Isn’t It Disturbing That The Divorce Rate Is So High Among Christians?
The US Census Reports and US National Divorce Statistics at present show that Christians in particular the evangelical and southern baptist sects have the highest rate. It is even HIGHER than couples professiing no relgious affiliation or to be atheist. Even more surprising its the conservative RED state- Texas and not California, New York or even Nevada that is the LEADING divorce state in the USA. How come?
This is my theory….
(1) The "no sex before marriage" thing is making young people marry too soon and too young to the first person they fall in love with. They cannot date around nor discover if they are sexually compatible first.
(2) Today when folks discover the marriage was a mistake, they are NOT going to stick it out like our grand parents used to. My grandmother stayed with a TERRIBLE abusive husband for 50 years until she died of cancer. Women today expect more out of life.
(3) So called "ex-gay" Christians can’t stick it out either.
What’s your theories folks?
8 Responses
thedrisin
31 Jan 2010
camys_daddy
31 Jan 2010
My theory is that the church doesn’t care anymore.
I am a member of a Southern Baptist church and so is my unfaithful ex-wife.
They didn’t seem to care when she had her affair. They were too busy being worried about gay marriage.
I believe the stats are different for the folks who attend weekly, as opposed to those who just associate themselves with a certain denomination. However, based on my experience with that lack of concern and failure to apply biblical church discipline to try to entice my ex back into fellowship with the body of believers, frankly, I’m shocked that the divorce numbers are as LOW as they are
swiss girl
31 Jan 2010
Easy, they are human like the rest of us.
Stephanie S
31 Jan 2010
I agree with your theories. I dated a christian guy (I am christian also) who wanted to get married after 2 months of "dating". His #1 reason was because of temptation….a big no-no in my book. After I refused the marriage and stated that I needed to date at least a year to learn more about him, he became resentful and started acting like a complete jerk….great thing I wasn’t in a hurry or I would have been somewhere filing for a divorce. I see this behavior allot among the christian community, but no one wants to talk about it.
Rick46
31 Jan 2010
I have never seen any statistics to support you argument. I am a Christian and have been married 20+ years and have never considered divorce. A very high percentage of my Christian friends have happy marriages. I think true Christians work harder at their marriages and many people who say they are Christian probably don’t truly lead a Christian life of Bible study, prayer, and church attendance.
Maw-Maw
31 Jan 2010
I am a Christian and I stuck out a 23 year abusive marriage.Then one day he told me that he was leaving to go be with a"lady".I told him fine but to never try and get back with me.He had committed adultery so I got the divorce.I do believe the divorce rate for Christians is higher in older couples.I would go so far as say that one is a believer the other not.Unevenly yoked when it came to their beliefs.Seen it, lived it, will never do it again…
Jill
31 Jan 2010
WOW !!! Wish I felt like writing a book here.Truth of the matter is that I will say Ditto to everything you said, except I do not believe sleeping around till you find one that fits, is right at all. If they hold out for marriage, and both are madly in love with each other, and if there should be a problem,then they work it out together.
There are not enough morals today and to many couples do not work together to make a happy home. Communication with each other is a must.Before marriage as well as after.
My husband & I are ACTIVE Southern Baptist born again christians, married 54 years.We are happily married, and we could have parted ways many times, we worked at every thing that came up and the older we got, the more stupid some of those problems seemed to be as we looked back.
We retired from the U.S Military, have 5 grown happily married children and we are looking forward to growing old together.
May you be blessed in the work you do~~~~~~Jill
Catholic Enginee
26 Jul 2010
I read the book by Wendy Jaffe, a divorce lawyer. I trust her book. It is far more valid. She points out how Christian marriages often lead to divorce simply because the churches push them into marriage at a very young age. The divorce attorneys list a variety of factors to address before marriage. Their advice is far more realistic. People getting married should read it before taking the “plunge.” I am glad I read it.
I haven’t done conclusive research, but off the top of my head, your theories sound like they make sense.
Also, conservative Christians are much less likely to live together – kind of along the lines of #1. My guess is that young people from less "traditional" backgrounds are more open to living together, even for a long time.
Another factor also is that many couples from minority groups, e.g. Asians and Asian Americans, have a low rate of divorce. This may have less to do with religion, and more to do with culture. In California, for instance, there are many Asians and Asian Americans, and the divorce rate, I believe, is lower, especially among older people.
Just another factor.