[ExI] Religions and violence

[BillK]

On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 10:11 PM, Keith Henson  wrote:
> As a bet, John has no plan to solve it, beyond the "wired in to our
> genes" approach of getting worked up by memes till we kill all the
> males in the other tribe.  Incidentally, understanding the problem may
> not help at all.  My understanding of what was the root cause for the
> IRA going inactive was cultural changes where Irish women reduced the
> number of children to replacement level.
>
> If that model is correct, then Iran (which has reached replacement
> level) could become a stable country in the next few decades.  None of
> the Arab Islamic countries I can think of have reached that point,
> though some may be approaching it.
>
> I have no idea of why the Irish women reduced the
> number of kids they had.  And even if I did, I have no suggestions as
> to how the same could be done in Arab countries.
>
>

You have to make clear whether you are talking about Northern Ireland or Eire.

The Northern Ireland women (where the IRA were bombing) reduced their
birth rate at almost exactly the same rate as the rest of the UK
because they were all part of a society that was in the process of
reducing the birth rate. No special reason for Northern Ireland.

Eire was also reducing its birth rate partly for the same reasons as
the UK, but also because of the reducing influence of the Roman
Catholic church which banned contraception and encouraged large
families.

The IRA went inactive when they became part of the government and the
victimisation of the Northern Irish catholics began to reduce.

As you know, all modern first world countries have reduced their birth
rates. So if you want to reduce the birth rate of a third world
country, the solution is obvious.


BillK