Thanatos is a term invented by Sigmund to describe the wish for death and destruction he witnessed during the first world war. This wish for death and destruction remains hidden within the society — for a society that does not daily choose life will eventually end up dying, either slowly or quickly.

LOS GILES, Spain, April 28 (UPI) —
A woman in Spain recently gave birth to the first child born in the village of Los Giles in 45 years, causing a stir in the village. First-time parents Beatriz and Iker gave birth to Ainara in the village in Spain’s Almeria province three weeks ago, thinkSPAIN reported.

The couple has lived all over Spain but settled in Los Giles so their child could grow up close to her maternal grandparents and “grow up close to nature,” the couple said. Los Giles has a predominantly older population as no one in the village of about 60 people has given birth since 1968.

Beatriz and Iker say they take Ainara on daily walks in the village so the older residents can meet her. “Everyone’s really pleased — this is a celebration,” one Los Giles resident said. Ainara has been held by nearly all of the village’s residents and neighbors constantly stop by the family’s home to visit, her parents said.

As you can see from the graph, the birth rate in Spain is quite low: NZ, (which is generally close to replacement) is twice as high, and the world rate is higher. But Afghanistan has a birth rate around four times as high. There the wish for death is much more specific. Despair and lack of the future, combined with the Islamic teaching of jihad, leads to planned waves of suicide bombers.

KABUL | Sat Apr 27, 2013 5:26am EDT

(Reuters) – The Taliban in Afghanistan vowed on Saturday to start a new campaign of mass suicide attacks on foreign military bases and diplomatic areas, as well as damaging “insider attacks”, as part of a new spring offensive this year.

The offensive was announced via emails from Taliban spokesmen. The Islamist group has made similar announcements in recent years, which have sometimes been followed by spikes in violence after Afghanistan’s harsh winter months.

It seems to me that both of these groups show signs of existential despair. The Spanish cannot see hope, so they do not breed. The Afghans cannot in against a standing army, so they resort to terror in the hope the army is driven out. Moreover, they fear literacy and modernism, because the birth rate in neighbouring Iran has imploded. For them, the love of death keeps the tribe strong, and Islam is used as a justification.

But tribal governance leads to poverty, as much as hope leads to despair. And, as Christians we should learn from these examples and not be like them