Deep Ecology, a radical and admirable environmental philosophy, counts human population control as one of its main principles. The movement’s non-Malthusian approach sees humans as an essential part of the environment, a part that should not over-use resources.

Something tells me Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are not Deep Ecologists. In fact, they’re Evangelicals. And though in recent years Richard Cizik and others have shown that environmentalists and Evangelicals can make strange bedfellows, views on birth control may limit that marriage.

The Duggar Family of Arkansas recently announced that they are expecting the birth of their 18th child, shortly after the New Year. After checking out their website, I learned how birth control violated God’s will, a quotation from Gandhi popped into my mind: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are not like your Christ.” They also reminded me of James G. Watt, who served as Secretary of the Interior from 1981-1983, during, you guessed it, Reagan’s administration. Watt didn’t really believe in conservation …since The Rapture was coming. Why worry about saving trees when the second coming of Christ will destroy everything anyway? James Inhofe, a current senator from Oklahoma, is his modernday counterpart. Nothing like a little fundamentalism for your Monday!

Though I was tempted not to write about the Duggar family as they receive an incredible amount of media attention as it is, gracing magazines and late night talk shows, I can only hope they do not inspire other people to follow in their footsteps (all soon-to-be 42 of them). However, I never shy away from the chance to mention how “birth control rights have caused an increase in women’s investment in education, their probability of working, their income levels and their self-reported ‘life satisfaction.'”

Now, if only insurance covered more birth control pills and less Viagra.

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