[Sam Sturgeon, president of Demographic Intelligence, said:] \u201cPartly because religious communities provide a family-friendly context to the women who attend them, religious women are more likely to have children and to bear a comparatively high share of the nation\u2019s children, compared to their less religious or secular peers.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Is anyone surprised? And yet, even as this report reveals that religious factors are in play in reproductive decisions, the influence of religion is explained only in terms of the fact that \u201creligious communities provide a family-friendly context to the women who attend them.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Missing from this analysis is the factor of religious belief. There appears to be little recognition of the fact that what we believe about sex, marriage, and children has a great deal to do with the decisions that individuals and couples make.<\/p>\n