Kitchen Garden Forum

JohnN

Your suggestions highlight just how difficult/impossible population control is. Your first suggestion comes up against entrenched religion. I doubt whether any government would have the courage to face the might of the Catholic church, to name but one obstacle. And all religions maintain their power by bringing new life into them.

Your second suggestion smacks of the west telling the rest how to behave, or else! Rather like the US, Britain, France etc decrying nuclear weapons in any others' hands.

the catholic church has a lot to answer for regarding the population explosion. not only do they outlaw all forms of birth control but they encourage all couples to have at least three children. one to replace the mother, one to replace the father & one for the church !

Alan:
I agree with what you say, it's incredibly difficult, a bit like getting gun laws into America!
As far as "aid" goes, surely the base position is no aid at all at any time to anybody? So if we then target it on nations practising birth control, it's hardly telling them what to do, is it? Maybe a gentle form of bribery, but better than bribing them to buy our weapons.
We already target aid on those nations who we think support us, not necessarily on the poorest.
In some ways it's a vicious circle - in a largely agrarian economy a family needs to be large to provide income. But then comes famine, there are even more mouths to feed and more food aid needed from the West.
Farmer Jon: In my original post I purposely didn't mention the religious aspects of birth control as it's an even bigger can of worms. But I agree basically with what you say, and also include Judaism, which has similar rules. Probably some other religions too.
I've never understood some Catholic logic. I once asked a priest why birth control was wrong. He replied on the lines of "it's wrong to prevent God creating life". So I asked him why it was alright to use doctors and surgeons to prevent God taking life away. He didn't answer!
I think I'm retiring from this discussion now!