As it turns out, the potential demise of America won’t be because of gutting the Pentagon budget or the worthlessness of our currency. According to a new book, What to Expect When No One’s Expecting: America’s Coming Demographic Disaster, our collapse as a country could come from an unanticipated specter: no babies. After all the talk of world overpopulation, the truth is that the number of people on earth will reach a static point by the end of the century. In America, having children is on the way out and the fertility rate based on the number of children a woman bears over her lifetime is rapidly declining. It is now 1.9, under the replacement rate of 2.1. As the older population dies off, they aren’t being proportionately replaced. The potential economic consequences loom far more seriously than even our astronomical, national debt. The effect will be felt in our military with fewer available young to serve and overburdened social services because there aren’t enough taxable workers to provide health care for the elderly.
The book cites several reasons for this population decline, such as birth control and couples marrying later in life. But I see three more significant factors pushing us to the edge of a baby boom-less Armageddon. First gay marriage. That’s an easy one to see coming. The biology speaks for itself. Homosexual couples can’t create offspring without the aid of semen and wombs, which aren’t always readily available. Second, abortion. Since the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision 35 million babies have been murdered. That statistic alone would tip the balance in favor of a more reasonable population replacement rate. Finally, the demise of religion, especially devout faith. Jews and Christians have larger families because they are more inclined to welcome children based on the ethic of Psalm 127:3: “Children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.” Religious faith welcomes children and provides a nurturing community, and the youth of conservative Jewish and Christian families are less likely to abort babies.
One more thought. Our hedonistic, selfish culture has ignored the edict “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:22) in favor of the personal pursuits of comfort and pleasure. Too many young, cohabiting couples today see children as a nuisance restricting mobility, financial enhancement, and sexual freedom. The joy of parenting, despite its sometime sorrows, is one the greatest gifts of God to the human family. If we as a country can recover that blessing, and stop using abortion as a form of birth control, we can once again be on the road to world ascendancy instead of international demise.
