We've been hearing about the declining birthrate in Europe for several years now. Even the most traditionally Catholic countries like Ireland and Poland see their birth rates now below replacement level. The BBC does an article here about Poland and continues in their usual belief that women don't have babies because the state doesn't give them enough money, free childcare and time off from their careers (i.e. what is really important) to entice them to have children. The article is here.
Contrast the European birthrates to the birthrates in the Middle East in predominantly muslim countries:
Saudi Arabia 5.8
Syria 4.0
Lebanon 2.7
Iran 2.8
Now these are countries where women often do not work outside the home especially if they have children, there is no childcare subsidy or maternity leave. Clearly throwing money at families in an attempt to get them have children does not work.
Socialism (which is effectively destroying Europe and its value system) is the problem and more of the same will not cure it.
It seems that the countries that have the most prevalent consumerist and materialistic views are the ones that have the plummeting birthrates. By letting Islam overpopulate and eventually overrun us we are participating in our own cultural and certainly spiritual demise. Islam will never tolerate Christianity.
I suppose some would say Distributism is the remedy for what ails the West but other than a romantic view that emphasizes private property and self sufficiency it's difficult to know what the likes of Chesterton and Belloc really envisioned and let's face it- they weren't economists.
How do you convince people to pine after things of real value, eternal value like family, honor, tradition, art and culture? In effect the transcendent things without monetary value.
2 comments:
Reminds me of China....The Communist regime encourages families to have as many children as they can.....Well that backfired and I am sure you know what is going on there now! It is cultural suicide to have governement dictate how or when you have children. *sigh*
My own suspicion and fear is that in order to 'convince people of the value of the higher things, they will have to be stripped of the 'lower' things. When people have little to rely on than their integrity, aspirations,hopes,fears and daily sustinence, they think upon the greater things...self sufficiency is an obstacle to grace. If people have everything they want now, why look for anything else?
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