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imageTodd Rhoades

Bradley Wright has an interesting post on over at his web log. Bradley writes... "Many people believe that Christian marriages end in divorce just as often as non-Christian, but it turns out, using the best data available, that this is not true. To illustrate, here are the divorce rates among ever-married respondents in the General Social Survey (GSS, 2000-2004)—one of the best known sources of sociological data. “Frequent” is attending church about once a week or more.

58%, non-frequent Black Protestants
54%, non-frequent Evangelicals
51%, no religion (e.g., atheists & agnostics)
48%, ALL NON-CHRISTIANS
48%, non-frequent, other religions
47%, frequent Black Protestants
42%, non-frequent, mainline Protestants
41%, ALL CHRISTIANS
41%, non-frequent Catholics
39%, Jews
38%, frequent other religions
34%, frequent Evangelicals
32%, ALL FREQUENT CHRISTIANS
32%, frequent mainline Protestants
23%, frequent Catholics

I also analyzed data from previous years of the GSS and from five other national surveys, and they showed the same pattern: Christians, especially those who frequently attend church, have relatively low divorce rates.

This raises an interesting question: Why do so many people believe otherwise? It appears to stem from the work of George Barna. In well-publicized studies, he has compared divorce rates of “born again” Christians against non-Christians, and he finds little difference. Here’s the catch: his type of analysis labels as “non-Christian” many mainline Protestants, such as Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Episcopalians, and most Catholics. As such, he is comparing Christians against Christians. Ron Sider has publicized Barna’s statistics in his award winning Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience.

Some qualifications: The real question here is whether being Christian lessens divorce, and while the data above suggest “yes,” they can be interpreted otherwise. Perhaps people who get divorced also stop attending church. Perhaps those who attend church are also those who would stay married anyway. In addition, members of other religions also have low divorce rates. This should not be surprising since these other religions, such as Judaism, Mormonism, and Christian Science, have similar moral teachings about divorce.

What does this mean for Christians, especially pastors and other ? The message is good news: Church efforts to keep marriages together appear to be effective. Also, perhaps the best thing for marriages is frequent .”

SOURCE:  http://brewright.blogspot.com/2006/12/christian-divorce-rates.html


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  There are 9 Comments:

  • Posted by kent
    Thursday, January 04, 2007 at 9:49 AM

    I read this on his site, and it is nice to have someone who has access to the actual figures rather than the popular figures and who knows how to work them. it is good site.

  • Posted by
    Thursday, January 04, 2007 at 10:15 AM

    Comparing Barna is good, because I’m becoming more and more convinced that his data and conclusions are more and more deeply flawed.

  • Posted by Adam McLane
    Friday, January 05, 2007 at 8:29 AM

    I agree Peter. I don’t read or use Barna’s reports for that very reason. I’m not 100% sure what went wrong with his research methods but I find them to be entirely distant from reality.

  • Posted by
    Friday, January 05, 2007 at 9:26 AM

    What’s funny is we think we gotta have this data or we gotta rearrange it to show it really isn’t that bad, when right in the midst of church we (friends and leadership) do not keep marriages accountable.  For all the talk about “we care more than mainline churches and are changing the world” these continuing trends surely don’t show it.  You don’t need statistics when you are a Christian responsible for what is going on right in your midst!!!

  • Posted by
    Monday, January 08, 2007 at 9:59 AM

    Mark Twain said that there were 3 kinds of lies: “...lies, damn lies, and statistics.” While they can be interesting, and occasionally illuminating, statistics should not be trusted, certainly not to the level of Scripture. While it is nice to have ammunition in the culture war, sometimes statistics are like arrows: easily reused by the enemy.

  • Posted by
    Tuesday, April 08, 2008 at 12:18 PM

    First of all, your figures you display show 41% of ALL Christians divorce.  That may well be lower than the national average, but it is still pretty high.  Also, you have no explanation as to why ‘attending church’ would do anything to help a couple stay together.  I have been to several churches over the years and my experience has been that the typical modern church today cares more about its image and its bottom line than it does its flock.  They also tend to shun people who are going through or already have gotten a divorce. 

    So, basically I think the reason your figures are ‘low’ for people attending church and not getting a divorce is because the people attending church stop attending after they divorce because they cannot stay at the church! 

    I think your viewpoint and your study is a bit skewed because you really want to believe in your heart Christian people are better than everyone else and believe me, that simply is NOT true!

  • Posted by Stevens johnson syndrome
    Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 3:34 AM

    I don’t think just on the basis of few bad or good people, the whole community can be judged.But if the ratio is so high in number of percentage, then i think it seems to be true.Anyway, it was a nice post.

  • Posted by Las Vegas Divorce Lawyer
    Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 6:39 AM

    These are some really interesting numbers.Is it really true, that people who regularly attend church have a lower chance of divorce.What has attending church got to do with a relationship truning bad or terrible?

  • Posted by divorce
    Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 2:44 PM

    ah, so god keeps you in check.

    what i think hasnt been asked here is: of those who do not divorce, are they staying married b/c they are happy, or because they feel obligated to?

    Or, does god make us happier? OR, does being less religous make us more selfish and more likely to divorce when we as individuals are unhappy?

    Can we compare the happiness index to the divorce stats? now THAT would be interesting

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