Atheists and divorce.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Borrowed from another forum.

http://atheism.about....


Conservative Christians of all types, evangelical as well as Catholic, tend to link their conservative brand of their religion with proper moral behavior. By far the most popular context is marriage: they claim that a good, solid marriage is only possible when people acknowledge conservative Christianity's claims about the nature of marriage and gender roles. So why is it that Christian marriages, and especially conservative Christian marriages, end in divorce more often than atheist marriages?

The Barna Research Group, an evangelical Christian organization that does surveys and research to better understand what Christians believe and how they behave, studied divorce rates in America in 1999 and found surprising evidence that divorce is far lower among atheists than among conservative Christians — exactly the opposite of what they were probably expecting.

11% of all American adults are divorced
25% of all American adults have had at least one divorce


27% of born-again Christians have had at least one divorce
24% of all non-born-again Christians have been divorced


21% of atheists have been divorced
21% of Catholics and Lutherans have been divorced
24% of Mormons have been divorced
25% of mainstream Protestants have been divorced
29% of Baptists have been divorced
24% of nondenominational, independent Protestants have been divorced


27% of people in the South and Midwest have been divorced
26% of people in the West have been divorced
19% of people in the Northwest and Northeast have been divorced

The highest divorce rates are in the Bible Belt: "Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Oklahoma round out the Top Five in frequency of divorce...the divorce rates in these conservative states are roughly 50 percent above the national average" of 4.2/1000 people. Nine states in the Northeast (Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Maryland) have the lowest divorce rates, averaging just 3.5/1000 people.

Barna isn't the only group to arrive at these numbers. Other researchers have also found that conservative Protestants get divorced more often than other groups, even more often than "mainline" Protestants. The fact that atheists and agnostics divorce less often than other religious groups was, however, surprising to many. Some have simply refused to believe it.

Credit should be given to George Barna, himself a conservative evangelical Christian, for at least trying to face up to these results and what they might mean: "We would love to be able to report that Christians are living very distinct lives and impacting the community, but...in the area of divorce rates they continue to be the same." According to Barna, his data raises "questions regarding the effectiveness of how churches minister to families" and challenge "the idea that churches provide truly practical and life-changing support for marriage."

Born again adults who have been married are just as likely as non-born-again adults who have been married to eventually become divorced. Because the vast majority of born again marriages occurred after the partners had accepted Christ as their savior, it appears that their connection to Christ makes less difference in the durability of people’s marriages than many people might expect. Faith has had a limited affect on people’s behavior, whether related to moral convictions and practices, relational activities, lifestyle choices or economic practices.

Barna should, however, acknowledge that the divorce rates for conservative Christians are higher than for liberal Christians. He also doesn't take the further step of acknowledging that perhaps conservative Christianity and conservative religion in general are unable to provide a sound basis for marriage — that perhaps there are other, more secular foundations for marriage that conservative Christians are missing. What might they be? Well, an obvious possibility is treating women like fully autonomous equals in the relationship, something which conservative Christianity frequently denies.

The difference in divorce rates is particularly interesting given the fact that the Christians getting divorced in the highest numbers are among the same Christians who are most likely to raise an alarm about the state of marriage in society. They also tend to be the same Christians who want to deny gays the right to marry on the assumption that gay marriage is a "threat" to the institution of marriage. If marriage is in any danger in America, perhaps the threat comes from the unstable marriages of conservative Christians, not the relationships of gays or the marriages of godless atheists.

[The Dawktor]

Well- I'm a divorced Atheist- does that help?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Well- I'm a divorced Atheist- does that help?

I've been married three times (so far) and divorced once. How does that fit?

[The Dawktor]

Well- I'm a divorced Atheist- does that help?

I've been married three times (so far) and divorced once. How does that fit?

You're getting (a bit) like Henry VIII Gawd!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Well- I'm a divorced Atheist- does that help?

I've been married three times (so far) and divorced once. How does that fit?

You're getting (a bit) like Henry VIII Gawd!

Never beheaded a wife.

[Animavore]

Well you losers aside, I have a theory about this.

These Christian wasters usually have an abstinence pledge (yeah I know, a lot of them break it) where as atheists tend to have no qualms about having sex before marriage so during their youth atheists are going around living a hedonistic lifestyle, most of them in a sensible way (protection), so marriage doesn't even come up at this early stage.
Christians on the other hand would be dying for the ride so Christian women would be putting the pressure on the young lad to get married as soon as possible and the young lad being horny as fuck might go along with it.
Hmmm. Not explaining this too well. I do know that Christian America is all about getting married though. I often hear of kids as young as 18 getting married. Something that rarely happens in Ireland. Its like its a part of their culture. I would be very interested to know if American atheists are getting married older and more mature when they can judge better who is the ideal person for them after testing the water with lots of other people first. I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is yes.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Ascerbic Animavore has a bit of a point, I think. Catholics can't wear rubbers or use the pill. They can't have sex before marriage either. One of those requires spending money. The other is free. There has to be a message there.

[klr]

Well you losers aside, I have a theory about this.

These Christian wasters usually have an abstinence pledge (yeah I know, a lot of them break it) where as atheists tend to have no qualms about having sex before marriage so during their youth atheists are going around living a hedonistic lifestyle, most of them in a sensible way (protection), so marriage doesn't even come up at this early stage.
Christians on the other hand would be dying for the ride so Christian women would be putting the pressure on the young lad to get married as soon as possible and the young lad being horny as fuck might go along with it.
Hmmm. Not explaining this too well. I do know that Christian America is all about getting married though. I often hear of kids as young as 18 getting married. Something that rarely happens in Ireland. Its like its a part of their culture. I would be very interested to know if American atheists are getting married older and more mature when they can judge better who is the ideal person for them after testing the water with lots of other people first. I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is yes.

Neither would I. And I think the same thing happens a lot in Ireland as well now, even amongst many 'Catholics', which is why the average marriage age here has gone steadily up over time. As you say, there aren't too many 18-year old kids getting married here. Where it does happen, the dominant factor appears to be social background - not to put too fine a point on it.

[Ayaan]

Well you losers aside, I have a theory about this.

These Christian wasters usually have an abstinence pledge (yeah I know, a lot of them break it) where as atheists tend to have no qualms about having sex before marriage so during their youth atheists are going around living a hedonistic lifestyle, most of them in a sensible way (protection), so marriage doesn't even come up at this early stage.
Christians on the other hand would be dying for the ride so Christian women would be putting the pressure on the young lad to get married as soon as possible and the young lad being horny as fuck might go along with it.
Hmmm. Not explaining this too well. I do know that Christian America is all about getting married though. I often hear of kids as young as 18 getting married. Something that rarely happens in Ireland. Its like its a part of their culture. I would be very interested to know if American atheists are getting married older and more mature when they can judge better who is the ideal person for them after testing the water with lots of other people first. I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is yes.

That could be part of it. Looking back to when I was a fundamentalist christian, I did see kids getting married out of desperation to get away from their families and to have sex. Of course, these kids were quite a bit more under their parents thumbs than most, so marriage was one of the few escape routes. The military and becoming a missionary were other popular choices. A bit off topic, but few of those kids who went to university made it through the first year - they really didn't know how to act when they weren't being constantly supervised like five-year-olds.

[floppit]

Without knowing whether any differences are statistically significant it's hard to comment on the stats in their own right.

I do think though that the issues for marriage are the same for atheists as believers - both make a promise, both then learn whether that was a wise idea they could live up to (and whether their partners can).

My guess would be that the social pressure to stay married in church communities is outweighed by the atheist tendency towards internal locus of control and a focus on problem solving rather than acceptance of the will of 'god'.

[Animavore]

Well you losers aside, I have a theory about this.

These Christian wasters usually have an abstinence pledge (yeah I know, a lot of them break it) where as atheists tend to have no qualms about having sex before marriage so during their youth atheists are going around living a hedonistic lifestyle, most of them in a sensible way (protection), so marriage doesn't even come up at this early stage.
Christians on the other hand would be dying for the ride so Christian women would be putting the pressure on the young lad to get married as soon as possible and the young lad being horny as fuck might go along with it.
Hmmm. Not explaining this too well. I do know that Christian America is all about getting married though. I often hear of kids as young as 18 getting married. Something that rarely happens in Ireland. Its like its a part of their culture. I would be very interested to know if American atheists are getting married older and more mature when they can judge better who is the ideal person for them after testing the water with lots of other people first. I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is yes.

That could be part of it. Looking back to when I was a fundamentalist christian, I did see kids getting married out of desperation to get away from their families and to have sex. Of course, these kids were quite a bit more under their parents thumbs than most, so marriage was one of the few escape routes. The military and becoming a missionary were other popular choices. A bit off topic, but few of those kids who went to university made it through the first year - they really didn't know how to act when they weren't being constantly supervised like five-year-olds.

This is what I'm driving at. Its like these people treat their kids like property.
When I was young my mum had no problem with me going out and enjoying myself. I was just told that if I got anyone pregnant I would have to deal with it so it was better that I didn't. I used to take girls back to my room and have sex with them with the music turned up or while my parents were asleep in the next room they never gave a shit (well my mum was a bit concerned that I never seemed to go out with any of them but she didn't make to big a deal). I can't imagine having my parents snooping into all my private affairs. There's a girl who lives on my road from a Jehovah's Witness family but becasue she wanted to be like the other teens on the street and go on sessions and have a laugh it caused a serious rift in the family to the extent that to this day, 12 years on, they still don't speak to her (except her brother).

[Pappa]

I would be very interested to know if American atheists are getting married older and more mature when they can judge better who is the ideal person for them after testing the water with lots of other people first. I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is yes.

Neither would I.

Me too. I'd also like to know if atheist are just far less likely to marry and this do not affect the statistics.

[Drewish]

I would be very interested to know if American atheists are getting married older and more mature when they can judge better who is the ideal person for them after testing the water with lots of other people first. I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is yes.

Neither would I.

Me too. I'd also like to know if atheist are just far less likely to marry and this do not affect the statistics.

Yeah, a lot of atheists don't even bother getting married. That could affect the outcome.

[Sisifo]

This should dissipate all your doubts...