Do Christians Divorce Less?
Most people seem to think Christians have a divorce rate that's about the same as non-Christians. This idea has been popularized in both the secular and Christian press. Ironically someone recently did a detailed analysis of the US government's social data. We don't know for the rest of the world, but if the US population is any indicator - Christians who attend a church function (ie worship or bible study) regularly (defined as about once a week) are 16% less likely to get divorced. This is huge. Here are the stats...
Divorce Rates
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
Before jumping to conclusions - these stats don't tell us all we need to know. For instance - frequent attenders of religious services outside of Christianity also have a low divorce rate compared with the rest of the population. Catholics who attend Mass regularly are clearly doing something right. But still we don't know everything. Church may keep people together. It might also be that people who are more dedicated to their marriages are also more consistent in their religious practice. Which comes first - the chicken or the egg?
We did a class in Sunday school during October, November and December of 2006 on "Making Marriage Work". It was great and well attended. It appears that for whatever reason - regular (once a week) involvement in church does do some good for keeping marriages together.
In my experience prayer helps a lot too.
Divorce Rates
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
Before jumping to conclusions - these stats don't tell us all we need to know. For instance - frequent attenders of religious services outside of Christianity also have a low divorce rate compared with the rest of the population. Catholics who attend Mass regularly are clearly doing something right. But still we don't know everything. Church may keep people together. It might also be that people who are more dedicated to their marriages are also more consistent in their religious practice. Which comes first - the chicken or the egg?
We did a class in Sunday school during October, November and December of 2006 on "Making Marriage Work". It was great and well attended. It appears that for whatever reason - regular (once a week) involvement in church does do some good for keeping marriages together.
In my experience prayer helps a lot too.
