Christian Divorce Rate much lower than Secular Rates

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Angela53510

Angela53510

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#1
Jan 24, 2011
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#1
"In her book, The Good News About Marriage, Feldhahn lays out what she found during her eight years of investigating the complicated, complex divorce statistics.First, the divorce rate is way below 50 percent and much lower for those who attend church.
Feldhahn estimates the overall divorce rate for the country is around 31 percent. The studies of people who regularly go to church all show a much lower divorce rate for them.
"Maybe 15 percent, maybe 20 percent for all marriages. First marriages, second marriages, third marriages," Feldhahn explained."

Church Divorce Rate Way Lower Than Anyone Thought
 
Percepi

Percepi

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#3
Feb 16, 2014
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U.S. divorce rates: for various faith groups, age groups and geographical areas

I don't believe Feldhahn's research is efficient enough to overturn the numerous other sources we have proving otherwise. The above link I provides cites 16 different sources, whereas Feldhahn's project was conducted on her own. I have a strong feeling Feldhahn's study failed to take the necessary precautions required to ensure bias isn't present in dictating the final results, whether the bias is intentional or unintentional.
 
1

1still_waters

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#4
#4
Percepi said:
U.S. divorce rates: for various faith groups, age groups and geographical areas

I don't believe Feldhahn's research is efficient enough to overturn the numerous other sources we have proving otherwise. The above link I provides cites 16 different sources, whereas Feldhahn's project was conducted on her own. I have a strong feeling Feldhahn's study failed to take the necessary precautions required to ensure bias isn't present in dictating the final results, whether the bias is intentional or unintentional.
Click to expand...
Feldhahn may have a college degree along with peers who approve of her work. This would clearly cancel out findings from other people who have college degrees and peers who approve of their work. :p At least that's how I see some of this stuff go down sometimes. Someone has a degree, points to peers who agree with them, then assume that's the trump card, even though people who disagree with them also have degrees with peer approval.
 
Angela53510

Angela53510

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Jan 24, 2011
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My personal experience is that I have met few divorced Christian couples. That is why I always was shocked at this 50% divorce rate always cited. Besides, Barna seems to agree that the divorce rate for Christians is no where near 50%.

[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica][h=3]Barna report: Variation in divorce rates among Christian faith groups:[/h][/FONT][TABLE="width: 85%"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Denomination (in order of decreasing divorce rate)[/FONT][/TD]
[TD="width: 27%"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica][/FONT]
[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]% who have been divorced[/FONT]​
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Non-denominational **[/FONT][/TD]
[TD="width: 27%, align: center"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]34%[/FONT][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Baptists[/FONT][/TD]
[TD="width: 27%, align: center"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]29%[/FONT][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Mainline Protestants[/FONT][/TD]
[TD="width: 27%, align: center"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]25%[/FONT][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Mormons[/FONT][/TD]
[TD="width: 27%, align: center"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]24%[/FONT][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Catholics[/FONT][/TD]
[TD="width: 27%, align: center"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]21%[/FONT][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Lutherans[/FONT][/TD]
[TD="width: 27%, align: center"][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]21%


[/FONT][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

From your link, Percepi!
 
Percepi

Percepi

Banned
#6
Feb 16, 2014
903
2
0
#6
1still_waters said:
Feldhahn may have a college degree along with peers who approve of her work. This would clearly cancel out findings from other people who have college degrees and peers who approve of their work. :p At least that's how I see some of this stuff go down sometimes. Someone has a degree, points to peers who agree with them, then assume that's the trump card, even though people who disagree with them also have degrees with peer approval.
Click to expand...
The problem is that it appears the study linked by the OP wasn't entirely random. More importantly, it didn't appear to be blind. It's rather hard to say without seeing exactly how she performed her research. I'm just not convinced the study is reliable. It's quite possible she only evaluated couples who went to church, then kept statistics for non-Christians or non-church goers the same according to research that's already been established. Who knows?

To my understanding the polls conducted to come up with the numbers we generally see come from a large assortment of randomized people. This is the most accurate way to conduct a study of such a large scale.
 
Angela53510

Angela53510

Senior Member
#7
Jan 24, 2011
11,782
2,950
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#7
"Pastors need to know this," she said. "People need to be able to look around the average congregation and say, 'You know what, most of these people will have strong and happy marriages for a lifetime. Doing what God says matters. This is a big deal to know."

I think spreading lies about the high divorce rate among Christians is a way of discouraging people from waiting till after marriage to have sex, and encourages people to give up, since there is no hope for marriage, anyway.
 
Percepi

Percepi

Banned
#8
Feb 16, 2014
903
2
0
#8
Angela53510 said:
My personal experience is that I have met few divorced Christian couples. That is why I always was shocked at this 50% divorce rate always cited. Besides, Barna seems to agree that the divorce rate for Christians is no where near 50%.

Barna report: Variation in divorce rates among Christian faith groups:

[TABLE="width: 85%"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"]Denomination (in order of decreasing divorce rate)[/TD]
[TD="width: 27%"]
% who have been divorced​
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"]Non-denominational **[/TD]
[TD="width: 27%, align: center"]34%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"]Baptists[/TD]
[TD="width: 27%, align: center"]29%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"]Mainline Protestants[/TD]
[TD="width: 27%, align: center"]25%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"]Mormons[/TD]
[TD="width: 27%, align: center"]24%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"]Catholics[/TD]
[TD="width: 27%, align: center"]21%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 73%"]Lutherans[/TD]
[TD="width: 27%, align: center"]21%


[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

From your link, Percepi!
Click to expand...
Those numbers don't contradict anything that I said.

I think spreading lies about the high divorce rate among Christians is a way of discouraging people from waiting till after marriage to have sex, and encourages people to give up, since there is no hope for marriage, anyway.
Click to expand...
Do you have any evidence that the study is lying? It sounds like you're simply trying to deny something you don't want to believe to be true. Please, consider the idea that these numbers might just be true, and let's think of why they might be true.

One thing I found quite interesting was this quote from the link I provided:

Donald Hughes, author of The Divorce Reality, said:
"In the churches, people have a superstitious view that Christianity will keep them from divorce, but they are subject to the same problems as everyone else, and they include a lack of relationship skills. ...Just being born again is not a rabbit's foot."
Click to expand...
It sounds as if many Christians are so confident God will protect their marriage, they don't spend as much time making sure they're marrying the right person for them. Where many people with little to no faith might say, "We need to sort these problems out before we get married", I can easily see Christians assuming, "I believe this problem will be sorted out after we get married. God will see it through."

It's also no secret that many couples live together as if they were married without actually getting married. Since the church often speaks against such a life style, it's also quite possible that Christians who want to live with each other are more prepared to marry as a means of abiding by their religious views. Atheists, agnostics, and those who don't practice their religion strongly, are probably more likely to put marriage off, but move in with the person they love as if they were a married couple. Since they're putting marriage off, they can easily break up after years of living together without showing up as a "divorced couple".

I'll admit, that's all speculation, but it's an interesting idea I feel deserves to be looked into more thoroughly. Then again, it probably has been and I'm just unaware of the studies.
 
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