Troubling Fertility Decline: Fixed by Pagan or Christian Sexual Ethics?

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported this month that America’s fertility continues to slide ever downward. In the early 2000s, U.S. births per woman was at the mere 2.1 replacement level, providing no growth, but not much decline either. The Wall Street Journal reports it is now 1.57, well below replacement level. U.S. fertility has never been as low as it is now, and there’s no indication it will begin rising anytime soon.

In fact, over two-thirds of the world’s population lives in countries with below replacement fertility. Some leading demographers say it’s closer to three-fourths. If these trends do not change, and change dramatically, this means very bad things for the future of humanity and human thriving. It has been clearly documented that growing global populations have created a world where serious problems plaguing human well-being have declined substantially in the most important measures. The population doomsayers were infamously wrong.

So, what is likely to reverse the declining tide of new babies coming into the world? An important new article from the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) explains that it is not pagan sexuality values, but rather Christian ones, that are most likely to boost birth rates.

This article is responding to a sadly popular social media provocateur who makes claims about the kind of pagan sexualities needed to boost global fertility. His proposals for the revival of pagan fertility cults cannot and do not need to be detailed here in this G-rated post. These ideas have been tried and been consistently found wanting. It is not too different from what Plato proposed in his Republic where fertility would be left to an elite class and the resulting children would be raised, not in families by parents, but by state-sponsored child-development professionals. What could go wrong?

There is a reason no society has ever sustained such a model.

Lyman Stone, director of the Pronatalist Initiative at IFS, asserts this pagan author’s “emphasis on creating a modern-day sex cult is derived from his belief that ancient societies sustained high fertility via reverencing male virility, and that religious norms suppressing this reverence are a root cause of low fertility.” In other words, Christianity is the problem driving declining fertility. Stone persuasively explains how ridiculous this is.

He notes, based on data from the National Survey of Family Growth, that monogamous men who have only ever had sex with one woman have a completed fertility rate of 2.2 children. Their peers who have had more than 5 or 50 lifetime sexual partners have a completed fertility rate of only 1.7. They are not replacing themselves. Faithfully married men are. Stone observes, “Playboys are going extinct because their life strategy is inferior, from a purely reproductive standpoint.” In another article, Stone demonstrates that humans are genetically wired for monogamy. Settling down and not playing the field is better for everyone.

And monogamy, by practice, improves the lives of men, women, children and society, according to a carefully researched article published in the journal, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. These authors explain, “In suppressing intrasexual competition and reducing the size of the pool of unmarried men, normative monogamy reduces crime rates, including rape, murder, assault, robbery and fraud, as well as decreasing personal abuses.” This is true for families as well. “By increasing the relatedness within households, normative monogamy reduces intra-household conflict, leading to lower rates of child neglect, abuse, accidental death and homicide.”

What is more, Americans who take their faith seriously, the great majority of whom are Christians, tend to report children being a joy and divine blessing above those with no or nominal faith, as demonstrated here.

And non-believing people have greater anxiety about parenting and are more inclined to delay the decision to become parents, thus driving depopulation.

Stone documents how people who value children are more likely to have and enjoy raising children. This has historically been true of Christians, because as historians have explained, it was Christianity that established the innocence of childhood and the dogged protection of children. This was not widely true before the arrival of Christianity and its influential spread across the globe.

Speaking of the ennobling power of marriage, Stone rightfully concludes, “The reality is that love for spouse and the children you make together are what actually motivate fertility, not phallus-worshipping recklessness.”

Marriage is what has the best shot at boosting global fertility. It is the premier baby-making institution, and Christianity uniquely informs that fact.

Related articles and resources:

The Pressing Need to Fix Global Fertility Decline and How to Do It

Married Mothers and Fathers Are Happiest According to Gold-Standard General Social Survey

New Family Study Shows Importance of Married Parenting

Is Inflation Driving Fertility’s Decline?

American Deaths to Exceed Births Faster Than Expected, CBO Reports

U.S. Fertility Rate Falls to Lowest on Record – Again

Global Population Has Passed ‘Peak Child’ – an Ominous Milestone

Why Americans Over and Under 50 Say They Don’t Have Kids

Death of the West? U.S. Fertility Rate Falls to Record Low.

Discarding Genesis 1, U.S. Population Set to Decline This Century Amid World Population Collapse

The Importance of God’s Design for Marriage and Family