Divorce rates for different faiths

[rojse]

Looking at the local paper today, I saw some surprising statistics regarding divorce, so I thought I would share.

It seems that the lower divorce rates are lower among atheists and agnostics than religious people. The highest rates of divorce are among conservative Protestants.

The research on the internet I found was completed by the Barna Research Group, a conservative Christian research group.

I found a few link on the web that discusses this:
Welcome to The Barna Group!
(official Barna Website)

Atheism & Divorce: Divorce Rates for Atheists are Among the Lowest in America - Why Do Conservative Christian Defenders of Marriage Get Divorced Most? (much conciser and clear, and, for the main part, mostly unbiased in reporting)

What do you all think?

 

[Somkid]

Buddhism is very low as well but perhaps that's because we fall into the atheist group.

 

[rojse]

Buddhism is very low as well but perhaps that's because we fall into the atheist group.

Although Buddhists are atheists, they are also religious, are they not?

Still, an interesting observation. Thank you.

 

[Somkid]

Some but not most, I wouldn't say my order is religious nor are the Thai monks Buddhism is more of a philosophy and a way of life than a religion we still have a hard time defining it but I don't like the word religious, I'm more apt to quote Chairmen Mao and say "religion is poison" to spite the fact I am a Buddhist. If I think about it I come up with ideas like love and compassion as religion and there is no supreme power that is showing these things to humanity.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

I wonder what the statistics show in other countries.

Going into any sort of relationship or other activity with a failure rate between 25% and 30% seems to be a very poor outcome. and divorce is failure.

 

[rojse]

I wonder what the statistics show in other countries.

Going into any sort of relationship or other activity with a failure rate between 25% and 30% seems to be a very poor outcome. and divorce is failure.

What about a job application? What is the success rate for that? Or a lawsuit - that only has a 50% success rate.

 

[Fluffy]

First off: Wow! A survey that actually states its methods at the end. How rare is that? A 3% difference between atheists and most Christian groups isn't very significant at the 95% confidence level since there is an error margin of 1.9%. However the 8% difference between atheists and Baptists is a bit more so.

Going into any sort of relationship or other activity with a failure rate between 25% and 30% seems to be a very poor outcome. and divorce is failure.

I'm pretty certain that if we look at the "failure" rate of any sort of relationship then the percentage will be much much higher. Either way I don't think that is a reasonable way of looking at it because different activities have different acceptable failure rates. Whilst it might be your view that marriage should have a certain failure rate and even that divorce should be viewed as a failure, neither of those things are given.

 

[Kungfuzed]

Could it be that some religions have more pressure to get married before having sex? Perhaps they would take their time more and be less inclined to marry the wrong person if they were allowed to live together first.

 

[Sunstone]

There are learning curves to love, sex, and relationships. For some reason, we don't often take into account that an overall 50% first time success rate for something as complex as a marriage might be pretty good given how much we must learn to make a marriage work.

 

[tomspug]

Yeah, I've seen a lot of statistics like this. It usually ranges from 'no difference' in divorce rates to 'higher rates for evangelicals'. It seems surprising, considering that marriage is considered so sacred in Christianity.

What's sad is that marriage is supposed to be a metaphor for the relationship between the church and God. So maybe it's a sign that the church is out of touch. Maybe 'love' isn't being correctly defined by the churches of today (at least in America).

 

[Don Penguinoini]

Hindus (India) has a 3% divorce rate.

 

[ChristineES]

I think divorce will happen if one person is more religious than the other, especially by a big margin. Since atheists have no religion, that is one less argument.

 

[Quath]

Like tomspug, I have seen several polls and surveys that range from no difference to higher in evangelicals. I would have predicted the opposite. Christianity preaches that marriage is sacred so I would have thought that more would have stuck it out.

I think ChristineES makes an interesting point in that there can be a wide gap in religious attitudes in a religious based marriage. That may lead to extra arguments.

Here are some other possibilities I am guessing at that may explain this:
1. Christians would be less inclined to have sex before marriage or to live together first. This can be a big advantage in seeing if people are compatible.
2. Atheists would tend to go to a licensed therapist where Christians may go to their preacher who did not specialize in marriage counseling (usually).
3. Atheists may be more likely to try unorthadox solutions to maritial problems like open marriages.
4. Atheists may have fewer kids (guessing at this one) which may reduce financial pressures.
5. Atheists tend to make more money on average than Christians. This reduces some moneytary fights.

 

[nutshell]

Could it be that some religions have more pressure to get married before having sex? Perhaps they would take their time more and be less inclined to marry the wrong person if they were allowed to live together first.

Actually, divorce rates are higer for couples who live together before marriage than those who did not.

 

[Smoke]

Actually, divorce rates are higer for couples who live together before marriage than those who did not.

I wonder how that correlates to the divorce rate among religious people. Are religious people, and especially Evangelical Protestants, more likely to cohabit before marriage, or are they more likely to divorce despite being less likely to fall into this higher-risk category?

 

[fantome profane]

Here are some other possibilities I am guessing at that may explain this:
1. Christians would be less inclined to have sex before marriage or to live together first. This can be a big advantage in seeing if people are compatible.
2. Atheists would tend to go to a licensed therapist where Christians may go to their preacher who did not specialize in marriage counseling (usually).
3. Atheists may be more likely to try unorthadox solutions to maritial problems like open marriages.
4. Atheists may have fewer kids (guessing at this one) which may reduce financial pressures.
5. Atheists tend to make more money on average than Christians. This reduces some moneytary fights.

The first one is wrong, but I see nutshell beat me to it. As for the other reasons I think there may be something to them, especially number 5(and not only a higher income, but also a higher education level). But I suspect that the answer may be even simpler.

Atheist couples that don’t feel they are ready to get married – don’t get married (and obviously therefore don’t get divorced). And the same may apply to liberal Christians. The more conservative Christians however may feel a strong pressure to get married before they are sure it is really the right thing for them. The very fact that some religious groups preach marriage so strongly may be exactly what leads to a higher divorce rate.

 

[CaptainXeroid]

This editorial does not give the statistical methodology, sample size, or estimated margin of error for the poll, so the evidence for the author's conclusions is sketchy at best.

I'm not saying I completely dismiss his opinions, but he hasn't done a particularly strong job of supporting them.

As for 'shacking up' before marriage, I don't have a link to the studies handy, but the results were very clear that couples doing so were much more likely to divorce. People who 'try it out' before they get married were also found to be more likely to 'try out someone else' instead of working things out when the going got tough.

 

[yossarian22]

This editorial does not give the statistical methodology, sample size, or estimated margin of error for the poll, so the evidence for the author's conclusions is sketchy at best.

How could you have missed this?

The data described in this report are based on nationwide telephone interviews conducted by The Barna Group with a random sample of 3614 adults, age 18 or older, between January and August 2004. The maximum margin of sampling error associated with the aggregate sample of adults is ±1.9 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The maximum sampling error associated with the 1468 born again Christians interviewed is ±2.6 percentage points; with the 2147 non-born again adults, ±2.2 percentage points; with the 1246 Baby Busters, born between 1965 and 1983, ±2.9 percentage points; with the 1275 Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, ±2.9 percentage points; and with the 829 elder adults, born 1945 or earlier, ±3.5 percentage points.
People in the 48 continental states were eligible to be interviewed and the distribution of those individuals coincided with the geographic dispersion of the U.S. population. The data were subjected to minimal statistical weighting to calibrate the survey base to national demographic proportions. Households selected for inclusion in the telephone sample received multiple callbacks to increase the probability of including a reliable distribution of qualified individuals.
“Born again Christians" were defined in these surveys as people who said they have made "a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today" and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as "born again." Being classified as "born again" is not dependent upon church or denominational affiliation or involvement.

The evidence is most certainly not "sketchy at best", it is far from it. This is actually some of the best documentation I have seen.

 

[tomspug]

Yeah, I wouldn't question the poll. I've been hearing data like this for the last five years.

I honestly want to blame our American culture more than anything else. Money and status are so important here (and the church does so little to discourage this). Family is a joke here in America compared with other countries. Our level of family devotion is hardly admirable. This statistic just shows me how static our churches are at addressing the real problems our country has, which explains the general hypocritical impression so many people get from them.

Our churches are so focused on personal faith, but not on the faith of Jesus, which was to love others, not yourself. And I can't think of anything more selfish than divorce.

 

[rojse]

The first one is wrong, but I see nutshell beat me to it. As for the other reasons I think there may be something to them, especially number 5(and not only a higher income, but also a higher education level). But I suspect that the answer may be even simpler.

Atheist couples that don’t feel they are ready to get married – don’t get married (and obviously therefore don’t get divorced). And the same may apply to liberal Christians. The more conservative Christians however may feel a strong pressure to get married before they are sure it is really the right thing for them. The very fact that some religious groups preach marriage so strongly may be exactly what leads to a higher divorce rate.

I thought that incomes for different religious denominations were the same.

I like your point in the second paragraph - there may be different social pressures to marry in different religions, which may result in couples marrying before they are ready, or before they find out they are not really compatible.