Anglicans, how far have you fallen?

"A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, "You are mad, you are not like us." - St. Anthony the Great

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(First Thoughts) - According to Australian Anglicans, having children is tantamount to breaking the eighth commandment (or, if you are Catholic or Lutheran, the seventh):

The Anglican Church wants Australians to have fewer children and has urged the federal government to scrap the baby bonus and cut immigration levels. The General Synod of the Anglican Church has issued a warning that current rates of population growth are unsustainable and potentially out of step with church doctrine – including the eighth commandment “thou shall not steal”, Fairfax newspapers say. In a significant intervention, the Anglican Public Affairs Commission has also warned concerned Christians that remaining silent “is little different from supporting further overpopulation and ecological degradation”.

The biblical and demographic ignorance to make such an argument is astounding. For over twenty years the birth rate in Australia has been below the replacement rate.

As the Australian government notes, “In 2002 there were more than five people of working age to support every person aged over 65. By 2042, there will only be 2.5 people of working age supporting each person aged over 65.” If demographics trends continue, Australia will be a dying continent with no one to care for its aging population. Who do these leaders in the General Synod think will take care of them in their golden years?

Also, for them to claim that encouraging people to have babies is “potentially out of step with church doctrine” is even more embarrassing. In Genesis 1:28, God commands Adam and Eve to ““Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. . .” while Psalms 127:3 says, ”Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” Perhaps if the Anglican leadership in Australia had read more of the Bible they would be aware that God is a natalist.