tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22020163.post5268850914825699156..comments2023-10-24T07:28:50.297-04:00Comments on Thinking on the Margin: Religion = Romance? Divorce Rates vs. Church AttendanceBrian Hollarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09365101283657395331noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22020163.post-83528578058982344972011-03-02T23:32:41.205-05:002011-03-02T23:32:41.205-05:00I think your four possibilities pretty well cover ...I think your four possibilities pretty well cover itSamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09263795938554938054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22020163.post-9599502334014235652011-02-15T20:59:27.642-05:002011-02-15T20:59:27.642-05:00Brian,
"I've lost track of how many time...Brian,<br /><br />"I've lost track of how many times I've heard pastors and Christian authors quote the statistic that divorce rates are the same for church-goers as in the general population. This is misleading and disheartening to many devout Christians"<br /><br />I believe this is coming from a Pew report, quoted on Focus on the Family. I've heard it since the mid-nineties (then US total population ~280M, Catholic ~70M)and I believed it was Evangelical Christians. So Catholic, Main-line Protestant and Orthodox could easily account for the difference between your graph and the Pew statistic in my mind. <br /><br />Granted, I usually hear "Evangelical" thrown around like "we're the white hats," so if Pew is accurate and your is also, maybe a little less pride on the adjective is in order.Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00261766465382455822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22020163.post-34136137884231252322011-02-14T16:59:37.687-05:002011-02-14T16:59:37.687-05:00That's posible. Although you'd have to re...That's posible. Although you'd have to reconcile it with data that people with higher religiosity also score higher on measurements of happiness than less religious people do too. <br /><br />I think what is more likely that:<br /><br />1) Religious people view divorce more negatively that less devout people. Having an ex ante aversion to divorce prior to marriage could incentivize this group to take marriage more seriously and lessent their likelihood to divorce.<br /><br />2) Greater commonality of shared belief would also likely reduce the probability of divorce. (EX: Cross-cultural and interfaith marriages have higher divorce rates than the general population.)<br /><br />3) Increased monitoring by a share social group (churches) along with support from these groups to those who are struggling in marriage may also contribute to lower levels of divorce.<br /><br />4) There could be a happiness effect. If religious people are more happy, it could also be that happy people are less likely to divorce.<br /><br />All very interesting questions....Brian Hollarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00694444396412628374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22020163.post-27307538080743228442011-02-14T16:46:25.511-05:002011-02-14T16:46:25.511-05:00Suppose there is a causation; what I'd like to...Suppose there is a causation; what I'd like to know is greater religiosity lead to better mate selection (e.g. through mixers and thus less chance of disagreement) or is greater religiosity encourage stubbornness about leaving an unhappy marriage? (These are the two obvious sources of causation I could think of.)Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14364155797420903461noreply@blogger.com