another perspective

Submitted by Laurie Dinerstein-Kurs (United States), May 11, 2004 at 12:21

Ordinarily I agree with everything you say. This time, I have a very different slant on something you stated.

Regarding your comments about women today in our society having fewer children, I take issue with your premise as to why that is happening. .

For those of us living in the modern, techologically advanced, 21st C., the social need for, and the familial necessity of, giving birth to large numbers of children to assure sufficient farming help, to offset the need for continuous physical labor as the father ages, and to maintain a family dynasty for inheritance and power, is not a prime concern of most women of child bearing age.

The fact that many Moslems continue to have large families is hardly a role model or idea that needs to be emulated just to keep up with them. If you are going to make that premise, then it would follow that other moslem cultural rites should also be copied....honor killings, stoning and jihad.

While I understand the underlying problem of large Moslem families versus small western families, putting the onus on women is regressing to seeing women as baby factories, there to supply bodies for armies.

Personally, I don't think the numbers will matter as much as will philosophy. If large numbers of people believe in tolerance and peace, there would be tolerance and peace. If small numbers of people believe in terrorism and mayhem, there will be terrorism and mayhem. The size of a family will matter not. One suicide loving sibling with twelve brothers is still worse that one peace loving sibling with only one sibling.

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