortion for his faith. He withheld funding from agencies that discuss abortion and seems prepared to export just-say-no abstinence to sex outside marraige. At a U.N. Session, Washington sought to make abstinence the centerpiece of sex education. The administration lost that battle, but it set the tone for other fights. Members of the Congress challenged a $65 million grant to the Population Council because it is a provider of abortion and reminded the agency that abstinence remains priority in the battle against sexually transmitted diseases. This push represents a narrow conception on the part of the Christian evangelical right-wing who do not have a monopoly on morals. Tony Blair is a religious man, whose beliefs explain his support for the wars of Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. He said that it's best to keep politics separate from your beliefs. The American president campaigned unashamedly as a man with "Jesus in my heart," rescued by Christianity from his wayward youth. With Bush, the world will have to contend with a leader with a global reach that extends beyond anybody else's.
December 2002
Newsweek
Catholicism.
Your site on religion is very one sided with respect to Catholicism and ignorant in many areas with regards to understanding for their actions. If you are going to insult my faith you should research yourself properly instead of taking isolated quotes and stances that you don't understand and shooting them down. Catholicism does support family planning. You seem to have overlooked that point. They also support adoption. Putting out inflamatory statements you think you can fool or convince the average reader with is in very poor taste.
Eric Laake ??@aol.com
October 2002