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Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat and Hot, Flat, and Crowded, gets a tip of the hat for this series on “Be Fruitful, Stop Multiplying.” After re-reading our first two blogs in this series, you will come to the point of all this.

Actually, two points. Point No. 1: The human birthrate has begun to threaten the survival of our entire ecosystem. And Point No. 2: bad theology breeds bad ecology. And “Be fruitful. Multiply,” as an absolute, categorical directiv, is bad theology. In fact, a simple little text attributed to God at a time when survival of the tribe to which it was directed was at issue (the Jews of the Diaspora) – “Be fruitful and multiply” is terrible theology in today’s modern world, 2,000 years later. Especially when it is combined with other aspects of bad theology and applied to the ecological crisis we now find ourselves in.

First, a word about the ecological crisis. This is neither the time nor the place for me to make the case for the ecological crisis we are in. Fortunately (or, I should say “unfortunately”), it is no longer necessary to “make the case” since just about every right thinking person in the world has come to recognize just what dangerous situation we are in. Except for the closed-minded few who are content to keep their heads buried in the sand, virtually everyone agrees that global warming, the ozone layer, polar ice-cap melting, changed temperature patterns around the globe resulting in greater droughts and famines, storms and floods, etc., etc., etc. threatens civilization itself in the coming decades.

Just a few simple examples of the dangers will suffice. Plankton, the most basic item in the food chain of animate creates, has been depleted by six to twelve percent in the waters off Antarctica at an ever accelerating rate. Glaciers around the world are shrinking, ocean temperatures are rising, ocean water is expanding, and sea levels are rising at accelerating rates. Since 1980, ten of the hottest years in recorded history have occurred, with the years 1997 – 1998 being the hottest on record. Migratory patterns of birds are changing as they move further and further northward. All these examples and many more are examples of the earth fighting back, trying to defend itself against humankind’s abusive, insensitive, selfish efforts to subdue it, to control it, to conquer it.

Our uncontrolled practice of over-breeding; our technological advances to feed ourselves; our ever-expanding methods of food production and distribution (all in the name of “progress”) without regard to consequences to the environment as a whole; our never-ending quest to provide a bigger and better standard of living for ourselves is directly responsible for all this and more. From lethal chemicals in our food chain, to chlorofluorocarbons in our atmosphere, to fossil fuels all around us, we continue to attack God’s creation. The two fastest growing economies in the world are China and India, two nations that claim 30% of the world’s population. Imagine the environmental disasters when the Chinese and Indians demand the same percentage of automobiles and air-conditioners, and gas-fired appliances, etc., etc., etc., as we are accustomed to in the United States.

That’s enough on Point #1. We’ll save Point #2 for next time.

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