Why Haven't Christians Been Able to Outbreed Others

There is an old idea that stays alive in the heads of some religious people. It is that Christians, or one particular branch of Christians, must have more children than other groups so there will be more of them in later generations. It has always been the assumptions of many that anti abortion politics of the Catholic Church came from the notion the faith needed more children to win against the competition of other Christian branches. Even though this naïve idea is still promoted by some, it never worked and is a failure today.

The Catholic Church, and other branches of Christianity plus branches of Islam, are unsuccessful in their advocacy of more children because they do not bother to study the economics of family life. In the case of Catholics, policy makers and well as local priests are not married. This isolates them even further from economic reality.

Economics has been studying the economics of institutions like the family, businesses and governments for most of the last 300 years. It recognized back during the times of agrarian societies that more children in a family meant more labor thus more income. Children were given the name used elsewhere in economics, "producer goods." 

As societies because more industrialized and urban children no longer contributed much to a family's income. They began to be a loss to families instead of a gain. Children became just one more thing to pay for, like bigger houses and more cars. The moved from "Producer Goods" to "Consumer Goods." The branches of Christianity that advocated more children back when they were "Producer Goods" did not pick up on the new circumstances. 

When parents could easily see more children lowered their standard of living they began having fewer of them. It is no wonder almost all Catholic couples use artificial birth control. Maintaining the institution called the church is more important to those who make a living in it than it is to those sitting in the pews.

The church will not succeed if it depends of outbreeding other churches.

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