I have to say, I think this is a rather sinister way of looking at things. Almost Social Darwinistic, in a sense, and certainly not scientific.
Intelligence is not genetically determined. At all. Sorry. The "Flynn effect" discovered in psychometric testing should have put an end to this nonsense. Furthermore, the fallout from Flynn's criticisms suggest that, if anything, society is becoming more intelligent over time, and that this could be measured, if not for the inanity of the majority of the intelligence testing community.
Now, religion and large families can be linked, but typically atheists only score about, oh, 6 points higher than theists on IQ tests. More stupid people can be easily entrapped by religion, its true. But the reason most religions encourage large families is because so many people turn away from them. By pumping out as many people as possible and indoctrinating them from birth - whilst also placing large emphasis on conversion and witnessing - they can make up for the vast amounts of people who realize that said religion is a heap of crap and so leave it.
Robert Altermeyer, the noted authoritarianism expert in Canada, has a lot of information on the interplay of religion, authoritarianism and conversion. His book is available online freely, if you want it.
The best way to stop idiocy is to fund schools well, and promote a culture of intellectual inquiry. Simple as that. Demographic panics have to be one of the ugliest and nastiest ways to try and justify something I can think of.
Intelligence is not genetically determined. At all. Sorry. The "Flynn effect" discovered in psychometric testing should have put an end to this nonsense. Furthermore, the fallout from Flynn's criticisms suggest that, if anything, society is becoming more intelligent over time, and that this could be measured, if not for the inanity of the majority of the intelligence testing community.
Now, religion and large families can be linked, but typically atheists only score about, oh, 6 points higher than theists on IQ tests. More stupid people can be easily entrapped by religion, its true. But the reason most religions encourage large families is because so many people turn away from them. By pumping out as many people as possible and indoctrinating them from birth - whilst also placing large emphasis on conversion and witnessing - they can make up for the vast amounts of people who realize that said religion is a heap of crap and so leave it.
Robert Altermeyer, the noted authoritarianism expert in Canada, has a lot of information on the interplay of religion, authoritarianism and conversion. His book is available online freely, if you want it.
The best way to stop idiocy is to fund schools well, and promote a culture of intellectual inquiry. Simple as that. Demographic panics have to be one of the ugliest and nastiest ways to try and justify something I can think of.