Saturday, January 21, 2006
Another minister sees the view as a call for more white babies.
By RICHARD N. OSTLING
AP Religion Writer
Does God care whether couples have kids?
The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., ever-controversial president of Kentucky's Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has stirred debate by asserting that it's "an absolute revolt against God's design" if husbands and wives purposely avoid bearing children.
American Jewish thinkers have expressed alarm about their community's shrinkage, and conservative Roman Catholics hold pro-birth attitudes.
Secular columnist Mark Steyn predicts that much of what we call the West "will effectively disappear within our lifetimes" because of declining birth rates. Other analysts worry that declining births mean that eventually there won't be enough younger Americans to pay into the Social Security system.
Likewise, the Rev. Mr. Mohler warned about "huge social problems" that lie ahead in commentaries for his Web site and his denomination's Baptist Press, and in subsequent press interviews. But his major concerns lie elsewhere.
To him, raising children is both a God-given duty and "one of the most crucial opportunities for the making of saints."
Following Southern Baptist style, Mr. Mohler based his case on the Bible, saying it teaches that "marriage, sex and children are part of one package. To deny any part of this wholeness is to reject God's intention in creation -- and his mandate revealed in the Bible."
"Couples are not given the option of chosen childlessness in the biblical revelation," he contended. "To the contrary, we are commanded to receive children with joy as God's gifts."
A favored Mr. Mohler proof text: "Children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them" (Psalm 127:3-5).
Disagrees
A bitter response was written for ethicsdaily.com by the Rev. Miguel De La Torre, a fellow Southern Baptist minister, alumnus of Mr. Mohler's seminary and father of two who teaches social ethics at the Methodists' Iliff School of Theology in Denver.
He protested that whether Mr. Mohler realizes it or not, his "full-quiver" theology is "white-supremacy code language advocating for the increase of white babies." Presumably, his fury stemmed from the fact that Mr. Mohler's Southern Baptist Convention is predominantly white. But Mr. Mohler urged childbearing upon all right-thinking Christians, not just whites or Southern Baptists.
The Rev. Mr. De La Torre also thought Mr. Mohler's viewpoint would forbid birth control, since if children are a blessing then "the best that humans can do is have as many children as possible." Mr. Mohler didn't oppose contraception, nor did he define the number of children a couple should have.
Mr. Mohler also said he wasn't talking about couples who desire children but are unable to have them, only those who are capable of bearing children but "reject this intrusion in their lifestyle." The Bible "points to barrenness as a great curse," he noted, alongside its depictions of children as divine gifts.
Two approaches
The Mohler-De La Torre feud reflected two competing approaches toward the Bible.
But Mr. De La Torre thinks it's "the height of biblical naivet & eacute; to impose modern concepts upon ancient texts." Mr. Mohler's crusade was occasioned by things like a Salon.com article, "To Breed or Not to Breed." He objected that "animals breed" but "human beings procreate and raise children to the glory of God."
Other provocations were debates about child-free apartment buildings and tax policies and the formation of No Kidding! a childlessness organization.
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