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["Jerry W. Shepperd" <shepperd AT austincc.edu>]

Toni,

It is a popular misconception to think that Catholicism causes high birth 
rates.  Rather, the linkage is between poverty and high birth rates.  Some 
poor nations are predominately Catholic and it is easy to think that the 
poverty is caused by high birth rates which is caused by the fact that a 
majority of the population is Catholic.  But, most of the poor in the world 
are not Catholic.  When one statistically controls for Catholicism in the 
relationship between poverty and high birth rates, then one finds that 
being Catholic has almost no impact.  One can then see that it is poverty 
that causes high birth rates, not the other way around.

And, when the income (and education) of Catholics goes up, their use of 
birth control is similar to that of non-Catholics of the same income and 
educational levels.

Jerry Shepperd


At 05:48 PM 9/23/04, Toni Hawryluk wrote:
> > Presidents from Brazil, Argentina and Chile urged other nations to find 
> ways to narrow the gap between the rich and poor,
>
> Other ways than how ?
>
> All three of these are Catholic *countries* with
> maximum-breed/stupid no-birth control/no abortion
> policies where the rich don't have to practice
> what their "church" *demands* from the poor ....
> and even though many of their indigenous peoples
> have let some of their own cultures' religions be
> melded with Catholic "christianity" (thereby also
> letting go any birth-control practices their shamans/
> medical witches may have kept alive for centuries)
> there are magnificent cathedrals for the rich to
> show off in while the shanty-towns multiply the poor ....
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