The Choice to Not Have Children is Selfish

[Peace Of Mind]

Do you agree or disagree.  Why?

And does anybody see the irony in what he says? 

"Pope Francis has chided couples who choose not to have children , saying the decision was a “selfish” act.

The statement, which he made in his general audience in St Peter’s Square, will be seen as especially controversial in Italy, which has recorded a steady drop in its birth rate for decades.

“A society with a greedy generation, that doesn’t want to surround itself with children, that considers them above all worrisome, a weight, a risk, is a depressed society,” the pope said.

“The choice to not have children is selfish. Life rejuvenates and acquires energy when it multiplies: It is enriched, not impoverished.”



www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/pope-francis-the-choice-to-not-have-children-is-selfish/ar-AA9h0qE

[Deleted]

Having or not having children is always selfish.

[TheHaitian]

Isn't he a pope? vow of celibacy? No kid of his own?


Okey dokey.... Moving on now

[swamp]

Yeah, maybe it's selfish, but who cares? If you don't want kids, don't have them. 

[TheHaitian]

Feb 11, 2015 17:46:28 GMT -5 swamp said:

Yeah, maybe it's selfish, but who cares? If you don't want kids, don't have them. 

I don't know some folks think being selfish is always wrong because some
of the selfish decisions I have made in my life were the best goddamn ones that I never regretted!

[Peace Of Mind]

I feel I did the world a favor not procreating.  You'd have to know some of my family members to get the full appreciation of my selfishness. 

[swamp]

Feb 11, 2015 17:48:21 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Feb 11, 2015 17:46:28 GMT -5 swamp said:

Yeah, maybe it's selfish, but who cares? If you don't want kids, don't have them. 

I don't know some folks think being selfish is always wrong because some
of the selfish decisions I have made in my life were the best goddamn ones that I never regretted!

At this point in my life I have given up caring what other people think of my decisions.   I choose to make me happy.

[Deleted]

Everyone is selfish all of the time. If they aren't, they should be...

[Artemis Windsong]

We act in our best self interest.

It's an individual and couple decision.  Not having children is not selfish but usually well thought out.

[HoneyBBQ]

Feb 11, 2015 17:59:29 GMT -5 oped said:

Everyone is selfish all of the time. If they aren't, they should be...

Got it, Ayn Rand.

[hoops902]

::“The choice to not have children is selfish. Life rejuvenates and acquires energy when it multiplies: It is enriched, not impoverished.”::

So the pope has kids right?  And expects priests to have kids also?  So that they aren't all acting selfishly? 

[Deleted]

Feb 11, 2015 18:02:54 GMT -5 HoneyBBQ said:

Feb 11, 2015 17:59:29 GMT -5 oped said:

Everyone is selfish all of the time. If they aren't, they should be...

Got it, Ayn Rand.

Her stories are mostly fantasy, but not all of her theories were bunk

[giramomma]

Huh. This is the first thing the Pope has said that I don't agree with, for the most part.

Well, wouldn't be the first time that I don't agree with something a leader in my faith said. I'm sure it won't be the last.

[Bonny]

MIL tried the "You have a duty to have children so there are leaders among us".

I think we have PLENTY of leaders. Not so many good ones!

[sarcasticgirl]

I don't really understand how not having children is selfish... But having children is not selfish.

We don't have kids... We don't plan to have kids. And anyone who thinks that we should anyway, is pretty freaking ridiculous.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using proboards

[tskeeter]

Hmmm - when you put on your Super Cynic costume, you tend to look at it this way.



The Pope is the head of a business in which membership is passed from generation to generation.

The size of the business grows or shrinks based on the number of people in each generation.

If each generation does not grow, the business does not grow.  And if the size of suceeding generations shrink, the size of the business shrinks.

The revenue of the business is largely based on the size of the generation currently holding memberships in the business.  Kind of like a warehouse club.

So, as the size of the membership shrinks, as each generation becomes successively smaller, the revenue received by the business also shrinks.

As does the amount of influence that the business exercises.

So, it's all about the money and the influence.



Then too, consider that the membership in other religions (Muslim, for example) is growing.

So a bigger and bigger piece of the world wealth and influence pie is shifting to another religion.



So, if the Popes want to stay the leader of the most influential religious organization in the world, They've dang well gotta get the birth rate up.

So, all you C&E Catholics, cut out this birth control crap and get with the procreation agenda, damn it!

  

[siralynn]

But wait - based on that other thread, I thought having kids was the selfish choice, because you need to have some parental leave, and that completely ruins the lives of your coworkers and makes it impossible for corporations to turn a profit.

[Malarky]

The pope definitely wants his flock to keep reproducing.  

That being said, I changed my mind.  I have two available children.  Born of a lapsed Catholic and an undecided.  One of each gender.  Housebroken, fine sense of sarcasm, one teen, one 20.  Independent of mind and spirit, not yet independent financially.  

Any takers?
 

[Opti]

I do believe the Catholic church

has been pro breed like rabbits for reasons other than biblical. My guess is he and

most of the Catholic church realize the no birth control argument has been ignored

more and more as the years go on. I guess he's going for the guilt factor.

I suppose he could always advocate for people serving the church to give up celibacy.

Start breeding the next generation of priests and nuns.

[zibazinski]

Considering some of the people who have children willy nilly with no thought of supporting them or caring for them or civilizing them, they're the selfish ones.

[Deleted]

Since I came from a background of abuse and DH came from one of benign neglect, and since neither of us had a clue about good parenting, we made the selfish decision not to inflict our personal baggage on another generation.  Animals breed due to biological imperatives; humans have an option to mate without procreation.  That is an option I wish many more people assumed.

[Tennesseer]

Feb 11, 2015 17:35:32 GMT -5 Peace Of Mind said:

Do you agree or disagree.  Why?

And does anybody see the irony in what he says? 

"Pope Francis has chided couples who choose not to have children , saying the decision was a “selfish” act.

The statement, which he made in his general audience in St Peter’s Square, will be seen as especially controversial in Italy, which has recorded a steady drop in its birth rate for decades.

“A society with a greedy generation, that doesn’t want to surround itself with children, that considers them above all worrisome, a weight, a risk, is a depressed society,” the pope said.

“The choice to not have children is selfish. Life rejuvenates and acquires energy when it multiplies: It is enriched, not impoverished.”



www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/pope-francis-the-choice-to-not-have-children-is-selfish/ar-AA9h0qE

It's not as if some popes haven't tried. Some were even successful during their religious life.

List of sexually active popes

[Value Buy]

We as human beings, are part of nature in all it's glory.

Outside of lemmings running over cliffs on a regular basis, and some whales beaching their selves because their radar is whack are about the only example of not accepting nature's demand of reproduction.

Even the lemmings reproduce. It's what they do in adulthood going over the cliff that is off a lot

[souldoubt]

I've got no problem with whatever religious beliefs someone has but I do find it selfish that the pope will say this while not preaching the use of birth control.  Having kids or not having kids is a personal choice and like others said whether you do or don't you're being selfish.  I don't care if someone else decides to have a kid as long as they can support them financially and emotionally.  I realize things happen in life that can impact the ability to support them financially but far too many people are having kids when they know damn well they can't afford the ones they already have.  

[Tennesseer]

Feb 11, 2015 19:34:28 GMT -5 souldoubt said:

I've got no problem with whatever religious beliefs someone has but I do find it selfish that the pope will say this while not preaching the use of birth control.  Having kids or not having kids is a personal choice and like others said whether you do or don't you're being selfish.  I don't care if someone else decides to have a kid as long as they can support them financially and emotionally.  I realize things happen in life that can impact the ability to support them financially but far too many people are having kids when they know damn well they can't afford the ones they already have.  

Per the pope last month or so:

" 'God gives you methods to be responsible,' he continued. 'Some think that — excuse the word — that in order to be good Catholics we have to be like rabbits. No.' "

www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/01/20/378559550/pope-francis-says-catholics-dont-need-to-breed-like-rabbits

Of course the only BC the church officially recommends is the rhythm method.

[souldoubt]

Yeah the rhythm method works wonders.  My buddies 3 year old is living proof of it's effectiveness.  Anyone who considers that BC is playing Russian roulette.  

[quince]

Selfish isn't a bad thing. Being selfish to the exclusion of considering other people is a bad thing.

My husband actively encourages me to be selfish. It's good to treat yourself well and to live the life you want.

[wvugurl26]

Having seen what can happen to children who aren't wanted, I would encourage more people to be selfish.

[Ryan]

Some people make better aunts or uncles than they would parents. My wife and I talk about how nice it will be when our siblings have kids and we can just rile them up and send them home

[Willing Sniper]

How do you equate children with shellfish?