Submitted by Ken, Dec 28, 2006 19:52

Mark Steyn's Dec 26th article, "Be Fruitful and Multiply", is apparently now telling us that secularism is somehow responsible for the plummeting birth rates seen across Europe and Japan. If only these silly "rational" people would become the God-fearing souls like the rest of, and accept God's decree to be fruitful and multiply, perhaps their retirements, pensions and future families would not be in danger of going extinct.

Ridiculous.

First off, why is Steyn using Russia as an example for what a "secular" society is like? Since when is "forced atheism" synonomous with secularism? Russia has never been secular. Secondly, are we to honestly believe that the troubles that now beset Russia are a direct result of its religious orientation?? Please! I don't suppose we could maybe look at more obvious and glaring issues such as government corruption and civil strife could we?

Then we have the old "Be Fruitful and Multiply". Are we not forgetting a small little fact with this? Namely, when this directive was spoken by God it was said at a time when there were supposedly only two people on the whole planet? Somehow I doubt, that almost six billion people later, God is still worried about us being fruitful. Can we not use common sense with this? I don't think it was God's intent for us to breed like rabbits until none of us can move!

Finally, we have Japan. A country which really seems to be against having kids right now. Their population is shrinking, and if the current trend isn't reversed, pension systems might be in jeopardy.

And?? So??

Are we not forgetting that Japan for the longest time had huge overcrowding problems? That competition for jobs and college applicants was brutally fierce? That apartment buildings often offered nothing more than studios and efficiencies because of space limitations?

There is an anti-natalistic attitude in Japan and it has nothing to do with secularism. It does however, have everything to do with over-crowding. Japan has lost interest in children precisely because it had too many for too long. The very beliefs that Mr. Steyn held so dear are the direct cause of the attitudes today in Japan.

Japan's population is shrinking, and it is not a bad thing. The pension systems will not be in jeopardy like most think. Long before that ever happens, labor supplies will begin to tighten, and employers will be forced to adjust their attitudes. Competition will ease, jobs will be easier to find and pay will rise. In a more economically friendly environment, people will have children again.

Don't believe me? Just take a look at what happened in Englad, slightly before and after the Black Death. People were living in pallid squallor, because labor was so plentiful that landlords could pay its serfs pittence. Then the plague came along, and suddenly labor isn't so cheap. People's quality of life rose dramatically. Not saying that I want a plague here, but I do think there is a lesson to be learned here...and in Japan.

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