FIRST-PERSON: The Christian divorce rate myth (what you've heard is wrong)

Bpatist Press ^ | Feb 15, 2011 | Glenn T. Stanton

[Gamecock]

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BP)--"Christians divorce at roughly the same rate as the world!" It's one of the most quoted stats by Christian leaders today. And it's perhaps one of the most inaccurate.

Based on the best data available, the divorce rate among Christians is significantly lower than the general population.

Here's the truth....

Many people who seriously practice a traditional religious faith -- be it Christian or other -- have a divorce rate markedly lower than the general population.

The factor making the most difference is religious commitment and practice. Couples who regularly practice any combination of serious religious behaviors and attitudes -- attend church nearly every week, read their Bibles and spiritual materials regularly; pray privately and together; generally take their faith seriously, living not as perfect disciples, but serious disciples -- enjoy significantly lower divorce rates than mere church members, the general public and unbelievers.

Professor Bradley Wright, a sociologist at the University of Connecticut, explains from his analysis of people who identify as Christians but rarely attend church, that 60 percent of these have been divorced. Of those who attend church regularly, 38 percent have been divorced [1].

Other data from additional sociologists of family and religion suggest a significant marital stability divide between those who take their faith seriously and those who do not.

W. Bradford Wilcox, a leading sociologist at the University of Virginia and director of the National Marriage Project, finds from his own analysis that "active conservative Protestants" who regularly attend church are 35 percent less likely to divorce compared to those who have no affiliation. Nominally attending conservative Protestants are 20 percent more likely to divorce, compared to secular Americans [2].

Professor Scott Stanley from the University of Denver, working with an absolute all-star team of leading sociologists on the Oklahoma Marriage Study, explains that couples with a vibrant religious faith had more and higher levels of the qualities couples need to avoid divorce:

"Whether young or old, male or female, low-income or not, those who said that they were more religious reported higher average levels of commitment to their partners, higher levels of marital satisfaction, less thinking and talking about divorce and lower levels of negative interaction. These patterns held true when controlling for such important variables as income, education, and age at first marriage."

These positive factors translated into actual lowered risk of divorce among active believers.

"Those who say they are more religious are less likely, not more, to have already experienced divorce. Likewise, those who report more frequent attendance at religious services were significantly less likely to have been divorced [3]."

THE TAKE-AWAY

The divorce rates of Christian believers are not identical to the general population -- not even close. Being a committed, faithful believer makes a measurable difference in marriage.

Saying you believe something or merely belonging to a church, unsurprisingly, does little for marriage. But the more you are involved in the actual practice of your faith in real ways -- through submitting yourself to a serious body of believers, learning regularly from Scripture, being in communion with God though prayer individually and with your spouse and children, and having friends and family around you who challenge you to take you marriage's seriously -- the greater difference this makes in strengthening both the quality and longevity of our marriages. Faith does matter and the leading sociologists of family and religion tell us so. --30-- Glenn T. Stanton is the director for family formation studies at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, Colo., and is the author of the new book, "Secure Daughters Confident Sons: How Parents Guide Their Children into Authentic Masculinity and Femininity" (Multnomah, 2011).

1 Bradley R.E. Wright, "Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites …and Other Lies You've Been Told," (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2010), p. 133.

2 W. Bradford Wilcox and Elizabeth Williamson, "The Cultural Contradictions of Mainline Family Ideology and Practice," in American Religions and the Family, edited by Don S. Browning and David A. Clairmont (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007) p. 50.

3. C.A. Johnson, S. M. Stanley, N.D. Glenn, P.A. Amato, S.L. Nock, H.J. Markman and M .R. Dion "Marriage in Oklahoma: 2001 Baseline Statewide Survey on Marriage and Divorce" (Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma Department of Human Services 2002) p. 25, 26.

[Sopater]

Many people who seriously practice a traditional religious faith -- be it Christian or other -- have a divorce rate markedly lower than the general population.

Absolutely. First you have to define what a "Christian" is. I would imagine that it is very accurate to say that the divorce rate among church goers is roughly equivalent to the rest of the world, but I would also imagine that most church goers are not Christians as Jesus would define the word.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. - Matthew 7:21-23

[Chaguito]

We have George Barna to thank for that fallacious statistic. His data don’t even support his conclusion, if he takes commitment into account. But it makes a salacious headline and more business for him.

[Gamecock]

That is, of course true.

But that wasn’t the point of the article.

[grapeape]

I believe this. Good article. Thank you for posting.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[MNDude]

this explains a lot

[TexasFreeper2009]

My wife and I have been at the same church, in the same Sunday school for nearly 20 years.

Literally hundreds of couples have come through that class over the years, and I am only aware of two that ever got divorced and both of those happened long after they had stopped coming.

[ROTB]

A Christian is someone who at one time ever believed in Jesus. Whether they seriously “strive” to enter heaven or not does not remove them from the category of “Christian” in God’s eyes.

1 Peter 4:17 says “judgment begins at the house of God”, which is why we have China/Russia/NorthKorea and the Arabs all wanting us dead.

It is the sin in the Church, namely the divorce, abortion, drugs, adultery, porn, lack of deliverance, lack of witnessing, that has forced God to raise up these enemies against the USA THE SAME WAY HE RAISED THEM UP AGAINST ISRAEL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

Here are other sources that testify to the coming destruction of the USA:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2681926/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2677073/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2681346/posts
http://www.handofhelp.com/visions_dumitru.php

It’s the sin among people who have ever been Christians which is causing this.

[ViLaLuz]

A 38% divorce rate is still a shameful thing.

[mockingbyrd]

According to census department info, if two people enter into a marriage, each for the first time, there’s over a 70% chance they will stay married.

This whole 50% divorce rate comes from serial matrimony from some.

[VoiceOfBruck]

The statistical problem here still persists. It’s difficult to produce objective rules to define who is and who is not a serious Christian, and of course that’s not our job anyway. So determining the true Christian divorce rate probably won’t happen.

That having been said, among my committed Christian friends, I know of very, very few divorces. That is not to say they don’t have marital or money troubles; some do to be sure, but rarely do they get divorced.

My BS detector gets pinned every time I hear that phony stat about Christian divorces.

[iowamark]

Nominally attending conservative Protestants are 20 percent more likely to divorce, compared to secular Americans

"Nominally attending conservative" is a euphemism for liberal.

[wbarmy]

There was a study done in the late 1990’s by several Christian colleges; Bob Jones, Pensacola, etc. which tracked families for several decades specifically concerning divorce and marriage statistics. It showed that a male, born into a family where both parents were faithful church members, consistent over their life, had a 85-95% chance of NOT getting a divorce in their own marriage.

The divorce statistics are heavily skewed because of multiple divorces for a few, outweighing a single couples rock solid marriage.