In the United States the lower birth rate of the Anglo-Saxons has
lessened their economic and political power; and the higher birth rate of
Roman Catholic families suggests that by the year 2000 the Roman
Catholic Church will be the dominant force in national as well as in
municipal or state governments. A similar process is helping to restore
Catholicism in France, Switzerland, and Germany; the lands of Voltaire
[Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet; 1694-1778)], Calvin [Calvin, John
(1509-64)], and Luther [Luther, Martin (1483-1546)] may soon return to
the papal fold. So the birth rate, like war, may determine the fate of
theologies; just as the defeat of the Moslems at Tours (732) kept France and
Spain from replacing the Bible with the Koran, so the superior
organization, discipline, morality, fidelity, and fertility of Catholics may
cancel the Protestant Reformation and the French Enlightenment. There is
no humorist like history.
