"I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history." -Cardinal Francis George

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Militant Fecundity

The Duggar Family
"I am not convinced that we are in any very meaningful sense in the midst of a “culture war”; I think it might at best be described as a fracas. I do not say that such a war would not be worth waging. Yet most of us have already unconsciously surrendered to the more
insidious aspects of modernity long before we even contemplate drawing our swords from their scabbards and inspecting them for rust. This is not to say that there are no practical measures for those who wish in earnest for the battle to be joined: homeschooling or private “trivium” academies; the disposal or locking away of televisions; prohibitions on video games and popular music; Greek and Latin; great books; remote places; archaic enthusiasms. It is generally wise to seek to be separate, to be in the world but not of it, to be no more engaged with modernity than were the ancient Christians with the culture of pagan antiquity; and wise also to cultivate in our hearts a generous hatred toward the secular order, and a charitable contempt. Probably the most subversive and effective strategy we might undertake would be one of militant fecundity: abundant, relentless, exuberant, and defiant childbearing. Given the reluctance of modern men and women to be fruitful and multiply, it would not be difficult, surely, for the devout to accomplish — in no more than a generation or two — a demographic revolution. Such a course is quite radical, admittedly, and contrary to the spirit of the age, but that is rather the point, after all. It would mean often forgoing certain material advantages, and forfeiting a great deal of our leisure; it would often prove difficult to sustain a two-career family or to be certain of a lavish retirement. But if it is a war we want, we should not recoil from sacrifice...."

David B. Hart is an Eastern Orthodox theologian

This guy reads like a modern Chesterton. Read the rest here.

Posted by David Meyer at 5:04 PM

3 comments:

  1. Devin RoseJanuary 30, 2013 at 7:19 PM

    Bam!

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  2. DaveFebruary 8, 2013 at 8:25 AM

    I adopted this strategy myself when I got married back in the late 80's. Unfortunately, my first wife died in 1996, and with all the ensuing chaos, even though I did get married again in late 1999, I "only" ended up with six. Still, it's a very good strategy, though of course it must be done with the strict counter-cultural living, or else you might end up with a bunch of lukewarm, culturally hip kids, which is probably a fate worse than death.

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  3. David MeyerFebruary 11, 2013 at 8:35 AM

    God bless you and yours Dave. I agree 100% about the strict counter-cultural living. It can be done is a very healthy way (see the Duggars), and without it the whole project will fail .

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