Comments on: “…then query whether religion has any real influence on anybody at all”: Divorce, faith, and new beginnings

By: Tony Vila

Tony Vila — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 14:30:15 +0000

Maybe it does have more to do with income, but someone did mention age and I was responding to that.

Besides, the idea that people are more influenced by their income level than the teachings of their church when it comes to divorce, is pretty supportive of XLRQ’s contrarian question.

By: Hugo

Hugo — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 15:48:22 +0000

Kate, I’ve dealt with that subject obliquely but never directly. I’m mindful of the implication — that those who are’nt religiously inclined aren’t virtuous, and I want to avoid that. I write from personal experience, not in an effort to convince others that my position is universally true.

Maybe I will touch on this one day soon.

By: kate

kate — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 15:22:11 +0000

i think it does us all good to invoke mark twain at moments like this - you know, “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” i’m not attempting to make a value judgement on the statistics presented (and debated here), but just noting that numbers can be used to prove any point, if they’re manipulated in the right way.

the real point of my comment is this, though - hugo, one sentence from one of your above comments floored me:

“For someone like me, faith is necessary in order to behave decently.”

maybe i just haven’t been reading your blog for long enough, and you’ve already been over this particular topic, but that is a fairly jaw-dropping thing to say. i, for one, would be fascinated to here more about it (or directed to some spot in the archives that would serve that purpose).

By: Hugo

Hugo — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 23:22:15 +0000

Take it up with Barna and Christianity Today, Doc; anecdotes are not evidence, but Barna’s research is regarded as world-class.

By: Doc Rampage

Doc Rampage — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 20:07:50 +0000

This data strikes me as a bit odd. I don’t have much recent personal information, but I used to attend a couple of very large Evangelical churches and almost no one had been divorced. It was big news when someone got divorced and in some cases could lead to their removal from the church. One very popular pastor was divorced by his wife, and even though he didn’t want the divorce, he was required to step down from the ministry.

It’s a bit hard to reconcile this experience with the idea that divorce is just as common among these people as it is among the general population.

By: Chris Burd

Chris Burd — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 18:13:10 +0000

By the way, has anyone controlled these divorce rates for class, education, race etc.?

By: Chris Burd

Chris Burd — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 18:11:23 +0000

Just to throw in another data point, a few years ago Statistics Canada concluded that frequent churchgoers were in fact less likely to divorce than the rest of the population. I remember their spokeswoman was very insistent that *of course*, this variance could have *nothing* to do with differences in belief systems, oh my word no, it had to be the *greater opportunities for socializing* at the *after-church coffee hour*, yeah that’s the ticket. You know, isolation is so hard on married couples.

Kidding aside, I would warn Xrlq and others about generalizing too broadly from American religious culture.

By: Rilina

Rilina — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:57:26 +0000

So yes those people get married younger. That’s kinda the point, they’re getting married young so they can have sex earlier, and getting divorced more because of it.

Actually, I think the point that the CT article was raising was that early marriages may as well be a function of *class* as well as *religion.* Which is not to say some Christians don’t get married earlier to have sex; certainly that happens. But it seems unfair to argue that religious teachings on pre-marital sex are the sole or even primary cause of early marriages.

By: alex

alex — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:38:35 +0000

I’m going to attribute lower Catholic rates to their various pre-marriage educational programs, which include a lot of lessons intended to get the prospective partners communicating better and learning how to resolve conflicts. I know a couple that ran a “Toured Marriage” program for several years, and sat in during a couple evenings while I was dating their daughter. The programs can be very good; like anything else they require a good teacher.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that one of the factors working against Fundamentalist marriages is the black/white worldview the faith promotes. If something is not Godly, it is evil. Not the best setting for conflict resolution and compromise.

By: Hugo

Hugo — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:56:53 +0000

I wasn’t offended, DJW; I just was admiring your pithy accuracy.