Populate or perish.
I noticed the first comment on the post asked where did the info come from that gay relationships make for unhealthy children.
I gather the figures come from within the catholic churchs own figures and failures at managing children within "single" (married to the church) relationships.
When it comes down to it, the whole thing is hypocracy, the church teaches celibacy, forbids marriage and so on yet demand that those not in that echelon marry, not use contraception and so on.
It is like the pope saying we are squandering the resources, Ummm...
Is not the Vatican city and its world of churches not the largest consumers and squanderers in the history of the planet, both financially and in terms of human lives in building its empire. I'll take a dozen colums and one fraction of the vatican courtyard to build my little palace, arent we all entitled to live in the same splendour as the papal state.

"Populate or perish"
Is it bad?
What do you expect from religious or national leaders to say when all the evidents show that Cristian or western countries are going to have big problems if they do not increase the births?
This is a huge problem for most European countries.
It is easy to say all religious and all civilizations are equal, we say it because we try to improve the relations between people from different religious, races or civilizations or in worst cases because we try to avoid conflicts.
I believe that there is a huge gap between European and other civilizations, between Christianity and other religious.
I am atheist, there is a huge number of atheists in Cristian world BUT
I KNOW THAT I AM ATHEIST NOT BECAUSE THE CRISTIAN RELIGIOUS IS WORST FROM THE OTHERS RELIGIOUS BUT BECAUSE IT GAVE ME THE CHANCE, THE FREEDOM TO LEARN ABOUT RELIGIOUS AND TO EXPRESS FREELY MY ATHEISTIC IDEAS.
Can any one tell me what could happen to me if I was in a non European Country (USA, Australia are mostly European migrants=European civilization) and if I said publicly that I am atheist? probably death penalty!
Can any one tell me what could happen to me if I was in a non European Country (USA, Australia are mostly European migrants=European civilization)and I claim my basic rights? probably life prison!
European civilization, Western civilization, OUR CIVILIZATION is on the top and with huge distance from all the other civilizations.
I agree with Cardinal Pell's "Populate or perish" and to be honest this is not Cardinal Pell's but belongs to most European political or religious leaders, left or right, religious or atheists.
It is seemed there are some people who enjoy the benefits and goodies from our civilization but are not ready to protect it.
YES POPULATE OR PERISH!
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

“I agree with Cardinal Pell's ‘Populate or perish’…”

Antonious, your reason for agreeing is that you think Australia and European countries need to increase their populations in order to keep up with the rapid increase in Muslim and/or third-world countries, yes? (I’m guessing a bit here, so if you could clarify this, it would be appreciated)

There may be an argument in there for some European countries, but certainly not for Australia, which has rapid population growth that is due about 40% to births and 60% to immigration or something like that.

Pell was exhorting us to have more babies in order to keep up the birthrate needed for a stable population. Well, even if we had net zero immigration, Australia’s population would still be growing at a considerable rate due to births alone. So he is entirely wrong in what he is espousing.

He seems to be interested in us achieving a stable population, which is excellent, if it is true. So if he just got his facts straight, he might see fit to retract his exhortation to increase breeding!?

Now this would be very interesting to find out about. My bet is that he’d continue to push for more babies, with the espousal of some other motive.

ASymeonakis:
Your statement was a load of "claptrap"! This is whole problem with the world today, we are all being urged to procreate for what valid reason,....the world is already overpopulated and as the hard cold facts show us we are rapidly diminishing our resources at an ever increasing rate!

Anybody with half an ounce of brain should be questioning why we are being exhorted to procreate, regardless of who is doing the exhorting!
The religious nuts out there cannot see the wood for the trees, being blinded by the mentally implanted light of the promised paradise!

The real reasom for "production/perish" theory is simply a lie of convenience, .....an exhortation to ensure a continuance of supply of economic and physical cannon-fodder to sate the greed of the money-makers of the world who have for many generations sucked the financial blood from their unwary brainwashed victims!

Let each man decide the size of his own family! Let each man save and pay for the necessities of life, instead of falling prey to the jackal money-lenders! Let us not be swayed by the greed of the religious "cults" who themselves fatten off the public purse!

Let every man exercise his own right to think logically for himself thus ultimately making his own decision in the direction in life that he takes!

Ludwig

I am internationalist but I do not ignore the individuals or nations. As I am interested for Aborigine's civilization or for freedom of expression in the same way I am interested for European civilization and religions.

For me European civilization is on the top of human civilizations ever exist and democracy is the best tool to promote the social or global problems. I do not say it is very good, I am left because I want its improvement but comparing with other civilizations it is the best.
I am worried from the fast increase of people from other civilizations AND I DO NOT INDENT TO ABANDON EUROPEAN VALUES, I DO NOT INDENT TO ABANDON DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES AND HUMAN RIGHTS.

I CAN NOT FIND ANY SOLUTION FROM THIS THREAT IN A DEMOCRATIC ENVIRONMENT EXCEPT FROM "Populate of perish"
We try to keep the conflict between different civilizations or religious in the lowest possible level BUT IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY DO NOT EXIST.
Some times it is not bad to go few steps backward to protect forgotten basic values.

Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

Antonios, if you think about it long enough, you will one day realise
that the title should rather be "Populate and perish".

Simply creating ever more humans on a given space, means that they
will simply fight over scarcer and scarcer resources. They tried
it in Rwanda and landed up with genocide.

Fact is that if Catholics and Muslims both try to outbreed each
other, they will eventually both snuff it, but realise it when its
a little too late, as its not sustainable. I guess the religious
will then call it their judgement day, but its basic biology.
Without biodiversity, you won't have a humanity and the planet
will simply spin with little but cockroaches, ants and similar
species on board. Nobody will be around to care either.

Don't be too afraid of the Muslim threat and I will explain why.
Your biggest hope is in fact that technology called the internet
and its changing the world quite quickly, due to the speed of change
of information. From Iran to Saudi Arabia, the young are tuning
in and switching on and informing themselves about the world.

They are calling for change and for modernisation. People power
will eventually bring that about, its a question of time. Yes,
right now some old conservative farts rule these places and impose
their will. The same was the case when the Catholic Church ruled
what is now the West. Change came, it came slowly, it had to
be fought for, but it came and happened. The same will happen in
these places, only faster, due to the speed of information.

All the surveys that I've ever seen, seem to show that only
a small % of the community are deeply religious. Even in Iran,
it was only something like 30%, that even bothered to attend a
mosque. In Saudi Arabia they need the religious police to force
people to attend. Underlying those strict Govt rulers are everyday
people, who are not as fanatical as the few who hold power.

When some of these old farts die, change will happen, as it always
does.