Making Families Great Again

By: Lisa Van Houten

“Low birth rates will end civilization,” Elon Musk recently warned. The plummeting birthrate is a grave concern which both he and J.D. Vance have repeatedly raised and one that the Trump administration is now seeking to address.

America’s birthrate has plummeted below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman to its lowest point ever recorded – 1.6.    In 2023, the U.S. saw only 55 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44; for comparison in 1950 that rate was 106 births.  America isn’t alone in this troubling trend; many European and Asian countries have even lower birthrates.

Practically speaking, the future consequences will be devasting both economically and socially.  We’ll continue to see a growing healthcare crisis, with not enough workers to care for the aging population who have no children and grandchildren to help fill that need.

The Trump administration is, therefore, brainstorming ideas to incentivize American women to have more babies.  One option under consideration is to pay mothers with a $5,000 government check after giving birth.

However, numerous nations have already tried similar government benefits and financial rewards to increase birthrates, with little to no effect.  As we’ve seen with public education, throwing taxpayer money at a problem rarely solves it – it only encourages greater government dependency and increases the national debt.

And actually, the main reason given for not having children isn’t due to economic concerns. A Pew Research study found that 47% of Americans without children, aged 18-49, do not plan to ever have children.  Only 36% cited the cost of raising children as the deterring factor.  The top reason given by those choosing not to have children was “they just don’t want to.”  One-fifth admit they “really don’t like children.”  Pew writes: “Not having kids has made it easier for them to afford the things they want…”  TikTok videos show couples extoling their DINK (dual income, no kids) lifestyle – boasting of their lavish vacations and “pet children.”  Self-indulgence over self-sacrifice is the theme, and children require sacrifice.  They also bring joy – and fill a void that no vacation or pet can ever fill.

Leftist ideology is also a contributing factor, as at least 32% of Democrats list climate change as a reason to not have children. Climate activists have called children an “environmental hazard.”  Yet research shows that as the population has increased throughout history, by God’s provision, food production has also increased.  As Elon Musk stated in 2022, “Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming,” adding: “America is trending towards extinction.”

Our education system has also steeped young adults in cultural Marxism, which is rooted in the abolition of the nuclear family.  Then there’s the sexual revolution, which separated sex from marriage and reproduction.  Feminist ideology often depicts motherhood as demeaning, where children are seen as an obstacle to personal autonomy and happiness.  Yet, this quest for personal autonomy is fool’s gold, as shown by the current epidemic rates of loneliness and depression.  And the proverbial elephant in the room in any discussion of falling birthrates is the skyrocketing abortion rates in the last fifty years.  Since 1973, there have been more than 63 million babies killed in their mother’s womb.

The root issue behind the plummeting birthrate is not economic, but rather a matter of worldview.  Secular culture teaches that children are a burden, not a blessing.  As our nation has abandoned the Christian worldview, we’ve also abandoned God’s creation mandate to be fruitful and multiply and rejected God’s good gift (Psalm 127:3-5). As J.D. Vance stated: “We want babies not just because they are economically useful. We want more babies because children are good.”

We can be thankful that the Trump administration is addressing the concern of the declining birthrate.  But we don’t just need more babies, we need more families. 

It’s not simply low birthrates that will lead to the end of civilization, as Elon Musk claims.  Rather, it’s the rejection of God’s design for marriage and family that is destroying civilization.

While Musk seems to be striving to end the birthrate decline all on his own by siring at least 14 children by several different women, fatherhood is far more than just passing on DNA.  Elon Musk recently stated in a Fox News interview that falling birthrates keep him up at night. But children are not just a unit of production, a means to “save humanity.”  What keeps fathers – not sires – up at night is comforting a child who was awakened by a nightmare, cradling a crying baby, and worrying – not about birthrates – but about how best to nurture the children God has bless them with.

While Musk often appears with his four-year-old son “X” in tow at the White House, his other 13 children are primarily growing up in fatherless homes without the love, guidance, and discipline that only a father who is present can give.  Sadly, Musk’s children are not the only ones with absentee fathers.  Forty percent of children in the U.S. are born to single moms.

This clip from an interview with actor Gene Hackman when he was in his late seventies shows the lifelong, heartbreaking impact fatherlessness can have.

As the Federalist reports, “The best predictor for a child’s financial, physical, emotional, educational, and social health and success is whether he was born to and raised by his married biological parents. Children who grow up without their married biological mother and father, on the other hand, have clear physical, emotional, and educational disadvantages.

“Boys specifically … who spend key developmental years in fatherless homes, are less likely to graduate and more prone to criminal acts and violence.

“The wedding of marriage and parenthood is not beneficial for kids alone. Married men and women who have kids are the most likely demographic to report being ‘very happy’ with their lives.”

Family is a network of love and support that extends from birth to death. God gave people the foundational relationship that would lead to their flourishing – the family.

Demonstrating the importance of fatherhood, God chose to reveal Himself as Father and those who are His own, He calls His children.

As Tim Challies writes, “Imagine there was a place with no fathers and sons. In that place you would have trouble explaining John 3:16: ‘For God [the Father] so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’ If you don’t understand the powerful, natural love and protection of a Father for his Son, how could you understand what it cost God to provide his beloved Son as a sacrifice?”

The government does not have the solution to civilization’s survival, the Church does.

Christians have the responsibility to demonstrate to the world the blessing of babies, God’s good design of marriage and family, and to point all of those fatherless children to the Father who will never abandon them.

 

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