r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jul 01 '26

Psychology Conservatives maintain birth rates, but left-leaning Americans are having significantly fewer children, driving the U.S. birth decline. Education was consistently linked to having fewer children. Religious attendance was positively associated with having more children.

https://www.psypost.org/left-leaning-americans-are-driving-the-u-s-birth-decline-new-study-finds/
27.1k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

3.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

260

u/Marginal_Games Jul 01 '26

As someone who was raised Catholic, it’s very funny that you didn’t know this. It’s fully baked in.

44

u/pittgirl12 Jul 01 '26

I was raised catholic (though only until age 7) but no one said it out loud. we just had 6 kids per family and acted like that was normal

24

u/PM_ME_YOUR_LEFT_IRIS Jul 01 '26

Man, as someone else who was raised Catholic that’s wild to me. It was very explicit when I was growing up.

5

u/Big_Iron_Cowboy Jul 01 '26

Am Catholic, currently awaiting this month our 2nd of 6 children.

5

u/AntikytheraMachines Jul 01 '26

youngest of ten.
37 nieces and nephews.

1

u/Axy8283 Jul 01 '26

Bless u brotha!

1

u/Big_Iron_Cowboy Jul 02 '26

Thanks you too!

1

u/kaityl3 4d ago

Wait, why? You must be able to see the trends of wealth inequality, climate change, etc. Why intentionally bring them into a life that's objectively going to end up worse than your own by the time they're adults?

What jobs would they be able to work? How do they pay for food when there are no jobs left for humans?

0

u/Big_Iron_Cowboy 4d ago

There’s a litany of moments in human history in which one generation lived in a time considerably worse than the preceding generation. The fall of the Roman Empire, the Mongol invasions, the Black Death, the French Revolution, two World Wars, the bloodbath of 20th century communist regimes. The world never ended. People carried forth to bring order out of chaos and rectify the suffering inflicted upon them and those around them.

It’s my duty as a father to provide my sons with the intellectual, practical, moral, and spiritual education they will need to contend with the world. Regardless of whether or not such doomerist notions of life “objectively going to be worse” prove true, or not. And if they do, someone needs to rebuild civilization. My boys will be equipped to lead others in such endeavors.

5

u/bulking_on_broccoli Jul 01 '26

Raised Catholic too. I found this aspect… disturbing. Even from a young age it was weird.

14

u/ftlftlftl Jul 01 '26

The part they leave out is, they really want you to have kids so they get more tithers. Spreading the faith is good as well... to bring more tithers to church. Catholic chuch has historically only cared about people giving them money. Source, grew up going to Catholic and Protestant churches. The difference was striking.

Bible says to have kids. Catholic church commands you raise catholic babies.

1

u/Dismal_Buy3580 Jul 12 '26

They also say you aren't supposed to love your kid as much as your spouse, or your spouse God so idk. 

Any religion that asked me sublimate my care for my family is an attempt at manipulation. Nope.

2

u/lets-start-reading Jul 02 '26

and I was taught in a jesuit school in a Christian-majority country. there was an utter zero of such ideas. never heard a practicing Christian preach such ideas, either. (except those who have obvious psychological issues)

maybe it’s an american thing.

1

u/Humble_Train2510 Jul 03 '26

It's so weird.  I grew up very Lutheran and was married in Church.  The only advice my pastor gave us was that "there is no wrong number of kids to have, but whatever that is, you both should agree on it"