Russia's Culture of Death

Al Mohler has written a fascinating post on abortion and the continuing decline of Russia.

Dr. Mohler writes:

Reports out of Russia indicate that the recent military clash with Georgia may have represented something more like desperation than opportunism. Murray Feshbach of The Washington Post reports that, all things considered, Russia is actually close to a national collapse.

"Predictions that Russia will again become powerful, rich and influential ignore some simply devastating problems at home that block any march to power," Feshbach reports. "Sure, Russia's army could take tiny Georgia. But Putin's military is still in tatters, armed with rusting weaponry and staffed with indifferent recruits. Meanwhile, a declining population is robbing the military of a new generation of soldiers. Russia's economy is almost totally dependent on the price of oil. And, worst of all, it's facing a public health crisis that verges on the catastrophic."

The health crisis turns out to be a barometer of sorts -- and a warning of a far greater disaster that looms. Russia is falling into the rank of nations with the lowest life expectancy and highest rates of early death. No one appears concerned enough to do anything...

In a twist only Fyodor Dostoevsky might understand, Russian authorities, alarmed by the population collapse, declared 2008 as the 'Year of the Family.' Government campaigns to encourage bearing children were launched, but with no apparent impact. In a stunning disconnect, the government still offers free abortions.

What country can live with aborting 64 percent of its babies? How can such a nation survive? It has brought death into its own wombs. The babies who are born are the lucky few. The vast majority never see life outside the womb...

Lincoln Steffens, an American apologist for the Bolshevik Revolution and the early Soviet regime, once infamously declared of the Soviets: "I have been over to the future, and it works!" Well, the current crisis in Russia may well be a warning of the future collapse of civilization. Once a nation takes the Culture of Death into its heart, what rescue is possible?