I was chatting with my friend yesterday and he made a statement that surprised me--that the Pope needs to do a better job in Africa because their population is getting out of control. The millions of people living in 90% of the area are living unsustainably off of whatever foreign aid they can get without the corrupt governments stealing it all for themselves. My friend (who thinks very lowly of religion in general) said that they need to get more word out about condoms to decrease the surplus populaion and that the Pope needs to switch his position that they should be practicing abstinance and that condoms are what is holding the Africans down.
This made me think. Many Protestants dislike the Catholic Church (dislike, distrust, whatever) so my thoughts automatically went to what they were doing in Africa. And I made some startling revelations:
1) The Evangelical Protestants ALSO teach Abstinance only. They are the ones who do the most to influence sex education policies in many US states. So, whether they like it or not, the Evangelical Protestants are "preaching" a policy much like the Catholics.
2) Being Catholic (or at least, fomerlly being Catholic and living in a Catholic based family) I started thinking about all that I know and what their birth practices are--they have small families and use birth control. My mother, when she had her "tubes tied" after the birth of my brother, went with my father to confession, feeling guilty about doing such an un-Catholic thing, and was told that they should do 10 "Our Fathers" and a "Hail Mary" and be done with it. They were doing what was right for their family and was not sinning further by having a dozen children of which they cannot take care of. Of all the Catholic families I know of (of my parents generation--seeing as how birth control wasn't used much in my grandparents generation, though after 8 children in 10 years my Grandfather had a vasectomy) they have 2 or 3 children, choosing to stop rather than have more children than they can care for. They teach their children about birth control, though of course expressing a wish that they remain abstinant. I've noticed that the "quiverfull" movement is a Protestant movement. True, those families are able to care fully for their children, but there is still a matter of expressing a policy that not everyone can fulfill in the way that everyone expects. There will always be parents who just can't afford to feed 12 children--such is the nature of a capitalist society. To think otherwise is sadly naive.
3) The notion of the Jesuit Missionary (a Catholic Missionary) is from the long forgotten past. Catholics do not go out and convert the heathens anymore. Set up Churches in 3rd world countries, yes, but actively seeking converts, no. That has become the domain of the Protestants (I actually wonder what the fallout would be should a group of Catholics stand in an open forum and preach like the Protestants do). However, Africa was/is a Catholic influenced continent. This is why the Pope's comments on condoms actually means something. BUT, this doesn't mean that the Protestants can't venture over there and teach the importance of condom use to protect against AIDS and other STDs. But I guess, based on the previous thought, there doesn't seem to be much of a Protestant will to get birth control into areas that are over populated and need to learn sustainability before the rest of the world faces the shortages that will cause a cease in foreign food aid since we will have our own shortages to deal with. The population in Africa will crash in most areas, where only those able to farm a little will be left alive. Isn't it better to teach them about condoms and contriception, to help them survive from AIDS so that they can move forward--so that their innovators won't die before they come up with their next big idea. Every child is born with promise, which only with proper care and nurturing will they be able to reach their full potential--if they die from AIDS contracted at birth or starve to death because their government is too corrupt and there is no one alive who knows the old ways when they were able to survive under their own will. Is it humane to teach practices which support the birth of children that you know will die in less than 5 years because of the other conditions? We've already failed when it comes to fixing governments and economics in Africa, why can't we do a small part to at least ensure that at least those who are there now won't die from AIDS and food shortages caused by over population?
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