Too many Asians / John Robbins.

  • John Robbins
Date:
1959
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Too many Asians / John Robbins. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    these maladies on the world or on America is one one-hun- dredth as great as the impact of the population explosion? Surely if the American public were aware of the threat to its own future implicit in the swelling population figures in Asia, it could be aroused to help generously. The private groups which are already working in Asia don’t need to be reminded of the misery that is caused by overcrowd- ing. It would seem logical for churches in this country to en- courage their mission hospitals in Asia to turn their attention to the alleviation of this misery by offering their services as family planning centers to all who need help. The subject of churches leads, of course, directly to the great question mark of all—the position of the Roman Catholic Church. Many Catholics today are faced with a paradox. They are aware of the problems posed in Asia and other parts of the globe by overpopulation and the continued increase of popu- lation, and yet they consider contraception to be immoral. One cannot ask the Church suddenly to alter a long-standing posi- tion on the morality of a given action. One wouldn’t think of asking an individual Catholic to participate in an act which the Church considers sinful, such as teaching the techniques of contraception. One can, however, hope that the Church in its great wisdom will see fit to be tolerant of others who strive, within their own conception of morality, to ease suffering, individual and mass, which occurs in any part of the world because of the number of babies that are born. Throughout the world the Roman Catholic Church is known as a firm and constant enemy of communism. Population growth in Free Asia is clearly working in the interest of communism. Should the Free Asian countries fall to the Communists, their new rulers would not be guided in their population policy by considerations of morality, or of free individual choice. They
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