Large religious families

[carrotsinthepan]

I was watching something on YouTube and it struck me how many large families are religious families (especially Christian in the US and orthodox jewish in various places) I was just thinking that they seem to attract less criticism for the number of children they have opposed to non religious families .
I was also wondering why various religions promote large families as what I watched didn’t go into that ? I find it fascinating but have nobody in rl to discuss it with !

I have a large family and often get criticised and I was thinking - can this now be shut down if I say ‘it our religion ‘ when questioned even if it’s not !

Obviously you misunderstand what Christianity is in that we do not live under the theocratic laws of ancient Israel. Neither do we take certain verses from the old Testament out of context and use them as a excuse to beat people over the head with

@Bearsporridge

Could you direct me to the Mormon podcasts? I think I'd be fascinated.!

Are you confusing christianity as a whole with you're own special flavour of it?

There are very clearly christian groups that do use statements from the old testament to beat people over the head. Don't kid on it's all one big happy blood cult singing from the same hymn sheet.

Yep, love killing babies me, my raison d'etre. Foetuses on the other hand must be protected at all costs.

What point is that exactly?

Maybe you don't, plenty of Christians do.

@Kellie45 - I see you didn’t answer how long you’ve been Christian. You have a zealotry of the convert about you.

If you want to see real extremism concerning large families, watch 'Keep Sweet Pray and Obey ' on Netflix. The cult leader Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence. He had 78 wives. It's a real horror story and an example of how people can be brainwashed.

I am talking about New Testament Christianity. There is no condemnation for those who are in the Messiah. That sort

Many years. Would I be rude if I said I saw the zealotry of the anti-religious bigot about you?

It is interesting how people like this get on the media. Do you actually know anyone like this? Yet the media would have a think they are mainstream and simple minded people believe the media.

I didn't know there was such a religion. I assume you only follow the New Testament. That would be quite counter to mainstream religion and the beliefs of the Church, so I am not sure it falls under Christianity. I think it's an issue that even the New Testament has no divine female figures. Mary is blessed because she is a virgin and mother, Mary Magdalene is forgiven her sins, but there is no female equivalent of God or Jesus. The gospels have a male narrator, John the Baptist was male. Women's highest role appears to be as handmaidens, followers, servants, vessels.

The Duggar’s should get loads of criticism. Their son is a sex offender and they protected him.

No one should be criticising the size

Oops sorry phone + thumb issue there.

No one should critise the size of anyones family

It may seem harsh, but there is a concern over resources and what the planet can support. Each child will consume resources such as clean water, food, energy. It's different if there is no access to contraception, of course.

But the growing population is not because more people are being born..it's because people are living longer. So, yes whilst I agree that family planning should be made available to all women who want it, I am unsure it will actually go very far in lowering population numbers. The issue is people aren't dying...it's a very unpalatable thought and there's nothing we can actually do about that.

The documentary made it clear that this was not mainstream. Nobody I know has any direct experience of this cult, they kept very much out of mainstream life - no TV, no newspapers allowed. The members of the cult were certainly not 'simple minded.' They had, however, been born and brought up within the cult and knew of no other way of life. It was large-scale, complete domination of a whole society.

My concern is also for the woman having this many children. In the case of large religious households if you have grown up being told this is your whole purpose in life, is it really a free choice to risk your health and life over and over again like that.

The issue is people aren't dying...it's a very unpalatable thought and there's nothing we can actually do about that.

Is this the case globally, or just in richer countries?

Funny, so apparently what Jesus and the apostles preached is not Christianity? If you actually read the New Testament you will find that the only divine figures are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. You appear not even to have read the New Testament

Why ever not? We all live in a world with finite resources — population size and growth is not a private, personal matter. I obviously not advocating sniping at individual people on the street about their actual children, but I think in principle, having more than two is a bad idea, and that this should be generally recognised.

I also want to reiterate a point that @Bearsporridge and another poster made — in post-independence Ireland, where Catholicism became essentially an arm of the state for fairly obvious reasons, until 1979 there was an effective ban on the sale of contraception, and even after that, a period when contraception could only be supplied by a pharmacist on presentation of a GP prescription to those who were prepared to ignore the Church’s official teaching. I was a student when the first condom vending machines were legalised in the early 1990s, and I spent years stickering public toilets and notice boards with abortion information (I mean, information on how to access abortion outside of the state) because disseminating this was also illegal.

Historically — but up until the very recent past — large families were often legally mandated, and not by choice. It was a crime against women. I am the eldest of one of those ‘compulsory’ large families, and I have one child by choice.

The Christian church believes in the Old as well as New Testament. OK, the gospel narrators and John the Baptist were not divine, but they had authority. God and Jesus - male, Holy Spirit I don't know. But it seems to me like a text compiled by males with a male agenda to power. I don't think a divine entity would be so sexist.

@VeganSoulFood - thank you for doing that. I had an older family member flee the Magdalene laundries as a teenager and come to the UK to access vital healthcare, it’s been 70 years and she is still too scared to return. I cried with happiness for the women of Ireland when abortion was legalised, although I appreciate there is still a long way to go with actual access.

I prefer atheist but whatever floats your boat really.