Yoshie,
I don't dispute your figures, but what I was trying to point out is that
religious institutions can and do have major influence on economic
behaviour. What you have shown is that we can't equate a secular state
with a secular society. After all, in the US religious attitudes toward
abortion, birth control drugs, stem cell research, homosexuality etc.
have determined legislation and practice even though the US is
officially a secular state. In Quebec, in Canada, up until the 'quiet
revolution' of the 1960s, the Catholic Church had inordinate power in
controlling legislation and social regulation even though Canada is,
officially at least, a secular state. Etc.
Paul P
Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
On 9/4/06, paul phillips <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Michael,
I think you might well reconsider this post. We know, for instance,
that facilitating female education (which is opposed by conservative
Islamic patriarchy) greatly reduces birth rates and is the only long
term solution to overpopulation and the assault on natural resources
(e.g. deforestation in Africa, Asia, South America.). This is just one
example of the relationship between religion, gender and the economy.
Look at changes in contraceptive use and fertility rate in Iran:
<http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=IRN,Iran,%20Islamic%20Rep.&hm=home>.
Note a great leap in contraceptive use, which is interesting,
considering that this is, after all, an Islamic republic: from 23% in
1980 to 74% in 2000 (the 2004 figure unavailable), compared to the
2004 LMI (Lower-Middle Income) average of 76% and the 2004 Middle
East/North Africa average of 59%. Iran's fertility rate is now 2.1,
the same as the LMI average and much better than the Middle East/North
Africa average of 3.0.
You may compare Iran's stats and trends to those of the secular
republics of Syria and Turkey on the same subjects of contraceptive
use and fertility rate:
Syria, 45% (2000, the 2004 figure unavailable), fertility rate, 3.3
(2004)
<http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=SYR,Syrian%20Arab%20Republic&hm=home>;
Turkey, contraceptive use, 71% (2004), fertility rate, 2.2 (2004)
<http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=TUR,Turkey&hm=home>
or semi-secular Algeria's, Egypt's, and Jordan's:
Algeria, contraceptive use, 57% (2004), fertility rate, 2.5 (2004)
<http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=DZA,Algeria&hm=home>
Egypt, contraceptive use, 60% (2004), fertility rate, 3.2 (2004)
<http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=EGY,Egypt,%20Arab%20Rep.&hm=home>
Jordan, contraceptive use, 56% (2004), fertility rate 3.4 (2004)
<http://devdata.worldbank.org/genderstats/genderRpt.asp?rpt=profile&cty=JOR,Jordan&hm=home>.
Iran has done even better than Turkey.
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
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