The Church's stand on birth control is the most absolutely spiritual of all her stands and with all of us being materialists at heart, there is little wonder that it causes unease. I wish various fathers would quit trying to defend it by saying that the world can support 40 billion. I will rejoice the day when they say: This is right whether we all rot on top of each other or not, dear children, as we certainly may. Either practice restraint or be prepared for crowding.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the tension between spiritual beliefs and material realities regarding population and resources.
Flannery O'Connor's quote addresses the conflict between the Church's spiritual stance on birth control and the materialist tendencies of humanity. She expresses concern over the arguments made in defense of a population that could theoretically be sustained, emphasizing the importance of personal responsibility and restraint over blind faith in potential resources. O'Connor critiques the unrealistic hopes tied to overpopulation and urges a focus on moral choices rather than just quantity of life.
In practice
In a discussion about ethical responsibilities regarding population growth.
Let me make no bones about it: I write from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy. Nothing is more repulsive to me than the idea of myself setting up a little universe of my own choosing and propounding a little immoralistic message. I write with a solid belief in all the Christian dogmas.
What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.
If you live today, you breath in nihilism ... it's the gas you breathe. If I hadn't had the Church to fight it with or to tell me the necessity of fighting it, I would be the stinkingest logical positivist you ever saw right now.
There won't be any biographies of me because, for only one reason, lives spent between the house and the chicken yard do not make exciting copy.
Knowing who you are is good for one generation only. You haven't the foggiest idea where you stand now or who you are
He loved her because it was his nature to do so, but there were times when he could not endure her love for him. There were times when it became nothing but pure idiot mystery.
If God existed, and if He cared for humankind, He would never have given us religion.
War is the suicide of humanity because it kills the heart and kills love.
The ideal of a single civilization for everyone, implicit in the cult of progress and technique, impoverishes and mutilates us
God has wisely kept us in the dark concerning future events and reserved for himself the knowledge of them, that he may train us up in a dependence upon himself and a continued readiness for every event.
The most violent appetites in all creatures are lust and hunger; the first is a perpetual call upon them to propagate their kind, the latter to preserve themselves.
It is rational to believe, as it is our very existence that is at stake.
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