Divorce Rates for Atheists Are Among the Lowest in America

[Torie]

I am not sure where this thread should go, and whether or not this article has been posted about before (because the article is from last year and our search function is broken, but here is the article. Baptists have the highest divorce rate.

More globally, my anecdotal observation in life, is that when it comes to actual behavior, religion, and the sect of the religion, or lack of religion, really don't make much difference. The temperament, needs and desires, and degree of self discipline, of the individual, seem to be far more important than matters of faith. Others may have had different experiences.

[RINO Tom]

I'd need to look into it further, but I STRONGLY suspect some lurking variables, LOL ... especially given what an insignificant portion of the population actual self-identifying "Atheists" are.

[Torie]

Atheists have a higher SES status, and that is the key variable?

[Stranger in a strange land]

Atheists have a higher SES status, and that is the key variable?

Yes, this is equivalent to neckbeards arguing, "Married black people have nearly the same average income as married white people, therefore all black people need to do is get married and stay married, and racial equality will be achieved."

[DC Al Fine]

I am not sure where this thread should go, and whether or not this article has been posted about before (because the article is from last year and our search function is broken, but here is the article. Baptists have the highest divorce rate.

More globally, my anecdotal observation in life, is that when it comes to actual behavior, religion, and the sect of the religion, or lack of religion, really don't make much difference. The temperament, needs and desires, and degree of self discipline, of the individual, seem to be far more important than matters of faith. Others may have had different experiences.

David French wrote an interesting piece about this. One common error we armchair pundits make is failing to adjust for church attendance. Sticking nominal Christians in with the weekly attenders isn't really meaningful IMO as the two groups behave very differently.



As seen from the above chart, Evangelicals and Catholics who attend church frequently have a much lower divorce rate than both their nominal and irreligious peers even when adjusting for socioeconomic status. This presents three possibilities:

1) Active religious participation does in fact have a meaningful impact on divorce rates.

2) There is another, hard to measure variable (discipline? concientiousnes?) which is causing the difference.

3) The study covered young marriage divorce rates, so perhaps the real impact of religion is age of marriage. That is; the sort of person who is likely to stay married no matter what tends to marry in their early 20's if Evangelical/Catholic and in their 30's if secular.

I suspect the reason is a mix of all three, but the question is, which is the largest factor? I encourage Torie et al to give religious participation a second look. There are too many differences in outcomes and lifestyle between adherents of different religions for religion not to have at least some impact. Utah has the lowest drinking rate in the country for a reason haha.

[RINO Tom]

Atheists have a higher SES status, and that is the key variable?

Gonna channel my inner-elitist-White-liberal here for a second, Torie.   Does it break it down by race?  After all, minorities are disproportionately religious and, on average, have lower SES than Whites.  Does your average non-atheist White have a lower SES than your average atheist White?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Are atheists less likely to get married in the first place?  That could contribute to this given how divorce rate is measured.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

As seen from the above chart, Evangelicals and Catholics who attend church frequently have a much lower divorce rate than both their nominal and irreligious peers even when adjusting for socioeconomic status. This presents three possibilities:

1) Active religious participation does in fact have a meaningful impact on divorce rates.

2) There is another, hard to measure variable (discipline? concientiousnes?) which is causing the difference.

3) The study covered young marriage divorce rates, so perhaps the real impact of religion is age of marriage. That is; the sort of person who is likely to stay married no matter what tends to marry in their early 20's if Evangelical/Catholic and in their 30's if secular.

I suspect the reason is a mix of all three, but the question is, which is the largest factor? I encourage Torie et al to give religious participation a second look. There are too many differences in outcomes and lifestyle between adherents of different religions for religion not to have at least some impact. Utah has the lowest drinking rate in the country for a reason haha.

That's really interesting.  I remember being very surprised when I first heard that Christians have a higher divorce rate than non-Christians.  There also seems to be a stereotype of Evangelicals condemning other people's sins while ignoring their own, and the supposed failure of Evangelicals to condemn divorce is brought up.  I was always confused because in my childhood church of almost 200 people, the only divorced people were those divorced before they became members, and those who divorced due to infidelity.  In the latter case, the cheating spouse was put under church discipline.

[afleitch]

Studies also show that gay men have some of the lowest divorce rates of any cohort.

[JA]

The only way to really know the affect of religion on divorce rates would be to construct a study that controls for significant viarables, such as household income and educational status; perhaps age at marriage, race, and sexual orientation as well. Aside from doing that, these numbers are meaningless.

[dead0man]

Studies also show that gay men have some of the lowest divorce rates of any cohort.

of course, who are they going to argue with?

Seriously though (not super serious, just more serious than the first bit), this isn't surprising.  The two most common reasons for divorce are sh**tty sex life and money.  Gay dudes (generally) enjoy sex...what with them being dudes and all, more than women (generally).  Gay dudes also have way more money than non-gay dudes (no/fewer kids...and when they do, they're much more likely to be in a stable place emotionally and financially...they almost never have "accidents")...so of course their divorce rates are going to be lower.  The two issues most likely to lead to divorce are issues that don't effect (damn it Torie, I still don't know which one is right) gay men as much as it does hetero-men/women.

[Torie]

You guessed wrong Dead0. Perhaps this might help. For some reason, I just know when it is right, and when it is wrong, without knowing the precise rules.

One thing about gay relationships, is that it is often much easier to manage open relationships and joint encounters with others (we play together is the way it is put on hookup sites), so there is more flexibility in reaching arrangements that work for both partners, and mitigate sexual ennui. That is particularly true where one partner needs a lot more sex than the other partner.

[Slander and/or Libel]

I get that perhaps it's more meaningful to use religious activity rather than religious identification, but on that axis how do you compare atheists?

[DC Al Fine]

I get that perhaps it's more meaningful to use religious activity rather than religious identification, but on that axis how do you compare atheists?

I'd argue atheism, is a sort of measure of religious activity. Most irreligious people are "nones" not atheists, just like most Christians are nominal or irregular attendees. Indeed, I think a better ranking of religions in America by population would look like:

1) Nominal Christians
2) Nones
3) Practicing Christians of various sorts
4) Atheists, agnostics etc
5 on) Judaism, Islam etc

Just as churchgoers have a very different demographic profile from lapsed Catholics, so do atheists compared to nones.

[Slander and/or Libel]

I get that perhaps it's more meaningful to use religious activity rather than religious identification, but on that axis how do you compare atheists?

I'd argue atheism, is a sort of measure of religious activity. Most irreligious people are "nones" not atheists, just like most Christians are nominal or irregular attendees. Indeed, I think a better ranking of religions in America by population would look like:

1) Nominal Christians
2) Nones
3) Practicing Christians of various sorts
4) Atheists, agnostics etc
5 on) Judaism, Islam etc

Just as churchgoers have a very different demographic profile from lapsed Catholics, so do atheists compared to nones.

I think that’s a pretty compelling framework. I guess, though, I’m still left with something of a quandary. There’s a plausible mechanism for low divorce rates among observant Christians. Is there such a plausible mechanism among atheists? Or are we back to socioeconomic status being the overwhelming predictor?

[°Leprechaun]

I get that perhaps it's more meaningful to use religious activity rather than religious identification, but on that axis how do you compare atheists?

I'd argue atheism, is a sort of measure of religious activity. Most irreligious people are "nones" not atheists, just like most Christians are nominal or irregular attendees. Indeed, I think a better ranking of religions in America by population would look like:

1) Nominal Christians
2) Nones
3) Practicing Christians of various sorts
4) Atheists, agnostics etc
5 on) Judaism, Islam etc

Just as churchgoers have a very different demographic profile from lapsed Catholics, so do atheists compared to nones.

Not a bad way of categorizing, but I would say that those of an Anabaptists tradition (pre-merger Unitarians, Mennonites, and Quakers) may be closer to nones than they are to traditional trinitarian Christians, so I would break it down as follows:

1) liberal or nominal Christians
2) traditional (or practicing Christians)
3) all nones (including atheists*), and Deists
4) all other religions

Obviously many people see it as a liberal/conservative continuum, atheists tend to fall on the liberal side, but not all atheists are liberals.
*atheist is an umbrella term including nonDeists and nonTheists, agnostic is a misleading term, because by an atheist's definition agnostics are atheists as are all so called "nontheists".
Not all nones lack a belief in a god or goddess but for classification purposes nones are unchurched and many Anabaptists are not "religious" in the sense of being so called heretics by not accepting all the religious ritual and also being pacifists which many traditional Christians are not.
Simply put, it is complicated, and any attempt to classify people is therefore problematic.

(also irreligious tends to be synonymous with atheism in my broad definition of atheism, and I myself could be called a none rather than an atheist, as I could also label myself a skeptic or freethinker)

[°Leprechaun]

If divorce is such a sin why is the GOP so fond of our divorced US Presidents?

Have you given that much thought?

Does character no longer matter?

[America Needs R'hllor]

So you mean that getting married without any rush, and after deliberating and making sure your partner is the one you'll want to live with for your entire life, will make you less likely to divorce? Unsurprising and probably accurate.

[Orwell]

If divorce is such a sin why is the GOP so fond of our divorced US Presidents?

Have you given that much thought?

Does character no longer matter?

This has nothing to do with Partisan Politics please stop

[°Leprechaun]

If divorce is such a sin why is the GOP so fond of our divorced US Presidents?

Have you given that much thought?

Does character no longer matter?

This has nothing to do with Partisan Politics please stop

Religion is very political (whether this is a good thing is another issue).
The point is that those who say divorce is a sin should walk the walk. It is pointless to say that something is true if one doesn't walk their walk. Those who are religious conservatives are often political conservatives and a lot of them will vote for candidates who don't walk their walk simply because they agree with their policies. Of course, this is a problem with the Democrats as well.

[Lord Admirale]

Probably because a look like this isn't known for mating:

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I'm old-school Catholic, we don't believe in divorce. We believe in the nuclear family! In that case, I'm pretty sure we are the ones with the lowest rate, and they merged us with Lutherans just to tie the atheists. Fake news!

[RINO Tom]

I'm old-school Catholic, we don't believe in divorce. We believe in the nuclear family! In that case, I'm pretty sure we are the ones with the lowest rate, and they merged us with Lutherans just to tie the atheists. Fake news!

Pshh, whatever, bro!

http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religious-family/lutheran-family-mainline-trad/