Birth rate dangerously below replacement level

Singaporeans protest plans to increase immigration
By Liz Neisloss, CNN

Singaporeans don't normally gather in public protest. Decades of single party rule and an iron hand when it comes to dissent has shaped a somewhat meek public. But a proposal by the government to allow more immigrants to come to Singapore in the next few decades to make up for a population shortfall has emboldened citizens to go public.

On Saturday, several thousand Singaporeans gathered in a small downtown park near an area known as "Speaker's Corner" to vent their anger. Organizers estimated the crowd to between 3,000 and 4,000 and said it was the largest gathering since post-independence Singapore in 1965. Singapore police told CNN they don't give crowd estimates.

At the heart of the issue is a so-called "White Paper on Population" recently issued by the government that proposes allowing the population to rise from 5.3 million to as high as 6.9 million by 2030 in order to keep the economy growing and to keep it a magnet country for business.

The government also says foreigners are needed to take care of the country's own rapidly aging population.

Protesters on Saturday insisted they didn't fear foreigners but worry about the loss of Singaporean jobs to foreigners, depressed wages and overcrowding that has taxed Singapore's infrastructure, including housing and transportation. Protesters also say the government's plans will make them a minority in their own country.

"Imagine a place where you can be a stranger in your own home," a protester said.

Like many developed nations, not enough people are having babies. For more than three decades, the country's fertility rate has been below replacement level, meaning Singaporeans aren't having enough babies to replace themselves. This has had a huge impact on a tiny country striving to be a booming economy.

The government has relied on foreigners to fill executive ranks, as well as to perform low-wage jobs from construction to cleaning. While the country is one of the world's wealthiest, it also has an enormous income disparity between rich and poor. Protesters say Singaporeans would have more babies if they were more confident of their economic prospects, and that the government should rely less on cheaper foreign labor and improve the wages of Singaporeans.

          

Becoming irrelevant to the secular society

          

Catholicism in the country is becoming irrelevant in today's secularized society. Many of the Catholics are good only in name but in their actual living they no longer practice the teachings of the church. This is now the very sad reality in the Philippine Catholic society. The Filipino family, which is the basic foundation of society, is being attacked by the secular culture of D.E.A.T.H.S. (Divorce, Euthanasia, Abortion, Total Population Control, Homosexual Marriage, Sex Trade Legalization) and yet the church's efforts to protect the family is not even gaining enough support from its own flock.

Maybe the time has come for the Catholic church in the Philippines to wake up to the reality that the Philippines is no longer a predominantly Catholic country. Statistics may show that many former Catholics have now been changing religious affiliations, while other Catholics have become practical atheists.

What about the rest of the Christian denominations in the country, what has been happening in their respective flocks? Are they also experiencing relatively similar things as the Catholic flock? Has Christianity in general become irrelevant in today's secularized world? With how secularism had grasped today's society, it seems that the verse, "You are the light of the world and the salt of the earth" has now become a mere religious cliche'. Many Christians seem to only love the "feel good" effect that they get from the messages in the pulpit but in their daily living they are not actually doing what they are hearing.

The secular world is always clamoring for absolute freedom and ultimate individual human rights, and the world's governments are happy to provide them. And so since today's societies wanted the laws to serve their every desire, their secular governments willingly crafted them. Welcome to the world of democracy -- a secularized government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Nothing of God, by God, and for God.

God help the governments of the world... or maybe not. Let us live with and hopefully learn from the consequences of our self-guided decisions and actions.

"O, mga katoliko, dawn mass uli tayo mamaya ha. Ang saya kasi ng feeling ng Xmas natin pag palagi tayong nag a-attend ng dawn mass."

         

Let us be an extension of the Lord's hands

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Kababayans, parts of Mindanao are severely devastated by typhoon Pablo and many are suffering. They need all the help we can give.

May our hearts be touched by God's love and be moved with compassion that we may show kindness and extend our helping hands to our kababayans in Mindanao who have been broken by life's circumstances. We never know the only remaining thread that some souls in that devastated area may be hanging on to is our kindness. Let our kindness be an extension of the Lord's hands that those broken souls can hold on to for strength in their moment of weakness.

Bless others; and you too shall be blessed evenmore.

Nothing of evil intent could ever come from God, but when bad things happen, God is able to turn blessings out of them. Would you be willing to be an instrument of God's blessings?

There is no such thing as an Atheist

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Watch the full video: The Virtue of Faith
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