In article ehrebeniuk-A08156.18420317112007@news, Chookie says...

In article
,
Beliavsky wrote:

Yes, especially in continental Europe -- there are statistics at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...y_fertility_ra
te
. European whites are largely secular and socially liberal, two
qualities negatively correlated with fertility. One can debate the
intellectual merits of socially liberal atheism, but demographically
it is a failure.

You forgot one element: parts of (wealthy) Europe with strong social supports
for women to maintain their standard of living after childbirth tend to be the
ones with higher birth rates -- eg, Scandinavia. Parts of Europe where the
social security is poorer, and where children kill your career, have lower
birth rates.

Incidentally, secularism and atheism are not the same thing, and even
secularism is interpreted differently in different countries. For example,
the French decision to forbid the wearing of hijabs, kippahs, crosses etc in
public schools was greeted with bewildered horror here -- and Australia is
secular too.


Ditto here. The valedictorian of our local high school took her diploma in
hijab.

Banty