QuoteProject
Europe today is the most secular region in the world. Europe is the only region in the world experiencing population decline. Wherever you turn today the more religious the community, the larger on average are their families.
Jonathan Sacks
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects on the relationship between religion and population growth in Europe, suggesting that secularism is linked to declining birth rates.

Jonathan Sacks highlights a significant trend in contemporary Europe, where increasing secularism correlates with a decline in population. In contrast, communities that maintain strong religious beliefs tend to have larger families. This observation raises questions about the societal implications of secularism and the role of religion in community dynamics and demographic trends.

Themes

EuropeSecularismReligionPopulationFamilies

In practice

Example use cases

During a discussion on demographic changes in Europe, one might quote this to emphasize the role of religious values in family growth.

More from Jonathan Sacks

Stabilizing the euro is one thing, healing the culture that surrounds it is another. A world in which material values are everything and spiritual values nothing is neither a stable state nor a good society. The time has come for us to recover the Judeo-Christian ethic of human dignity in the image of God.
Jonathan SacksRead
Governments cannot make marriages or turn feckless individuals into responsible citizens. That needs another kind of change agent.
Jonathan SacksRead
Jews read the books of Moses not just as history but as divine command. The question to which they are an answer is not, 'What happened?' but rather, 'How then shall I live?' And it's only with the exodus that the life of the commands really begins.
Jonathan SacksRead
Why did God create mankind? Because God likes stories.
Jonathan SacksRead
Find people not to envy but to admire. Do not the profitable but the admirable deed. Live by ideals.
Jonathan SacksRead
Some years ago there was a study to discover the most stressful occupation. It turned out not to be the head of a large business, football manager or prime minister, but rather: bus driver.
Jonathan SacksRead

Similar quotes

When we bless God for mercies, we usually prolong them. When we bless God for miseries, we usually end them. Praise is the honey of life which a devout heart extracts from every bloom of providence and grace.
Charles SpurgeonRead
You said your mom is the goddess of balance," I reminded him. "The minor gods deserve better, Ethan, but total destruction isn't balance. Kronos doesn't build. He only destroys.
Rick RiordanRead
For a long time the human instinct to understand was thwarted by facile religious explanations.
Carl SaganRead
In seasons of tumult and discord bad men have most power; mental and moral excellence require peace and quietness.
TacitusRead
Nothing is quite beautiful alone; nothing but is beautiful in the whole. A single object is only so far beautiful as it suggests this universal grace.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
If one tries to think about history, it seems to me - it's like looking at a range of mountains. And the first time you see them, they look one way. But then time changes, the pattern of light shifts. Maybe you've moved slightly, your perspective has changed. The mountains are the same, but they look very different.
Robert HarrisRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.