Frok said:
Well you got what you want, the state marriage is now meaningless.
I think this is significant for our culture because marriage is the bedrock of the nuclear family.
Shouldn't a Christian, or anyone who views marriage through their various faith perspectives, view the state definition of "marriage" to be meaningless anyways? Our job isn't to get Caesar to force others to abide by our definition of marriage, but to model Christ-centered marriages to the world so as to provide a clear, distinct, and more appealing alternative.
I'm typically not a Gospel Coalition person, but they posted
this. Obviously, those who are more active and engaged with faith practices (Bible study, prayer, regular church attendance, etc) have a lower probability of divorce than secular Americans, but I don't think the number who fit into that category is as high as many think. I think we have a serious problem with cultural Christianity, even among people who sit in pews every Sunday.
Quote:
Professor Bradley Wright, a sociologist at the University of Connecticut, explains from his analysis of people who identify as Christians but rarely attend church, that 60 percent of these have been divorced. Of those who attend church regularly, 38 percent have been divorced.[url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-divorce-rate-among-christians/#_ftn1][1][/url]
[url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-divorce-rate-among-christians/#_ftn1][/url]
Quote:
W. Bradford Wilcox, a leading sociologist at the University of Virginia and director of the National Marriage Project, finds from his own analysis that "active conservative Protestants" who regularly attend church are 35 percent less likely to divorce compared to those who have no affiliation. Nominally attending conservative Protestants are 20 percent more likely to divorce, compared to secular Americans.[url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-divorce-rate-among-christians/#_ftn2][2][/url]
[url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-divorce-rate-among-christians/#_ftn2][/url]
Quote:
Editor's note: In reading the table, the numbers represent the likelihood of divorce compared to those with no religious affiliations. So 20% would mean that group is 20% more likely to divorce than Americans with no religious affiliations while -97% means the group is 97% less likely to divorce than the non-religious.
% Divorce Likelihood Reduction Faith Affiliation
Protestant (Nominal): 20
Protestant (Conservative): 10
Protestant (Active Conservative): -35
Catholic: -18
Catholic (Nominal): 5
Catholic (Active): 31
Jewish: 39
Jewish (Nominal): 53
Jewish (Active): 97
I'd say this is a great area where the Church needs to focus on the plank in our eyes before worrying about the speck in the eyes of secular Americans.