{"id":357,"date":"2009-09-21T22:24:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-21T22:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/09\/why-do-atheists-have-fewer-kids.html"},"modified":"2009-09-21T22:24:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-21T22:24:00","slug":"why-do-atheists-have-fewer-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/09\/why-do-atheists-have-fewer-kids.html","title":{"rendered":"Why do atheists have fewer kids?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here\u2019s something interesting from the papers last week. First we\u2019ve got the philosopher Julian Baggini, an atheist, arguing in The Guardian for the virtues of a childless life<\/a>. Then, in response, Ed West writes in The Telegraph arguing that atheism is facing a kind of demographic implosion<\/a>, as the religious inexorably overwhelm them in in the fertility arms race.<\/p>\n

Now, this isn\u2019t a new argument, but there\u2019s precious little research into it. About the only sociologist brave enough to attempt a quantitative prediction is Eric Kaufmann \u2013 I blogged about his latest analysis<\/a> back in June.<\/p>\n

But it does give me a handy hook to talk about a chapter in the recent book The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behaviour<\/a> by Michael Blume<\/a> \u2013 who\u2019s done a number of studies into the function of religion from an evolutionary perspective.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>First off, some basic stats to give you a feel for what we\u2019re talking about here. These are averages across all nations in the World Values Survey, showing the tight light between fertility and religious service attendance.<\/p>\n

So is this simply because religions are associated with traditional values? Or maybe that the religious are lower socio-economic status.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t seem to be so. Blume zooms in to Switzerland, and the data from the census in 2002. Those Jewish and Christian sects that have a higher proportion of the wealthy and educated are actually more fertile than the others.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, traditional sects seem to have lower fertility than the new ones, like Jehova\u2019s Witnesses and the New Apostolic Church.<\/p>\n

It seems, then, that there is a direct effect of religion on fertility. The question is why that might be so.<\/p>\n

From an evolutionary standpoint, it\u2019s clear that any trait that increases reproductive success will become more common in the gene pool. Assuming that the demographics we see in the modern translate into the modern world, those genes that favour religion would be more successful.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not at all clear to me that we can extrapolate back like that. After all, there\u2019s a lot more to reproductive success than churning out children. And modern people have retained a capacity for atheism, which suggests some competing reproductive benefit.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s worth considering why religion is linked to higher fertility. And it\u2019s here that Blume\u2019s arguments get really interesting. He suggests that a key factor is honest signalling.<\/p>\n

This is the idea that people pay a visible price to get membership of a group, in order to prove that they are committed to the group. The classic example is initiation rites in gang membership.<\/p>\n

How does that apply to religion? Well, religions impose a number of obligations on their member \u2013 service attendance, food and dress codes, for example. The idea is that these obligations deter those who are not \u2018true\u2019 believers.<\/p>\n

There are a number of issues with honest signalling theory as it applies to religion \u2013 the jury is still out in the matter (personally, I\u2019m sceptical). But Blume does provide one tantalising piece of evidence.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s gender ratios in religious membership. Specifically, the heavy preponderance of women in religious groups, followed next by married men.<\/p>\n

The idea is that women have a lot to lose by hooking up with an unfaithful guy. But a male who has made a commitment to the group is sending a signal that he values the group ideals sufficiently to invest the time and effort in going to Church (or whatever). With a bit of luck, that means he\u2019s not going to run off with the next available female that crosses his path.<\/p>\n

If you want to read that essay yourself, you can download it from Blume\u2019s webpage here<\/a>. It\u2019s worth it for the fascinating anecdotes about Darwin and the splendid Faust reference!<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________________________________________________
\"Creative<\/a><\/span>This work by Tom Rees<\/a> is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s something interesting from the papers last week. First we\u2019ve got the philosopher Julian Baggini, an atheist, arguing in The Guardian for the virtues of a childless life. Then, in response, Ed West writes in The Telegraph arguing that atheism is facing a kind of demographic implosion, as the religious inexorably overwhelm them in in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy do atheists have fewer kids?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here's something interesting from the papers last week. 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