I would respectfully like to correct this perception of what the
Catholic Church teaches. The doctrine is not "Have as many children
as possible," but "each child conceived is precious." There's a
difference.

Quibbles? Please take to e-mail. Religion really is not the province
of this group.

M. Reed

+ + +
Yes, it is not all that rare and it is highly correlated with the population
control issue. The general idea seems to be that souls are the thing that
matters. This means that producing as many people as possible (even if they
have to live in appalling poverty) gives as many possible souls to be won
(actually the poverty is thought desirable as good for the quality of the
souls to be harvested). Very much in line with modern ideas of cheap mass
production of throw-away items. The orthodox catholics are the only ones who
will come out and actually be honest about it (at least partly), but they
are not alone in believing it and practicing it.

Obviously religion covers a lot of ground and it would not do to make
sweeping statements about religion and the religious, but there are ugly
spots here and there. Waryness is the word. ;-)
PvR