While it may be true that the Vatican enthusiasm for population growth is a serious factor in the continuing over-population of our planet, Yabby seems to conveniently ignore that Islam is yet another powerful religious force actively encouraging it's followers to populate in ever greater numbers with a view to dominating the world with it's followers and philosophy.

See http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Islam

Quote: Based on the percentages published in the 2005 CIA World Factbook ("World"), Islam is the second-largest religion in the world. According to the World Network of Religious Futurists, the U.S. Center for World Mission, and the Samuel Huntington, Islam is growing faster numerically than any of the other major world religions.

Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance estimates that it is growing at about 2.9% annually, as opposed to 2.3% per year global population growth. This is attributed either to the higher birth rates in many Islamic countries (six out of the top-ten countries in the world with the highest birth rates have a Muslim majority [1]) and/or high rates of conversion to Islam.

Commonly cited estimates of the Muslim population today range between 900 million and 1.4 billion people (cf. Adherents.com); estimates of Islam by country based on U.S. State Department figures yield a total of 1.48 billion, while the Muslim delegation at the United Nations quoted 1.2 billion as the global Muslim population in Sept 2005. End Quote.

Muslims constitute around 70% of the total population of the entire Asian regions and Middle East. These numbers surely should count for something in this debate as Islam is as fanatical about the population expansion issue as Catholicism.

Please continue with the discussion on stabilizing world population but be sure to provide a balanced arguement.

Source: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/xx.html

Christians 32.84% (of which Roman Catholics 17.34%, Protestants 5.78%, Orthodox 3.44%, Anglicans 1.27%), Muslims 19.9%, Hindus 13.29%, Buddhists 5.92%, Sikhs 0.39%, Jews 0.23%, other religions 12.63%, non-religious 12.44%, atheists 2.36% (2003 est.)

Interestingly, upon further investigation, Muslims outnumber Catholics by approx. 2.5% globally and are growing in faster numbers according to the figures quoted in my previous post.

Sten/RK, sounds promising. But the thread has drifted to population control and religion, with G’eer indicating that 85% of people profess a religious affiliation. The fact that so many believe could suggest that there might be some merit in the pursuit of spiritual growth.

The Buddha taught that only human beings have the capacity to become enlightened, to attain the highest spiritual standing. He also said that the chance of being born as a human being rather than as another creature was vanishingly small. So one could argue that there is a strong spiritual case for encouraging population growth, to extend that unique opportunity to as many beings as possible.

Even ignoring that, most predictions are for global population to stabilise around mid-21st century. I can’t imagine what policies could be put in place to reduce growth in, say, China, India, Muslim countries and South America sufficiently to significantly advance the timing of population stabilisation or significantly reduce the level at which it stabilises in perhaps 40-50 years time. Perhaps those seeking to restrict population growth have some grand plan which isn’t obvious to me?

Faustino (not affiliated to any organised religion)

Faustino -

Population stabilisation is a tough problem because it seems unnatural to limit fertility after so many millennia of trying to increase fertility in order to survive as a species. At the same time the earth seems flat and if man was meant to fly, God would have given us wings, so we can learn new things.

There have been some effective means of stabilising population. The UN estimates that China would have had 300 million more people without the one child policy and all 300 million would have been living in poverty. Mexico has reduced its population growth rate from 3.4% in 1970 to 1.4% in 2005 by increasing the availability of contraception and making efforts to change attitudes toward contraception and family size.

I worry about the idea that there really is no problem because world population will stabilise around 9 to 10 billion by mid-century. 3 billion extra people seems like a lot of people (150 Australias) and essentially all will be in poor countries. Maybe the numbers are just too big to comprehend.

If world population stabilises at 8.5 billion instead of 9.5 billion that would probably mean a billion less people in the world living in poverty. That seems like a better world to me.

This has been an interesting thread. I agree with many of the posters here. While I am no ecologist the process of using algae does appear to offer a method to reduce CO2 emissions. The idea of linking the pools to industry makes a lot of sense.

And I do agree that this planet needs to achieve a sustainable population. As people are no doubt already aware; the more equal societies and more educated that the women in those societies are, then the less babies born. So for a sustainable population all we need are equal rights for women.

And, yes, fundamental religion of all stripes prevents the above from being achieved. Populate or perish no longer applies. Rather we need to educate or face extermination.

Geer, nothing convenient about what I wrote lol. While not wanting to turn this thread into a population control thread, fact is that the Vatican is the only worldwide institution campaigning relentlessly against contraception and abortion. Fact is every woman on the planet should have the right to family planning, anything else is not sustainable.

I am a critic of Islam too, but I try to see things as they are. Islam is structured diffently to the Vatican. Lots of little groups with no top down structure, no papal doctrine etc which cannot be changed. Within Islam, the problem of overpopulation is well recognised and although coming from a long way behind, at least they are starting to head in a new direction.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/contemporary/2005/05/article03.shtml