Religion and fertility

The authors examine the role thai religion occupies in affecting demographic transition. Three main effects are suggested: (i) some religious dynamics enhance successful reproduction and hence community viability across generations, (ii) some religious dynamics diminish community viability across generations, and (iii) some religious dynamics are neutral in the community's viability across generations. Key Words: Cultural evolution, religion, gender egalitarianism, gender complementarity. A sea-change occurred during lhe middle of lhe 20th century in the character of cultural evolution. To wit: inexpensive, effective reproductive technology, totally within the control of the woman, became available to a majority of women on the planet. Hence, natural increase (births minus deaths) can now be heavily influenced by the reproductive choices of women, which are arguably influenced by the value system relating to the role of the woman within the community in which she dwells. This article examines, (i) the character or the sea-change in cultural evolution, and (ii) the potential role that religion, to the extent that it is a crucible oi the community's value system, would play in determining the community's demographic viability across generations. A Sea-Change in Cultural Evolution For any intact community or social group to persist across generations, that community or social group must have a continuous supply of citizens, a continuous supply of people. "People" are a sin qua non that a community must procreate to maintain continuity across generations. There are only two routes for "peopling" a society: (1) home-grown births which occur within the referent community and (2) immigration (incorporating some other groups' births). This article focuses upon in situ births. The role of immigration is beyond the scope of this present inquiry. Indices of Fertility Demographers have given us four simple indices with which to analyze population changes: (i) birth rates, (ii) death rates, (iii) rates of natural increase, and (iv) total fertility rate (TFR). For any given year and for any given society, if the death rate (the number of deaths per 1,000 population) is subtracted from the birth rate (the number of births per 1,000 population), the result is the rate of natural increase for that society for that year. If the resultant number is positive, the population is growing. If the resultant number is negative, the population is shrinking. If the resultant number is zero, the population's size docs not change. The total fertility rate (TFR) is the total number of births a woman may expect to have in her lifetime. Under the rubric of the notion that occasionally a reminder will trump inspiration, it is useful to tiote that it is a mother who gives birth to a child. No child exists without being bii thed by a woman. A woman can exist without bearing a child, hut no child can exist without being borne by a woman. In the middle of the 20th century, the technology that presented to women the option to efficiently regulate their own fertility became fairly widespread, if not practically universal. Thus, a woman, if she foregoes chastity, could decide to he a mother or tiot. A mother could decide to have one child or more than one child. The technology that would help allow her to exercise that option became widely available and relatively inexpensive. The value systems or moral codes that allowed, if not encouraged, the utilization of that technology also emerged in various areas of world, but were concentrated initially in highly industrialized nations such as Japan or those in Western Europe and its extensions (e.g., Canada, Australia, the U.S.). Thus, in mid-20th century, efficient and affordable technology became (theoretically) available to everyone; i.e., a constant. The moral or value systems that would embrace or reject such technologies became a variable. Different communities could embrace these changes to a greater or lesser degree. …