I just gave the article a cursory skim but it seems worth some more thought. A couple of issues come to my mind. One is the claim that the birth of a child produces a metaphysical experience for people. I'd like to see some empirical data on this point. It certainly didn't for me and I wonder if I am a strange exception or whether the experience of birth is highly conditioned by religious expectations to begin with.
Secondly, at least a couple of the world's most influential religions, have eschewed family life from its highest ideals. What's the connection between celibate monks and priests in Catholicism and Buddhism and the main thesis? I used to have an ongoing dialogue with a Muslim intellectual, professor of English at the University of Saudi Arabia. In all our discussions about Buddhism, he always insisted that it was a lesser religion than Islam because it failed to focus on family life as the center of religion.

Do any of us know non-religious people with very large families?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13