A leading U.S. historian and religion analyst has warned that America’s record-low fertility rates could mean that the United States is following in the footsteps of Europe when it comes to people leaving organized religion and becoming secularized. Philip Jenkins, a professor of history at Baylor University, and Co-Director for Baylor’s Program on Historical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion warned in a blog post last week that the U.S. is now “looking at the opening stages of a large-
scale process of secularization.” “The United States just passed a critical statistical landmark, one that I think – I fear – has immense implications for the nation’s religious life,” he said. He suggested that fertility rates can be an “effective gauge of trends towards secularization,” given the decline in religion in the West, while high fertility societies, such as most of Africa, tend to be “fervent and devout.” READ MORE
