ABSTRACT
Religious instruction has almost always strongly contributed to destroy the equilibrium between the population and the demand for labour which is to give it subsistence. Religion, having been presented to us as the work of the Divinity, is always assumed to be perfect and unalterable. Religious morality ought therefore to teach men, that marriage is made for all citizens equally; that it is the object towards which they should all direct their effort; but that this object has not been attained except so far as they are able to fulfill their duties towards the beings whom they call into existence. The controversy that swirled around Malthusian doctrine for most of the nineteenth century, and still generates a great deal of heat in the late twentieth century, shows that the subject touched deep convictions, probably because it is associated with sex, and contradicted received theological doctrine on the origins of man.
