Ireland’s coming population crisis will not be solved by secular people new study claims
Young people who embrace religions like Christianity that strongly value marriage and having children will form the future core of Ireland’s dwindling population as their secular counterparts are less likely to marry and have children, the Iona Institute has said.
Ireland’s fertility rate is just 1.5, below the replacement level of 2.1 and projected by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to fall further as marriages decline and couples, if they marry, get married later.
In a research paper released this week called ‘Religion, Marriage and Fertility: Shall the Religious Inherit Ireland’ the Iona Institute, using CSO figures, argues that secular Ireland needs religious people to have children to stave off population collapse. It also argues that for society religion “promotes some of the most pro-social behaviour, that is, behaviour beneficial to society”.
“There is now a wealth of evidence showing that religious practice is associated with improved mental and physical health; lower rates of crime, lower rates of alcohol and drink abuse, more giving of time and money to charity, higher rates of marriage, lower rates of divorce and higher fertility levels.”
CEO of the Iona Institute David Quinn says the coming demographic crisis has not received enough attention and it’s time to talk about the positives of religious practice in our society. The report states that the outcoming of the “family” referendums point to the “influence of religiosity in anchoring people in a social outlook that is broadly supportive of the institution of marriage and the role of mothers in nurturing and raising the next generation.”