If divorce is so unthinkable to evangelicals, then why do Christians have a higher divorce rate than atheists? Look it up...a Barna poll, I believe. Surely if it's a choice between divorce or murder, even the most dogmatic among us would opt for divorce.
"If divorce is so unthinkable to evangelicals, then why do Christians have a higher divorce rate than atheists?"
I'd stack up the divorce rates of church-going Christians (or any other faith) against atheists anyday.
Sadly, the vast majority of people who report themselves as "Christian" are Christian in culture only, rarely if ever attending a church service.
The sorts of evangelicals that become pastors and pastor's wives are not so comfortable with divorce as the average nominal non-deonominational.
I don't read, respect, or pay attention to Barna.
As for the last comment, you assert a choice, with what seems like a reasonable conclusion. The operative word there is "reasonable."
"If divorce is so unthinkable to evangelicals, then why do Christians have a higher divorce rate than atheists?"
I highly doubt those stats you seem to cite would hold true at a mainline Cof C.
"Christians have a higher divorce rate than atheists?"
I have a few theories about that.
1. Many people all already divorced when they enter/re-enter the church. That might skewer the statistics.
2. I know from attending and living on campus at a Christian, SBC-affiliated university that many Christian young adults marry, not out of God's leading, but so they can have sex. They haven't examined what God's calling on their life is, and yet they choose someone to spend that life with.
Most of my classmates thought the worst thing that could happen is for the rapture the happen before their wedding night. This is an argument for the courtship position of waiting until you can marry before you date.
atheisists are far more likely to shack up rather than getting married. When shack-ups split, there is no divorce.
That's not so hard.
Many atheists don't get married. They just hookup for a while and move on.