Re:New HIV vaccine shows unprecedented success in preclinica...
by skissane on Wednesday July 29, 2026 @06:52PM
(#49104129)
I disagree - very high fertility combined with very low rates of extramarital pregnancy are totally normal for traditionalist religious groups-not just ultra-Orthodox Jews, but also the Amish, Salafists, Deobandis, vilayet-e faqih-e faqih Twelvers, the SSPX, inter alia - what Eric Kaufmann (see his book Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?) calls “endogenous growth sects”. There is nothing unique to Kiryas Joel about it; Kiryas Joel is simply the most easy-to-point-to example of a wider phenomenon
That's not something typical outside of that one particular group, nor can you copy-paste that anywhere else.
I think in fact it's the opposite. Because of how universal below-replacement rates are in EVERY developed nation, it shows just how independent it is from factors of culture, economics, environment, etc. It takes a seriously unusual situation like the one in Kiryas Joel for below-replacement to not be the norm.