Have more children, says Mizoram Church

Sangzuala Hmar, TNN 15 July 2009

[My addition: I cannot help mention here that when the orthodox Islamic regime came to power in Iran, they banned the use of contraceptives or birth control measures. The results was devastating: The population of Iran doubled in less than 25 years, giving rise to a large number of unwanted children.

The boys from poor families somehow survived this onslaught, however, the girls had a harrowing story to tell: some of them forced to marry persons who were already married/divorced or double/triple their age. Some went into prostitution to survive, after their families failed to provide them with basic amenities. So the strict Islamic dictat, brought unwanted pregnancies and unwanted children which Iran still finds very difficult to tackle. Seeing this problem, Iran revoked the law, to tide over this crisis.

Without learning anything from the Iran episode, the Church wants to start the same thing in India. I think with India's population bursting at the seams and High Muslim birth rate (of over 33% against Hindu's birth rate of 22%), this new found theory will add to India's population related owes]

AIZAWL: The Presbyterian Church, Mizoram's largest church, has said it will preach against birth control across the predominantly Christian state.

"Newly born denotes continuation of God's creation... It is God's blessing on human beings. Who are we to stop or control it?" said Rev. Zosangliana Colney, executive secretary of the Mizoram Synod. "Mizoram is sparsely populated compared to all other Indian states, and it is felt by many NGOs also that birth control is not a necessity here," he added.

Last year, three presbyteries, Dampa, Lunglei and Ramlai East, had asked the Synod to propagate no-birth control policy. Prior to this, the Synod had passed resolutions against the government's birth control policy twice in 1976 and 1985.

"If god still wants his creation to continue here on earth, he will surely balance life here on earth," Colney said. According Presbyterian Church statistics, the birth rate among church members was 18.77 per cent against the death rate of 4.97 per cent.

Major NGOs in Mizoram, which has a population of about 900,000, were the opinion that birth control was not ideal for Mizos. The latest church population census revealed that there are 4,39,587 members in the Presbyterian Church alone. The total number of Christians in the state is 8,49,962.