And the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth
Posted on December 9, 2008
And the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth
Scripture says that the meek shall inherit the Earth.
Guess what? It is already happening.
Among richer, more secular countries, the birthrate is not at the rate of replacement. Maintaining a steady population requires a birth rate of 2.1 In Western Europe, the birth rate currently stands at 1.5, or 30 percent below replacement.
In 30 years there will be 70 to 80 million fewer Europeans than there are today. The current birth rate in Germany is 1.3. Italy and Spain are even lower at 1.2. At that rate, the working age population declines by 30 percent in 20 years, which has a huge impact on the economy.
In Japan, the birthrate is 1.3. As a result, Japan will lose up to 60 million people over the next 30 years. Japan is also aging very rapidly. By 2020, one out of every five Japanese will be at least 70 years old.
The U.S. birth rate is 2.0, just below replacement. America has an increase in population because of immigration. When broken down by ethnicity, the Anglo birth rate is 1.6 (same as France) while the Hispanic birth rate is 2.7.
This comes as no surprise, but birthrates are highest among more religious people and among poorer people. For example, according to a C.I.A. analysis that ranks the birthrates of each country in the world, the top ten highest countries were either in Africa or Asia. The U.S. was ranked 120 and the European Union was well below that.
Secular humanism is planning its own demise, no matter if they the secular humanists know it or not. Europe, which was once a Christian stronghold, is forced to import Muslims to help fill its declining workforce. The bad news for the former Christians in France, Germany and Italy is that the Muslims aren’t leaving and they are reproducing at a much higher rate than the Christian. It is only a matter of time before there will be more Muslims than Christians in Paris, Berlin and Rome.
The Italians have tried to take the bull by the horn and get their people to have more kids. But all the incentive programs are having little effect. In this day and age, if you don’t want to have kids, you don’t want to have kids.
For Japan and Russia, the writing is on the wall. They are economic basket cases because they simply won’t have a young enough population to take care of all the old people. Since the Japanese refuse to open their shores to immigrants, they may very well be a dying civilization. Russia is the same way, although they are dying off for other reasons, mainly a horrible health system, widespread alcoholism, and a very low life expectancy.
China and India have a skewed birthrate. They kill their girls at a much higher rate, through abortion, so they have a whole population of unmarried who have nothing to do but possibly go to war (hello, Russia!).
In America, the story of birthrates tells an interesting story. Republicans reproduce more than Democrats, Southern states have more reproduction than Northern states, immigrants reproduce more than non-immigrants (especially Hispanics), Mormons and evangelicals reproduce more than mainline Protestants or secular Americans, and states that have liberal policies on homosexuality have lower birthrates than those that don’t. (which stands to reason, actually).
It is funny to think about a world that needs more people, in these days where so many commentators are worried about overcrowding. But as it stands right now, all the overcrowding will come from true believers, whether those true believers are Muslims, Mormons, Orthodox Jews or Evangelical Christians. The world will not be much of a place for rich secular humanists, mostly because they don’t reproduce at the same rates.
Most of these very religious groups (with the notable exception of the Mormons) tend to poor in coin, if not rich in faith. But the way it is going now, they will inherit the Earth in the future anyway.