"Divorce rates among conservative Christians were significantly higher than for other faith groups, and for Atheists and Agnostics." How unsurprising.

Some related studies I'd like to see:

  • The rate of marriage for other denominational groups compared to Christian groups & the reasons for marriage
  • The average age of marriage for Christian couples vs other groups
  • A comparison of percentages of Christian vs. Atheistic couples that engage in premarital sex

A quote of a quote from the study:

"While it may be alarming to discover that born again Christians are more likely than others to experience a divorce, that pattern has been in place for quite some time. Even more disturbing, perhaps, is that when those individuals experience a divorce many of them feel their community of faith provides rejection rather than support and healing. But the research also raises questions regarding the effectiveness of how churches minister to families. The ultimate responsibility for a marriage belongs to the husband and wife, but the high incidence of divorce within the Christian community challenges the idea that churches provide truly practical and life-changing support for marriages."
Posted by roy on April 11, 2007 at 04:35 PM in Ramblings | 2 Comments

Related Entries

Want to comment with Tabulas?. Please login.

Comment posted on April 15th, 2007 at 10:13 PM
i could be completely talking out of my ass here, but i was thinking that maybe the reasons for this are the result of 2 extremes: on the one hand a lot of Christian kids are taught to treat all of their relationships like they're potentially going to marry that person, and so you never get a chance to find out what you really want...you just say "ok we're dating, we're gonna marry, that's that" without ever getting a chance to know the person or know what works for you. on the other hand we all know about the kids who completely rebel against what their parents want or what they're raised with, and with that attitude they jump into marriages that are the complete opposite of what they'd want long-term just b/c it's different and new or whatnot. and so maybe these two things combined play a bigger role in the high incidences of divorce.

or maybe i'm crazy. i dunno.
Comment posted on April 12th, 2007 at 09:28 PM
I think it makes two interesting points. On the one hand, its a reminder that Christians are sinners, no better than the rest of the world.

Yet at the same time, I think its a condemnation to our community, given how aggressively we promote marriage yet how poorly we support the institution as a whole. The quality of marriage counseling for example varies way too much.

Of course, one could also make the point that non-Christians are more likely to simply cohabitate and not marry, sparing the legal paperwork and process that a breakup would result in.