“The New Yorker” recently published a book review article by Elizabeth Kolbert titled “The Case Against Kids”, with the provocative subtitle, “Is procreation immoral?”
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/04/09/120409crbo_books_kolbert#ixzz1rY8K2vNH
In her article, Kolbert describes the ideas of David Benatar. Benatar teaches philosophy at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He is the author of Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence, in which, according to Wikipedia
he argues that coming into existence is a serious harm, regardless of the feelings of the existing being once brought into existence, and that, as a consequence, it is always morally wrong to create more sentient beings. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Benatar)
I had never heard of Benatar before coming across Kolbert’s article and have certainly never read anything he has written. I am only familiar with Kolbert’s version of Benatar’s ideas.
According to Kolbert, Benatar argues that if a couple has a genetic disease that indicates the likelihood that, in the event they procreate, they will bear a child who will suffer, they have a moral obligation to refrain from procreation.
Benatar’s argument against procreation seems to suggest that suffering of any kind is the greatest evil known to humankind and must be avoided at all costs.
In church last Sunday during the sermon time, we had a report from two women who have just returned from Port-au-Prince in Haiti where they had been visiting Hope Home (http://www.cfchcanada.ca/the-work-of-the-foundation/hope-home.html).
Hope Home is home for Haitian children who suffer from multiple severe disabilities. These are children whose families are either completely unable, or simply unwilling, to look after them. In many cases they have been rescued from the streets where they have been abandoned to die. By any definition, the children of Hope Home suffer profoundly.
Yet in picture after picture, we saw children with radiant smiles on their faces. These did not look like children who would have preferred never to have been born.
It is a terrible thing to suffer. But, looking at the smiling faces of severely disabled Haitian children, it is difficult to imagine that any of them would have chosen never to exist rather than experiencing the life they presently live.
In our attempts to create a world free of pain, we risk losing the enriching reality of the lessons suffering has to offer. When we suffer, or when we enter deeply into the suffering of others, we have the opportunity to grow in patience and compassion. Suffering, our own or the suffering of others, has the capacity to open our hearts to deeper human realities and to enrich the depth of human community.
When our motto is “Please don’t suffer”, we will always be diminished by a sanitized painless existence, if such an existence were ever possible.
Once society heads down the road of abolishing suffering, there is no end to the determination to eliminate difficulties. Where do we stop? Is any discomfort acceptable? What lengths will we sanction to eliminate the possibility of disagreeable experiences? Should any unpleasantness in life be tolerated, or must we strive to abolish the slightest annoyance? What kind of community would it be that was able to alleviate absolutely all hardship?
4 comments
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April 17, 2012 at 6:49 am
Dave
In his book Beauty, Irish poet John O’Donohue wrote, “Courage is amazing because it can tap in to the heart of fear, taking that frightened energy and turning it towards initiative, creativity, action and hope. When courage comes alive, imprisoning walls become frontiers of new possibility, difficulty becomes invitation and the heart comes into a new rhythm of trust and sureness.” Adopting a special needs child 19 years ago brought my wife and me into a world where darknesses have been constantly lit up with exciting pathways of light; in which we come to glimpse behind “the shudder of appearances” the sure form of things. I know all too well how easy it is to allow oneself to slip behind those imprisoning walls of fear, of seeing the world as a straight-line march of determinism limited by the horizon of our fear-constricted beliefs. Your post, Christopher, is like a tapping coming through our prison walls reminding us of our larger humanity.
April 17, 2012 at 8:09 am
Tress
Your post and Dave’s comment , remind us that compassion is the greatest of human attributes, because it is also conjoined with love and hope, and the virtue of putting aside our own desires for the greater benefit of others, so that we may in a small way experience the love of God in our own hearts.
April 17, 2012 at 9:30 am
Jaqueline
We say…how can a God of love allow suffering.
We say, because of suffering life is not worth it.
We have it backwards.
How about we ask, well you know, God does love so why would God allow life if it entails such suffering?
Perhaps we need to asking what it is about life that is so worthy , so wonderful that God would actually risk us suffering in order to give us life.
April 18, 2012 at 10:36 am
Mark
It seems to me that Benatar and Kolbert are both right. Perhaps we need to look beyond the either-or positions of suffering as either good or bad. Perhaps we need to start from the position that intentionally hurting of others is immoral. There is simply enough suffering that comes just from ignorance alone. But it is another matter when a person devises evil. The story of Job, or Judas who betrayed Jesus are cases in point. Job proved to be moral in spite of his unspeakable suffering but we do not wish that suffering on ourselves or others. Similarly, Judas’ betrayal served a purpose but the lesson is not to welcome betrayal. Likewise, while Hope Home offers a wonderful refuge, we may feel relieved that grace has appeared out of darkness. But we know that the life forward for these precious disabled children will be hard despite their current smiles. I am more concerned how well we can extend grace towards all victims of misfortune. But to me, victims of misfortune that have been intentionally caused by someone require more grace to heal. Their plight does not simply come from an unfortunate event that life brings on everyone. They have to heal also from knowing that another human being knowingly made a choice to contribute to their pain in addition to the normative suffering that life brings.