Legend has it that during the Black Plague, superstitious Europeans started killing cats. The idea was that witches had caused the plague and cats were disguised devils, serving as the witches’ “familiar spirits,” ergo killing them would hurt the witches and hopefully spare people from the disease.
Of course, and I say this with the smug benefit of 700 years of hindsight, this “solution” only made the problem worse. Without cats, there were no natural predators for rats, which spread the disease via their lice.
Unfortunately, some people don’t learn the lessons of history.
Case in point, Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Last week, Putin made news (again) for an imperial overreach of his power, signing into law a draconic new anti-terrorism bill with measures for tougher criminal sentences, social media regulation, and heightened electronic surveillance of Russian citizens.
Burrowed in these new measures from the iconic tyrant are impingements on religious liberties, particularly missionary work.
As Utah’s Deseret News reports, “The law creates a broad definition for missionary work, and will restrict any such activity if it is not undertaken by individuals who are affiliated with registered organizations. Additionally, the locations where such work can unfold would be restricted to houses of worship and other related religious sites, critics claim.”
Some critics speculate that you could even get in trouble for inviting a friend to church by email. Fines for violating these new restrictions on religious freedom could range up to $15,500 and include deportation for foreigners.
Putin wants the Russian bear to growl again. He wants his nation to be powerful, and a return to Soviet-era statism is his solution. But in achieving his goals, chasing religion out of the public sector is the exact wrong answer.
Putin has also made a push for Russians to have more babies. He’s called on all Russian families to have at least three children and for a return to Vladimir Lenin’s Day of Conception, a holiday where couples stay home to (ahem) prepare for a new arrival nine months later.
Putin’s concerns are not invalid. The birth rate in Russia is estimated at 1.59, well below the 2.1 replacement rate needed just to keep a society alive. More children means more future workers and—if you want to interpret the grimmest potential outcome—more future soldiers.
His government has even offered cash incentives to women who bear more than one child, but money can only buy so much love. The best solution for inspiring people to have and raise children … is religion.
The phenomenon is chronicled extremely well by Jonathan Last in his What to Expect When No One’s Expecting, but to quickly sum up: Religious people have more children than non-religious people.
Godless countries in Europe and Asia continue to shrink. Japan has been the poster child (or rather poster no child) for this phenomenon. The Los Angeles Times reported last week that “like a creaky wooden roller coaster that slows at the top of the climb before plunging into a terrifying, steep descent, Japan’s population crested around 2010 with 128 million people and has since lost about 900,000 residents, last year’s census confirmed.”
Meanwhile, a few nautical miles down the Pacific, babies are booming in the Philippines, where Filipinas boast a birth rate of 3.08. What’s the difference? The Philippines is 92 percent Christian (and the majority of those are Catholic).
The trend can also easily be seen in the United States, where conservative states like Utah and the Dakotas are at the top of the population train and liberal states in New England are at the bottom.
So, Mr. Putin, if you are really interested in growing your empire, you need to make Russia as friendly to religion as possible. Chasing away missionaries makes as much sense as killing cats during the Black Plague—it may make you feel powerful at the time, but it’s just going to make your problem worse. You need to open the door to Catholics, Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists, and as many others as you can.
Of course, exposure to Western Judeo-Christian ideals of freedom might create resistance to, say, draconic anti-terrorism laws with tougher criminal sentences, social media regulation, and heightened electronic surveillance of Russian citizens.
But that would be OK too.
Jared Whitley is an award-winning journalist and columnist. He has worked in the office of Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Bush White House, and the defense industry.
