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Friday, January 10, 2003
Cimagala: Our population war
By Fr. Roy Cimagala
THERE’S war, alright. Ever since President Arroyo declared she won’t run for president anymore, some are suggesting she should be more earnest in her population policy.
She doesn’t have to worry anymore, according to them, to Church pressures. She can already forget about Cardinal Sin, etc., etc.
In other words, she should just be true to herself and to the conditions of today, and wage war against hypocrisy and patronage politics. She simply has to get tough and get real!
In short, she should craft a population policy that would just reject any ethical or moral considerations. These are useless, superfluous factors to bother.
These considerations in the face of the problems we have! What practical contributions can they give other than being a restraining element, they are asking.
Poverty due to overpopulation is vast and massive. That’s very obvious. You don’t need studies to confirm this. Just drive through city streets and you will have your idea of the poverty we have.
We need to cut population to cut poverty, they scream! Not doing so would be inhuman and heartless.
Contraception is ok. It should be ok, for Christ’s sake. Talking against contraception at this time is like a mortal sin. Where have you been with the all the developments and progress we already have gained?
The more sophisticated concept of reproductive health as defined by so-called enlightened and progressive feminists should be today’s gospel. That’s the “in” thing now, a clear sign of maturity. Church teaching? Are you still living in the ancient times?
And why not give at least a soft welcome to abortion in our country? To these population controllers, abortion would mark the true coming-of-age of our people when it is accepted.
Look, we are the only country, it seems, that still frown on abortion. Those that have approved it are now gaining progress and development! Those that have not are stuck in stagnation.
And if the youth and the not-so-young cannot help but get entangled with problems like promiscuity, pregnancies, unwed mothers, etc., then why not preach about the very practical safe-sex methods, and flood the streets with relevant instruments and gadgets like condoms, IUDs, pills, injectables?
Let’s be practical and common-sensical. Why do we have to think so hard when the solutions are there so flagrantly waiting to be used?
As to the poor, why bother about ethics and morality when dealing with their problems? They are just a nuisance, and a burden, anyway. And these conditions should disqualify the poor of their status as human beings. They now become statistics and numbers, and should be dealt with accordingly.
Look at them. Look at how they behave. Indications are aplenty to convince one and all that they really do not have the so-called soul. They are just animals pretending to be humans. Why be delicate with them? Give them contraceptives, encourage them to be sterilized, show them the advantages and the safety of modern abortion.
The rich and those who bother about ethics and morality, ok, just let them be, as long as they don’t provoke a lot of mess. But the poor, please, there’s no point to talk about ethics and morality.
It now appears that ethics and morality are mere economic and social categories. Or a matter of personal preference. Nothing objective, nothing immutable, much less universal about them. They are just a matter of consensus, a matter of surveys, my friend.
Talk about natural law, and worse, about a divine and eternal law? What are these but mere myths, fables and fantasies, peddled by cheerless clerics and other sanctimonious people?
This is the mindset that is spreading today. These are the values that are the principles of education and behavior in our country nowadays. I may be exaggerating a bit. In fact, I hope I am.
But with what I read in the papers these days, with the kind of people who are articulating these views, and many other things, I am quite certain that what I am saying are the real conditions of our country today!
I am also against inhuman poverty, and irresponsible, reckless, mindless propagation of human life. But I even more against solving these problems by setting aside ethics and morality and just get practical.
What good would practicality give us if in the end we become mere animals?
We have to win the war of the hearts—to convince everyone that solutions to our economic and social problems, and all our temporal problems, can only be so when the basic requirements of ethics and morality are met.
(Fr. Roy Cimagala writes for Sun.Star Iloilo) |
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