Posted on 11/21/2007 10:02:45 AM PST by NYer
When Pentecostal power couple Randy and Paula White recently announced they were headed to divorce court, the most remarkable part of the reaction was that there wasn't much reaction at all.
For increasing numbers of clergy, a divorce no longer generates the kind of career-killing hue and cry of decades ago, in part because plenty of people in the pews have experienced divorce themselves.
The shifting views on divorced clergy reflect a growing concession among rank-and-file conservative Christians that a failed marriage is no longer an unforgivable sin.
For many evangelical Christians, the line seems to have shifted from a single acceptable reason for divorce -- adultery -- to a wider range of reasons that some say can be biblically justified.
"I am probably one of those evangelicals who would say it would be three A's for me," said Chris Bounds, a theologian at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind. "Abuse, abandonment and adultery."
With the Whites' breakup, Randy White now leads the Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Fla., and Paula White remains prominent in Christian broadcasting. Not long after they announced their divorce, Atlanta evangelist Juanita Bynum filed for divorce from her husband, Bishop Thomas Weeks III, after he allegedly assaulted her in a hotel parking lot.
Beyond the church, polls by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press indicate the divorce records of GOP presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and John McCain have not hindered their popularity among white evangelical voters.
Christianity Today, a magazine that often serves as a barometer of evangelical culture, published an October cover story called "When to Separate What God Has Joined," in which David Instone-Brewer, a senior research fellow at Tyndale House in Cambridge, England, concluded that adultery, physical and emotional neglect, abuse and abandonment are all biblically justified reasons for divorce.
Mark Galli, the magazine's managing editor, said there is a simultaneous rejection of divorce in principle but acceptance in practice, in part because almost everyone knows someone who's been there.
"I think conservative Christians are becoming more liberalized in the sense of, I guess, making more room for the acceptance of divorce and remarriage," he said. "You'll see a lot of churches that plunge right in and have divorce ministries. ... Marriage is a really difficult thing in our culture right now."
But the reaction to Instone-Brewer's article reflected a lingering discomfort with divorce; Galli estimated that 60 percent of responding readers had a negative reaction. Prominent author John Piper responded that he found Instone-Brewer's reasoning "tragic" and an "astonishing extension of the divorce license."
Statistics bear out that divorce affects conservative Christians just as much as anyone else. A study this year by The Barna Group, a California research firm, showed that 27 percent of "born-again" Christians have been divorced, compared to 25 percent of non-born-again Americans. In 2005, Phoenix-based Ellison Research found that 14 percent of clergy have been divorced; the vast majority have remarried.
Paula White, in a recent interview, declined to go into detail about her divorce, but stood by statements in her new book "You're All That!" that God can mend any relationship "if both persons are willing to come into alignment with his principles." She added that no other person's love can be completely fulfilling.
"In fact, I say a healthy relationship is, `I am free to be me, you are free to be you, and together, we're us,"' she said. "So no one in life can complete you. Nothing can complete you. Only God can absolutely complete you."
Last month, Bynum said her recent marital strife may actually expand her ministry's outreach.
"I believe it will absolutely, positively broaden my ability to reach people that probably would not ever have come to a church," she said at an appearance in Birmingham, Ala. "I'm able to teach on the subject of suffering with experience behind it."
J. Lee Grady, the editor of charismatic and Pentecostal magazine Charisma, said Bynum may have generated a "sympathy factor" because of the alleged abuse, but the Whites are more unusual because there has been no clear biblical reason given for their split.
That leads to a concern by some in charismatic and Pentecostal circles that people can "just flippantly get divorced like you go get a haircut," he said.
The Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination, recently changed its rules to say that a marriage crisis should not permanently disqualify someone from ministry. The church voted this summer to permit remarried ministers if their divorce occurred because their spouse was unfaithful or was an unbeliever who abandoned them.
Still, the church does not allow divorced ministers to serve under all circumstances. "We have not permitted credentialing for those who simply do not get along with one another," said the Rev. George O. Wood, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God. "We feel that would be a scriptural violation."
Bishop Noel Jones, a divorced Pentecostal pastor in Gardena, Calif., who counts the Whites, Bynum and Weeks as friends, said judgment should be withheld from both high-profile clergy and everyday worshippers going through a divorce.
"I think that in Christian circles, people are more relaxed about the reasons," said Jones, a spokesman for FaithMate, an online Christian dating service. "I still think that divorce is pretty much a difficult subject for anybody -- and rightfully so, but ... we allow more rules, more worldly concepts to prevail."
Another group caves.
What a disgusting article. With the AG leadership and others being so accepting of divorce and remarriage among church leadership, it just gives everyone else the impression that those actions are permissible.
I interpret Scripture to read that while divorce is sometimes allowed (as in the case of adultery), remarriage is permitted much less. If I’m wrong, maybe someone can help explain these Scriptures:
I Cor 7:10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
Matthew 19:9 9I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Malachi 2:15-17 (New International Reader's Version)
Hasn't God made the two of you one?
Both of you belong to him in body and spirit.
And why has he made you one?
Because he was looking for godly children.
So guard yourself in your spirit.
Don't break your promise
to the wife you married when you were young.
"I hate divorce," says the Lord God of Israel.
"I hate it
when people do anything that harms others,"
says the Lord who rules over all.
So guard yourself in your spirit.
And don't break your promises.
You have worn the Lord out by what you keep saying.
"How have we worn him out?" you ask.
You have done it by saying,
"All those who do evil
things are good in the Lord's sight.
And he is pleased with them."
Catholic Annulment Statistics:Here's another set of results re divorce statistics that I found interesting, mainly because it breaks with the conventional "21%" statistic given for Catholics and Lutherans. The whole series makes for interesting reading, but here's the summary...
"For the year 2002: of the 56,236 ordinary hearings for a declaration of nullity, 46,092 received an affirmative sentence. Of these, 343 were handed out in Africa, 676 in Oceania, 1,562 in Asia, 8,855 in Europe and 36,656 in America, of which 30,968 in North America and 5,688 in Central and South America."
>From "PRESENTATION OF INSTRUCTION ABOUT NORMS IN MARRIAGE CASES", VATICAN CITY, FEB 8, 2005 (VIS), posted at http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/vis/dinamiche/a0_en.htm
In the past several posts, I have presented data from various surveys regarding divorce rates among Christians compared to others. Here I would like to summarize these findings plus offer some qualifications about how much they tell us.1) Active Christians vs. non-active Christians. In each of the studies, those Christians, whether Protestant or Catholic, who attended church about once a week or more had substantially lower divorce rates than those Christians who did attended church less frequently.
2) Christians vs. members of other faiths. It's not clear that there are meaningful differences in divorce rates between Christians and members of other religions. Of all the issues analyzed here, this is the most ambiguous because of the inconsistent nature of the "other religion" data. The composition of "other religions" varied a lot across sample, and a clearer statement on this comparison would need to examine other religions individually.
3) Christians vs. people of no faith. Christians as a group, but especially those who were active, had substantially lower divorce rates than individuals professing no religious belief (e.g., atheism, agnosticism). Sometimes as much as half the rate.
4) Black versus white Christians. Black Protestants, or, in the case of the GSS data, individuals attending predominately black denominations, have much higher divorce rates than white Protestants or members of other religions. It's unclear if this is a simple race effect (i.e., blacks vs. whites regardless of religion) or a race by religion effect (the effect of religion varies by race).
5) Protestants versus Catholics. In some data sets active Catholics had somewhat lower divorce rates than protestants, in other data sets they had comparable rates. No consistent difference emerged across data sets.
6) Frequency of attendance. Divorce rates for Christians drop considerably when going from period attendance to weekly attendance. I.e., the functional form does not appear to be linear, rather it's a threshold effect at about one week.
What does that mean?
Everywhere in the US, a civil divorce is required before a Catholic marriage tribunal will consider the case for a decree of nullity. So if you're getting the 21% figure from a secular source, then of course they count a civil divorce as a civil divorce.
As far as I know, Catholic sources also count a civil divorce as a civil divorce, whether or not the marriage is later declared to be null.
Perhaps you're confusing a church annulment with a civil annulment. A civil annulment may not count against divorce statistics. A church annulment is necessarily preceded by a civil divorce in the US, so it wouldn't have any effect on divorce statistics.
All the times I have read that Scripture in Malachi (”I hate divorce...”), and I had never picked up on that last part that you excerpted:
“All those who do evil things are good in the Lord’s sight.
And he is pleased with them.”
That is SO pertinent to today’s permissive society, and definitely sums up what some of our church leaders are trying to do here!
Isn’t that a joke! Now disobeying God is OK to a point, and is now being quantified!
Another quirky factor here is the very low divorce rate among those who don't marry.
No, I'm not funning with you here. In societies where non-marital sexual relations are frowned upon, people may marry and divorce quite a bit (I'm thinking of the traditionally high divorce rates in places like Mississippi) whereas, in places where youthful sex, adulterous affairs, etc. are winked at, the statistics may show stable marriages and a relatively low divorce rate in, say, Manhattan.
Why? because the sexually smitten young aren't contracting "starter marriages" and then dissolving them; 20/30-somethings live together and their break-ups aren't counted as divorces, and mutually-unfaithful older adults aren't divorcing over adultery: they're staying married for property and stability reasons.
Just another way of saying that the statistics don't tell the whole story.
Part of the problem, Joann, is that too many people believe they have the God given right to interpret Scripture. Hence the confusion. Is private interpretation of the Bible condoned in the Bible Itself? No, it is not (2 Peter 1:20). Was individual interpretation of Scripture practiced by the early Christians or the Jews? Again, "NO" (Acts 8:29-35). The assertion that individuals can correctly interpret Scripture is false. Even the "founder" of Sola Scriptura (Martin Luther), near the end of his life, was afraid that "any milkmaid who could read" would found a new Christian denomination based on his or her "interpretation" of the Bible. Luther opened a "Pandora's Box" when he insisted that the Bible could be interpreted by individuals and that It is the sole authority of Christianity. Why do we have over 20,000 different non-Catholic Christian denominations? The reason is individuals' "different" interpretations of the Bible.
Well, since we have a divorced deacon married to a divorced woman, I guess it’s not a problem for Catholics either. I am sick of the modernists in my diocese.
OK, then I won’t interpret. So is divorce and remarriage allowed or not? And if so, under what circumstances?
Congrats to all Protestants - we've just experienced another one-third drop in denominations, in just a few months! It's a miracle how we're coming together so rapidly!
Oh, but wait - there's a new qualifier attached now - the 20,000 are "non-Catholic". What happened to the other 13,000+ denominations that are no longer counted? Were they all Catholic before?
33,000+ non-Catholic Churches on 9/13/07
33,000+ on 9/15/07
20,000 plus non-Catholic denominations on 11/21/07
Yes, Alex. Sorry to disappoint you. The state doesn’t recognize the findings of a church tribunal. So getting an annulment is legally pointless, unless one also gets a state divorce... which the Catholic Church does not recognize as a divorce. You can’t get re-married unless the state grants a divorce, and there’s little sense in getting an annulment unless one is intending to someday get re-married. So teh people who get their marriages annulled usually have received state divorces.
In the US: For every eight Catholic marriages, there is one annulment. Part of the problem is that so many Catholics have a very worldly ideal of marriage, thanks to being steeped in a Protestant or agnostic culture, with its gross misunderstandings of what a marriage is about. The US is home to most of the world’s annulments, despite containing only 6% of the world’s Catholic population. Recent marriage preparation programs are designed to steel against such worldly ideals
Very good points, but:
Although civil annulments are quite rare, especially when done to marriages done under the conditions the Church would conduct such marriages, I would think that a Church annulment would also follow a civil annulment.
The main point is, however, that grounds for a civil annulment would exist within a Church-sanctioned marriage. BUt accidentally marrying someone who turned out to be too closely related, cases of concealed bigamy, etc. would seem obvious grounds for a Catholic annulment.
>> Just another way of saying that the statistics don’t tell the whole story.
So true.
>> >> “Evangelicals Shift Toward Acceptance on Divorce”
The shift is probably towards indifference of some who divorce and not necessarily the acceptance of divorce in general. For example, of the two most recent Presidential families, the reaction to divorce would for each be quite different. The Churchgoers of today are tired of being disappointed by their fellow sinners that desire to lead them in the name of God but inevitably fail the morality test.
The trend towards mediocrity is beginning to fork as the reluctant ones regain confidence in the virtues of better days. Let those who aspire to lower standards indulge in their eventual discomfort.
I don't know how they'd get the stats from a secular source, because the secular authorities don't even ask about religion & in most states divorce records are sealed. If religion is part of the proceedings, it would only be brought up in custody cases & only when it may have an impact on minor children. The stats are probably derived from a study.
The way I see it, the Catholic Church has had thousands of spin off denominations. I wonder how many the Eastern Orthodox Church has had.
Some say that the Catholic Church is one.
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