U.S. divorce rates: for various faith groups, age groups and geographical areas — This sort of discovery should irk a few people but should not surprise the religious who often say, “only sinners go to church.”
Barna’s results verified findings of earlier polls: that conservative Protestant Christians, on average, have the highest divorce rate, while mainline Christians have a much lower rate. They found some new information as well: that atheists and agnostics have the lowest divorce rate of all. George Barna commented that the results raise “questions regarding the effectiveness of how churches minister to families.” The data challenge “the idea that churches provide truly practical and life-changing support for marriage.”
Donald Hughes, author of The Divorce Reality, said: “In the churches, people have a superstitious view that Christianity will keep them from divorce, but they are subject to the same problems as everyone else, and they include a lack of relationship skills. …Just being born again is not a rabbit’s foot.”
Hughes claim that 90% of divorces among born-again couples occur after they have been “saved.”
found by JulieB
In the words of Nelson from the Simpsons
HA! HA!
I have a theory about the reason the xtian divorce rate is higher. It’s because they want to have sex. Most xtians have premarital sex but some are really uptight about it but they are still horny.
I am basing this on personally knowing two different couples who in fact got married very young because of hormonal urges only to realize they when not really compatible.
Proof positive to me that religious dogma is counter productive.
That means that i´m stucked with my wife?
This is why I’m not religious… I’m Anglican!
–rimshot–
And let’s not forget that while Atheists make up 7 to 15 percent of the overall US population, they make up less than 1 percent of the prison population.
My pet theory (from dealing with all of the atheists I know) is that because we have our own moral structure, we embrace it. No one likes rules imposed on themselves, those types of rules are meant to be broken. But when they’re your rules, you’re more likely to follow them.
Compare that to a theist who has a moral structure imposed on him. Certain people of the theist crowd will still treat these imposed moral rules as something to get around, to cheat, to win over.
#2 – julieb,
But let’s not forget that religion may be counter productive but is unfortunately not counter reproductive.
#6 – SN,
As an antitheist, I would love to believe your numbers. But, I think you may be overestimating the atheist population in the U.S. Those numbers sound more like the ones for the non-religious than true atheists. If I’m wrong, please post your source. I’d love to be able to quote that.
7. “But, I think you may be overestimating the atheist population in the U.S.”
Gee, I don’t know where you’ve been, but study after study shows that atheists, agnostics, non-believers make up anywhere from 7% to 15% of the population. In fact in some parts of the country it’s the fastest growing “religious” group.
Just search on google for: Atheist population US
And you’ll find tons of stats.
#2
Specially when one of the couple is horny and the other one has been effectively mentally castrated to the point that he/she regards the church he/she is attending to as more important than taking care of his/her family.
I don’t know why Hughes says religion is not a rabbit’s foot. They seem about equivalent to me.
I thought divorces were due to the highly effective gay agenda campaign. However, it could be argued that atheism and the gay agenda are tied together
Dunno. There should be a special investigation. Perhaps another front on the war to protect our puritanical way of life. Dept of Marriage?
Facts don’t count if you have faith…..that’s the problem.
I would say that there is one very major reason why divorce rates are higher among Christian couples than non-Christian couples. One of the contributing factors to divorce in modern society is the feminist movement, making women autonomous, independent, free-thinking, and in the work force. In order to have a successful relationship with the American woman of today, a man has to compromise, and be willing to share “the pants.”
Christianity, with a disputable amount of Biblical basis, encourages women to be subserviant to men, rely on them, and differ to them in all things. Well, for most of us modern girls, that just isn’t happening.
When you take out the religious bias toward family patriarchy, a couple is free to compromise and be democratic and share rights and responsibilities 50-50.
SN hit it right on the nose. Atheists have their own personal moral code and we’re much more likely to stick with our own rules than someone else’s. As a married atheist, part of my marital success is due to the lack specified gender roles. This has taken a huge load off the both of us as we concentrate on what we do best and how it will work well for the both of us. I also know that my husband and I are fully responsible for the success our relationship – not belief in any god or adherence to any specific religion. Of my atheist & agnostic friends – no one is divorced; about 1 in 3 of my christian friends are divorced and 1 in 4 are remarried; of the 2 jewish couples I know, both were previously divorced.
thats because protestant christians have the wrong faith and beleive bizzare things about marriage!
just because protestant christians have a higher divorce rate, dosent mean that other christians cante have a happy marriage together!
Christadelphians beleive that marriage is final and that divorce is wrong as everyone needs someone of the same faith to help them in their way to the kingdom!
Isn’t probable that a far greater number of people who cohabit and have children without getting married are non-religious? This being the case, one would have to look into the break-up rates of this group as well to have a fair comparison. The only stats I have read on this was from Britain and the break-up rates were somewhere around twice the divorce rate.
16–switzer==valid point as far as it goes but you are really asking for an entirely different statistic to be evaluated. How many unmarried child producing couples are there? How many are religious v atheist? Can’t just assume your way out of a valid statistical analysis.
Purely on the stat==if you want to stay married, marry an atheist rather than a religionist.
Barna’s divorce rates research is incomplete, flawed, and/or misleading. I’m curious to know how Barna did their research to truly find out which of the people being surveyed were genuine Christians or just people professing to be Christian even though they have no fruit to show for it. You also have the variable of believers new to the faith and those that are strong in their foundation. C.S. Lewis rightly suggests in, Mere Christianity, that Christians are, many times, at different levels in their walk and that we shouldn’t expect a new believer to be at the same level, whether morally, spiritual, and so on, as a seasoned believer. Lewis also notes that because Christians are at different levels in their faith due to the different time frames of their conversion, there are going to be strong believers and weaker believers. The Barna divorce study barely touches upon these factors in their study. It also doesn’t factor in the marital strife that can potentially be caused when one person becomes a believer while the other doesn’t. From what I’ve seen through my own experiences, it’s usually the non-believer that pulls away or becomes distant from their newly believing spouse.
Everyone that professes to be a Christian is not a true, genuine believer. Jesus clearly talks about this. I’ve seen other polls stating that many Christians (about half) don’t believe in moral absolutes or that they don’t believe everything the Bible teaches. That to me, tells me their are a lot of people out there that are masquerading that they are genuine believers or potentially newer or weaker believers in the faith. In order to find out if someone is a strong, genuine believer or not takes or little more time than asking someone to fill out a survey with questions on it. This divorce research study on the differences between believers and non-believers divorce rates is very flimsy at best.
I have an idea, let’s do another divorce rate statistic poll among Christian believers and atheists using a 5,000 person pool from celebrities in Hollywood for our case study. Since numerous Hollywood stars and figures are constantly in the public eye, we get a more detailed and personal evaluation of each individual taking the survey. In essence, we clearly see the abundance of fruit or the lack of fruit in their lives. This will help to identify which celebrities are being truthful and/or pretending to be something they’re not. As many of you know, most Hollywood celebrities are not Christians; some are very outspoken about it as well. Most Hollywood celebrities are atheists, anti-theists, or believe in other religious teachings. What is the divorce rate among Hollywood celebrities ????????
Ya know it is a myth about Christianity and the fact that we are immune for divorce, no one is immune. The bible tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Why should we as Christians think that does not include us. The matter of the fact in regard to divorce within any marriage, from my perspective is that when we get saved we must develop an intimate relationship with our heavenly father before we can ever give ourselves over completely to another. None of us are perfect christian or not, but we strive for the mark at least. That means admitting our faults and working toward the express purposes that the Lord has for each of our lives, esteeming one another higher than the other. We in any realm of marriage can begin to focus upon the others faults, but instead we need to stop and ask ourselves and the Lord what we can do to make things better. Often we blame rather than examine the one in which blames. Christians being lumped into a pile and made to look as if we are prudes and religious is nonsensical. We are individuals whom serve a great God, but everyone of us are at different stages of our walk with the Lord. Some may not have such an intimate relationship with the Lord and others may. I would challenge any individual in which states that they have an intimate relationship with the Lord, yet put down another human being for where they are in their walk of life, to the fact that they too may need to repent for unjust judgment. Christians can and do stay married, but just because you carry a label does not mean you bare the cross!
@YECC
The first line of your post:
“Barna’s divorce rates research is incomplete, flawed, and/or misleading.”
This shows that you refuse to believe this study regardless of fact that you can’t even say why it is flawed, let alone provide any evidence for your claim. Your assertion is that this is just wrong, simply because you say it is.
It also suggests you don’t trust the source. Well I have some bad new for you, Barna is rather Christian friendly from what I’ve seen. George Barna wrote a book called “Think Like Jesus” and their “About Us” web page states:
“As a marketing research firm, it primarily served Christian ministries…”
Check it out for yourself:
http://www.barna.org/about
Then you say:
“I’m curious to know how Barna did their research to truly find out which of the people being surveyed were genuine Christians or just people professing to be Christian even though they have no fruit to show for it.”
It’s a SURVEY you dimwit. You ask people what their religion is and you have to take them at their word. What are they supposed to do, present their Christian Nazi membership card? Have the Thought Police scan their brain?
And this one had me laughing:
“we shouldn’t expect a new believer to be at the same level, whether morally, spiritual, and so on, as a seasoned believer.”
So let me get this straight, there are different levels of Christianity? So at what level are you allowed to answer survey questions? Level 11, 12, or higher? What is this anyway, Christianity, Scientology or Super Mario Brothers?
You continue with:
“there are going to be strong believers and weaker believers. The Barna divorce study barely touches upon these factors in their study.”
Exactly how does one adjust survey data to account for your supposed “levels” of belief?
You continue:
“That to me, tells me their are a lot of people out there that are masquerading that they are genuine believers or potentially newer or weaker believers in the faith.”
The implication of course is that those that got divorced were not “genuine believers”. This is a convenient argument I wish to use for my own ends. Here it goes:
All atheists that have committed murder are not genuine disbelievers. They are in fact Christians “masquerading” as atheists. That means that 0% of atheists are murderers.
Wow. That is a awesome way to get exactly the results I desire! I’ll have to remember that one next time I ask for a raise.
Later you say:
“I have an idea, let’s do another divorce rate statistic poll among Christian believers and atheists using a 5,000 person pool from celebrities in Hollywood for our case study. Since numerous Hollywood stars and figures are constantly in the public eye, we get a more detailed and personal evaluation of each individual taking the survey.”
Why? Surveys are meant to be RANDOM anonymous demographics to show trends in societies, not so you can attempt to confirm some prejudice Rush Limbaugh has been pounding in your head about so called liberal Hollywood. That is what you are getting at isn’t? Why else concentrate on a tiny group of people that are unrepresentative of the US as a whole anyway. I could just as easily demand a survey of born-again Christians on death row, and apply those results to the behavior of all Christians. If you only survey Hollywood celebrities, then all you really find out is how Hollywood celebrities behave, not the US as a whole.
You go on:
“As many of you know, most Hollywood celebrities are not Christians.”
And later you add:
“Most Hollywood celebrities are atheists, anti-theists, or believe in other religious teachings.”
Really? Do you have a mind reading device? Do you at least some survey data to back this up? Or are you just making all this up like the rest of your post? I can’t say I have ever heard any A-list celebrity even mention their religious affiliation, except maybe Mel Gibson…who we can at least conclude, is not Jewish.
Between the above quotes, you betray your thoughts about Hollywood:
“…some are very outspoken about it as well.”
This is what you are REALLY railing about isn’t? It is not the number of celebrities which are religious and divorced that bothers you. It is bothersome that they have a soapbox in which to speak their brand of politics.
Did you catch that? This isn’t even really about religion for you…it is about politics. After all, when was the last time you heard of a Hollywood pro-atheism charity dinner? But celebrities DO often make overtly liberal political statements, and that gets your stomach in a knot doesn’t? How dare ‘they’ speak out against ‘us’, right?
So what you are really angry with, is free speech. Free speech, the annunciation of free thought. And the blockage of free thought brings us full circle back to monotheistic claims of the invisible, know-it-all patriarch that demands a couple stay legally married, even once they are emotionally dead.
And the children sing….
He see you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake.
He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so don’t get divorced or you’ll burn in hell!
😉