William Kilpatrick

William Kilpatrick is an author associated with the white nationalist/anti-jihad genre, known for A Politically Incorrect Guide to Jihad (2016), in which he coined the phrase “war of the wombs” to frame Muslim fertility and immigration as a demographic weapon against the West. His writings tie demographic decline among Western women to cultural/religious loss of faith and present Muslim birth rates as an external demographic threat.

Claims that use this term

• White nationalists believe this increase in switching to religiously unaffiliated causes lower fertility and birth rates for Western women. William Kilpatrick writes that ‘The decline of Christianity in Europe led to a loss of cultural confidence and a loss of will. This loss of faith also translated into a declining birth rate.’ (2016, 131). As stated above, Pew Research Center (2107) confirms that religiously unaffiliated women are projected to have lower fertility rates than religiously affiliated women. However, religiosity is only one factor impacting fertility rates, and is intertwined with educational opportunities, economic development, and age of marriage amongst other factors. However, here begins a shift from internal factors within Western society to external threats. There is indeed a perceived threat from within Western society due to religious switching, secularism, and lower fertility rates. However, the threat is also viewed as externally imposed on Western society in the form of ‘baby jihad.’ As shown above, religious switching has little impact on demographic changes. Therefore, white nationalist fears of religious switching impacting demography indicate greater fears about national security and cultural values. However, there are data to support large demographic shifts due to differing fertility rates and age distributions. White nationalists view demography as a form of jihad, and thus fear these projected changes.
• William Kilpatrick builds upon Ibrahim’s description of baby jihad in A Politically Incorrect Guide to Jihad. Kilpatrick uses the term ‘war of the wombs’ along with baby jihad. He coins the terminology ‘war of the wombs’ from a quote attributed to Algerian President Houari Boumedienne. Kilpatrick writes that ‘In 1974, when Algerian president Houari Boumedienne predicted mass migration from the Southern to the Northern hemisphere “to conquer it,” he also made an additional threat: “And they will conquer it with their sons. The wombs of our women will give us victory.”’ (Kilpatrick 2016, 131). The language used by Kilpatrick turns Muslim babies into instruments of war. Fertility rates become weapons. Steyn echoes this argument in America Alone, writing that ‘those self-detonating Islamists in London and Gaza are a literal baby boom’ (2008, xviii). Steyn thus links the demographic concept of a baby boom with violent extremism. Another example: ‘over the next generation, that population of excitable young men will explode—demographically I mean, though very literally if the more severe mullahs have their way.’ (Steyn 2008, 19). These quotes clearly show that white nationalists view demography—specifically motherhood, fertility, and babies—as a form of violent jihad.