Posted on 04/21/2006 10:38:47 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback
Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.
There are many so-called strategies for redeeming the culture. For instance, there’s electing pro-family representatives at the state and federal levels, nominating and confirming the right kind of judges, and, of course, there’s evangelism and the ability to articulate a Christian worldview in a way that our non-Christian neighbors can understand.
And while all of these are important, there’s something else that is more likely to succeed than any of these: frequenting your local maternity ward.
Regular “BreakPoint” listeners and readers have heard about the “birth dearth” in Europe and Japan. Low birthrates have put the future of both of these societies in doubt. Europe faces the prospect of cultural extinction by an increasingly unassimilated Muslim population. Japan, which has not only rejected large-scale immigration, but also having children, has a shrinking and aging population whose “national future” is very much in doubt.
These aren’t the only significant effects of falling birthrates. There are political and cultural consequences as well.
Phillip Longman of the New American Foundation described these effects in an USA Today op-ed titled “The Liberal Baby Bust.” In it, Longman argued that demographic trends predict “a far more conservative future.” That’s because fertility “correlates strongly with a wide range of political, cultural, and religious attitudes.”
While nearly half of Americans who attend church weekly say that they want three or more children, barely a quarter of those who seldom attend church say the same. As Longman put it, among liberals and “progressive secularists,” “childlessness and small families are increasingly the norm.” Thus, in Seattle there’s nearly 45 percent more dogs than children.
The result of these attitudes toward kids and culture is that “an increasing share of all children born in the world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative values have led them to raise large families.”
The result will be a “dramatic, demographically driven transformation” of American culture. “Traditional values” will “make a comeback,” if for no other reason than the alternatives are self-annihilating. The “secularists and counter-culturalists” of the future will have never been born.
And that says a lot about the sterility of the secular worldview. But while it’s gratifying to see one’s beliefs vindicated in unexpected ways, we do need to keep a few things in mind.
First, family size isn’t all that matters. After all, many of the people in prison come from larger-than-average families. The key is to replace one generation of faithful Christians with another generation of faithful Christians. Helping you do that is the very mission of “BreakPoint.”
The other thing is that our children are not a cultural strategy. Christians, on average, have bigger families because we believe that children are gifts from God—good things in themselves—and because we believe that God intended our good when He said, “Be fruitful and multiply.” That’s certainly what this father of six believes.
Still, the fact that large families have unexpected, but positive, consequences for our values and culture is a reminder that, in all of life, obeying God’s commands is always the best strategy.
There are links to further information at the source document.
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Hopefully more Catholics will start doing the right thing as well.
Kudos to Mr. Colson.
My impression is that people are beginning to have more children, and at slightly younger ages than they used to. Of course I live in a town where people come to have children - those who want none, or one, probably wouldn't come here.
Mrs VS
My impression is that people are beginning to have more children, and at slightly younger ages than they used to. Of course I live in a town where people come to have children - those who want none, or one, probably wouldn't come here.
Mrs VS
I understand why people middle class and up are having less kids - when you have another child its not like they come put and start working in the fields to support their parents..
A good school in Atlanta is $20,000 a year, you need to save several hundred thousand for the college years and todays Ipods and PCs cost more than yesterday's record players and notebooks. At birthday parties for 10 year olds they exchange $50 gift cards, healthcare is expensive and the days of parents having safe jobs for life are gone.
You don't have to give your children expensive toys. We have a lot of kids. They live pretty well, with a fair number of hand-me-down clothes, toys, and books, and when they get to a certain age they get jobs. They understand they will have to make their own way, at least they understand it as well as anyone understands the concept in this benighted culture.
The only problem I have with this argument is that even children from good, strong Evangelical or Catholic families can be corrupted and revolt against their parents' values. I hope they'll come around again, but the mainstream culture is rotten.
"Well move to a more affordable place"
I've turned down jobs in California and Boston because Atlanta already is so much cheaper. And I turned down my dream teaching job because it wouldn't have paid enough to send my kids to the school I would have been teaching at.
I'm not knocking my life - I have great life, a great wife, a great job and I'm happy. but we aren't gonna be having three kids because we couldn't afford it and still be fair to the kids.
I'm not too sure what Mr Colson would think about us here in Utah.
We have (I'm pretty sure) one of the highest birth rates in the country and pretty much everyone here is a Republican. (If you count RINO's like Chris Cannon and his supporters.)
But 70% of the people here belong to a faith that Mr Colson would consider to be Apostate.
I am raising four children in an Atlanta suburb.
I am a SAHM. My children give $10 presents. They don't need IPods. We have award winning city schools, and I love their school. If they want to get a fancy education, they will have to earn it themselves. We use the library, and our usual "vacation" is season passes to the water park, and maybe a driving trip to visit relatives.
My children have everything they need, and if they want something they don't have, we are happy to help them figure out how to earn it.
I think the baby boomers' children - those who had children - fall into two groups.
1. The lonely onlies who may or may not have children.
2. Those of more devout families with two or more children, who want 2 or more children themselves.
Sterile creatures don't propogate, and the same is true for sterile cultures.
Good article! And he's right; it's not just a "cultural strategy," but says a lot about one's attitude towards life. Being willing to have children, especially a relatively large number of them, indicates faith in God, confidence, hope, and a positive attitude towards life and the future.
I guess it's not remarkable that liberals don't have many kids, then...talk about a group that is sunk in gloom and despair.
BTW, VS, lately I have noticed younger people with kids, and also young families with 3-4 kids. A very good sign!
For all the whining that libs do about child labor, they forget that that is what kids did prior to this century. They worked. No you cant pry them away from their self-absorbed pursuits.
"My children have everything they need, and if they want something they don't have, we are happy to help them figure out how to earn it."
That sounds wonderful.
For myself though, I grew up being the poorest kid in a class of 200 and I don't want that for my kids. If I'd had other issues as a kid I'd probably be compensating for those too. :)
"Baloney. You could homeschool. That's tons cheaper than sending them to a $20K/year private school--and you'll probably end up with better educated kids.
I'm going back to my old tagline."
Well then one of us can't work... I'm the natural teacher so homeschooling would be be about the same financially.
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