I find it morally repugnant to bring into this world children who are unwanted and unloved.
If the principal objectives of Epicureanism are happiness and contentment, then it follows that children should be conceived, born and reared in warmth, love and friendship. Force majeure employed by religious groups claiming to know the mind of God seek to force women to forego family planning and bear children, often conceived in violence or indifference. This is inhuman (actually, all too human!) and is the cause of lifelong misery and unhappiness for many millions and untold social problems, mostly among the poor and socially deprived.
With the population of the world heading for 9 billion, it is not only cruel, but it is plain stupid. Is this what God wants, that we implode, starving and fighting ourselves to death and extinguishing the species because of over-population? If so, wouldn’t it be nice to hear it from the top? At least us reasonably rational people can then plan accordingly. We cannot expect common sense from the people of belief, but if God exists and cares for us, surely he must have something to say?
“Force majeure employed by religious groups claiming to know the mind of God. . .”
To me, that is THE most arrogant religious assumption of all — that some folk magically know “God’s will.” THAT’s the first issue on which ignorant religiosity must be challenged, rather than deciding if there is or is not a deity, and, if so, what kind or how many — one or three or multitudes of idols.
It seems to me that to Epicureeans what matters more by far is rejecting at once all claims made by anyone assuming to “know” the “will” of any deity, however defined. We’ve seen in European history and in current realities that groups which claim exclusive access to whatever gods tend almost always to adopt the Torquemada Theory of Human Progress — rally the holy armies, the sacred guns, the blessed rack, burning stake, the checkpoints, fences, and torture chambers.
Once such people are refused magic knowledge, they must operate in the world of matter and of science. Yeah, that all may take an eon or two, I know.