Declining Fertility Rate A Threat To Americans

Growing up brother sister no and the only people in your family or members.

This is family policy not with NC family Pres. John Weston thank you for joining us this week for family policy matters. Today will be discussing the dramatic shift were seeing in Western nations away from intact married religious families with children. While that ship matters and what can be done to reverse this troubling trend or yesterday is Dr. Pat Fagan, founder and director of the marriage and religion research Institute Mary and publisher and editor of mirror Pedia.org Dr. Fagan walking the family policy matters. It's great to have you back on the show.

It's good to be with you know Dr. Fagan is we look at trends in marriage and family across the globe sometimes hear the term demographic winter as we begin our discussion today. If you would share with us what this term means and why it is particularly relevant to what we see happening in a number of present-day cultures well what you think of an old spring summer fall and winter winter time when growth dies there is no goal. Spring is when you will see the start brother Gavin Summers where they flourished. Fall is where I was going into demographic winter essentially needs a bit like crop were not were not growing crops were not growing next generation only one of the most inferred tile regions of the world's northern Italy where the fertility rate per woman is the average fertility rate 10.8 children which means that even less than children don't have brothers or sisters in the next generation a lot of nonevents and uncles and no cousins.

Imagine growing up, no brother, no sister, no and no uncle. The only people in your family or Mam and dad and your grandparents.

That's demographic winter interesting school. Thank you for sharing that enough Dr. Fagan out one interesting theory for demographic winter is that there are really four main causes low rates of religious practice, high social benefits legacies of totalitarianism and fiscal policies that penalize investment in people. Do you agree with this theory and can you help us understand what these factors really mean is we apply them to societies, especially those overseeing such declines in rates of fertility and development low low rates of religious practices in the first one is the numbers cost with old.

This is pretty universal across religions, not just within Christianity outside there's a huge difference in the fertility rate of women who worship weekly.

Attend their church, synagogue, Mosque Temple and those who don't worship at all the different very big on average across the globe. Women who don't worship have 1.2 children.

Women who do worship have 2.4 children more for a total of 3.6.

On average, which is way above replacement for a nation. The second thing high social benefits.

Now that means were government puts the money and where governments Western governments have essentially put money into the elderly Social Security, Medicare. There are two biggest, most expensive social programs, by far, by contrast, except for education. There's that's not put into the family with kids and that the cost of education is nothing like the cost for Social Security for Medicare. So that's the. The investment is being made on the wrong at legacies of totalitarianism was the third factor you just look at the hotel in China and all the former USSR.

You know the countries behind me are in court every single one of them to this day are still suffering the consequences that and then the last one fiscal policy that penalize investment in people, one of the biggest examples of that is in the United States who gets the biggest tax breaks. The rich what they got it for businesses that's investment in business are not against that but you will get big tax breaks when you have more kids.

No, actually we've been busting those in recent years, so that's again were investing in the wrong at work best to get things rather than people. I want to drill down a bit deeper into the relationship between religious practice and fertility rates and population growth or lack thereof. How do you it is you look at this issue.

How do you explain that high rates of religious practice correlate to high rates of fertility and population growth is a couple of things that happened, but people go to church. First of all, the getting out of themselves. They're going to worship God. People who do that tend to be more cognitive. The right and wrong. The other thing is they tend this across all sort of measures the more generous the getting out of themselves.

The give more to the poor.

They volunteer more, they do lots more good day they get involved in associations for the common good and they have more kids.

They see the eternal benefit. The everlasting benefit of bringing a child into existence giving life no bigger gift you can give people go to church are more inclined to give gifts is no bigger gift you can give that to give life to them being that does not exist. And after you give birth is going to exist for all the and religious people are much more aware of that. So you put those factors together. That's why I think that's one of their are some of the reasons the push people in that direction and this may be a parent but what is fertility and population so important to the health of a society. Gary Becker was a Nobel laureate winter and economic data. Gary Becker is a neat way of summing up this aspect is a growing economy needs a growing population bar look at another way, every business needs a market if you got growing businesses, you need growing markets.

If you got a shrinking population shrinking markets, no getting around your listening policy matters of resource to listen to our radio show online enter more resources have a place of persuasion in your community website and see family alleging what do you attribute the decline in the United States of a declining population and that matter, the rate of intact married religious families that are so important to the health of the course to be the single biggest factor to big factors in their interconnect contraception on abortion, contraception, by its very nature is limiting fertility and that has become very widespread almost the second thing limiting the growth of the population is abortion. We would be replacement in the United States so tool your replacement if they did not abort on top of that, that would keep us at the level fertility amendment contraception, which explains a lot of other things also explained that the course when you look at the history of abortion and contraception first century. Given the widespread use contraceptives, the growing use, then all of abortion because babies are conceived out of wedlock by developmental woman with no intention of getting married want to have this baby here want to be doing the temptation to abort group. First, the Supreme Court ruled and gave permission for the sale of contraceptives to unmarried people taking sex and contraception outside of marriage. The medicals along and all the unwanted babies in a couple years later you will relate to universal right to abort. So the two things are connected and they have huge effects on fertility and certainly that begs the question, Dr. Fagan, then how can we restore the religious worship and sexual morals that are so necessary for the continuation of a prosperous Western civilization will. Go back to the church itself prosperous Western civilization. I don't know what's going to happen.

Western civilization.

I think the future civilization glides of Africa and in the that's where the fertility that's where the people. So coming back rather than Western civilization.

Let's go to church. How can we restore the faithful church is because even the faithful church is absolutely sex outside of marriage. You know the latest data on this is Catholic and evangelical mid €20 still think Google to church every week so millennial were single go to church every week this week regarding the cream of the crop in today.

On average they have had to sexual partners already outside. March I think we are now in the church we're in times that are very similar to the situation.

Paul had in Corinth, Paul brought Christianity to guard a hard time were surrounded with the human fall into these things with other people affect. So I think the first order of business is the restoration of fidelity within the church has a cold happen. The only thing that's going happen by deep prayer of people in the middle of art right of the center of the heart.

We converted in following our Lord and confessing their sins. First, to themselves first to the Lord technology cells confessing then seeking forgiveness and then beginning to reform here.

I'm talking about those go to church every week. That's that's Ground Zero because of they don't get it right. There is no way those overcome every couple weeks.

That really relied on the people who come weekly to be close to our Lord.

You don't Christianity is caught somebody putted rather than you don't catch them. They catch you eventually people see it, the sleeve, the joy, the holiness in your face and your behavior in the way you talk to them the kindness the logs not only comes if your dwelling with the Lord. So that's that's got to happen. First among those who go to church every week and then go to go to church a couple times a month: in the gradually true kindness, true love. That's Ground Zero.

If we pull that off. Then we gradually others will say I don't know what their drinking, but they're so happy were not happy. I want to find out what's going on there because I want that nothing will start happening. Only a fool faithful is a great challenge to all of us and it it really brings to light the connection between our faith and the culture and Dr. Fagan before we depart for this week's program I want to give you an opportunity to let our listeners know where they can go to learn more about your research on this topic. I know that our discussion has certainly whetted their appetite absorbed and I go to the post.

Well we got to websites but if you go to the first will get from there to the second and our website is married MA double or.US Advair is full of all social science on family and marriage demographics you get more data, more charge, more social science than you probably get anywhere else on marriage, family and religion. And then there is married.

But like a Wikipedia is another way of getting to the same stop but you get to the married PDF through the first website, which is Barry .us and then we have a weekly where we do three major social science findings come out marriage, family and religion, and you can get that by just mailing us at married.research@gmail.com. That's Mary, MA, double ri.research@gmail.com. Excellent. Let me repeat those of the website. In that email address offering listeners. It's Mary .us again MAR RI .us and also the email is marri.research@gmail.com Dr. thing I want to thank you so much for your time and just good the great research that you do and your willingness to read to assure that research so that we can better understand the importance of the many factors that we talked about today, almost individually, but also on our culture and worldwide so I thank you so much and we're very grateful for all those wonderful work that you do great to be with you. Thanks a million for every family policy matters production of NZ family to listen to our radio show online, and for more valuable resources and information about issues important to families in North Carolina go to my website@family.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook