The state with the lowest divorce rate in the most recent statistics? Massachusetts. Nine of the ten states with the lowest divorce rates are blue states. Of the states with the highest divorce stats, all ten are red states. Add to this the findings of George Barna, a “born-again Christian,” who found that “born-again Christians” have about the highest divorce rates in the USA.
What’s that about?
Thank you for pointing out that George is “Barn-again.”
Kinda puts the “Protection of Marriage Amendment” into perspective, huh? It looks like Christians, Heterosexuals, and Red Staters have done a fine enough job of destroying the institution of marriage, thank you very much…
IMO - people in the “red states” do get married in large percentage, which is not necessarily the case in many of the “blue states” where co-habitation is more prevalent, ergo fewer marriages = fewer divorces.
Also, in the US, because of the tax laws, many couples in high income levels are deciding to go with legal separation rather than divorce. The highest per capita income states are mostly blue states, ergo higher income can = fewer divorces and more legal separations.
And how often do we address the difficulties of maintaining a marriage in our churches? How often do we teach them that “marriage” is not a noun, it’s a verb. Does the church give young marrieds the mentoring they truly need? How many Titus women are coming alongside the younger women to mentor them? Same goes for the guys.
Here I go again, but if we want our young families to see what they’ll face as divorced single parents, encourage them to volunteer in your church’s Single Parent Family Ministry. Seriously!
Statistics!!! Could it be that Massachusetts has the lower divorce rate because people there don’t bother to get married in the first place? I don’t know that this is true, but statistics by themselves, without further comment, do not necessarily suggest that “Christians, heterosexuals and red staters” have destroyed the institution of marriage. I do know that the divorce rate among “born aginners” is probably not a lot different than the general population, but is the marriage rate the same? It is a pertinent question, because if a large percentage of people just shack up, and then break up, but are not included in the population of the study, the apparent result may be misleading.
That being said, I agree that the divorce rate among people of faith is way too high. But don’t draw the conclusion that it is because they are “Christian, heterosexuals or red staters.”
Red State, Born-Again Divorced and Fired by the church you tell me I am still trying to figure it all out.
Hmmm…….maybe the fact that you can’t get divorced unless you ARE married has something to do with it. My guess is that the divorce rate in San Francisco is even LESS than it is in Mass. How is that?
I haven’t looked at the figures lately, but if they are consistent with the past, the divorce rate in most of Africa is close to ZERO……remember, large parts of the continent have never heard of Christianity or Jesus the Christ. But, the rate of adultery and unfaithfulness is out the roof!
Yes, divorce among Christians is a sorry testimony to the world of our discipleship and transformation.
Perhaps all the above is true. But, perhaps the statistics follow the stereotypes. Blue=tolerant, red=less tolerant, born again=rule keeping. If so, God has a lot of work on his hands which translates to God’s servants have a lot of work on their hands.
I thought there was neither Jew nor Greek, nor Blue state nor Red state in Christ. Oh well. Sorry, maybe it’s the long day, but this hit me the wrong way and I say it’s the worst Mike Cope post yet. Red and Blue are all screwed up. Neither stats nor politics will ever prove how much we all need Jesus. Interesting. No, sad. Maybe it’s because the ink on my sister’s divorce papers haven’t dried and seeing how she and my ex-brother-in-law are being so selfish and just disgusting about it. Nothing to do with their claims or politics but everything to do with their hard hearts.
I think it’s about the high number of human beings in the world, each “group” with its own distinct set of struggles, each person with his or her own selfishness, each one with his or her own flaws. The way the numbers show up when we map any number of sins is often both ironic and sad. Just shows how much grace we as God’s people have received and how we are no more deserving of it than anyone else. Maybe that’s what it’s about, at least in part.
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Here are more statistics on divorce (http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsUS.shtml) than a person might ever want to see. The lower divorce rate in MA I think has more to do with the fact that MA and New England in general tend to be more staunchly Catholic rather than people just aren’t getting married. Besides aren’t the statistics presented in percentages rather than raw numbers?
To me Mike’s post just affirms the idea that marriage, in the best of circumstances, is hard and people fail at it all the time. The church has little power in keeping people together. We can teach, model, walk beside, mentor, and rebuke but in the end marriages that start off bad often end up bad. I would be curious to know the divorce rate for ACU. Gaining some perspective from living in NYC I am amazed at how young a lot of students at ACU are when they decide to get married (I was one of them). Are the students properly equipped to deal with the underlying pressure at a place like ACU that they must find their spouse? What about when students make dangerous compromises for fear of graduating without a potential spouse? These things weren’t specifically addressed when I was there. There is a collision course of abstinence, lust, immaturity, loneliness, fear, desire, faithfulness to God, and social pressure that can make for a dangerous match making situations at Christian Universities. This scenario plays out in Christian Colleges all over the country and isn’t limited to the Churches of Christ. Just to be clear I feel lucky to have found my wife and we have a fantastic relationship (she is a Harding graduate), but I know others who aren’t as fortunate.
What the church does do that the world doesn’t is recognize the hurt, destruction, pain, and devastation that a divorce brings. In these things the church helps to display the redemption, healing, and grace of God in those situations. I feel like the world is desperate to make sense of the pain of divorce, (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6594607/site/newsweek/) but they just can’t reconcile it deep down. I agree that this problem isn’t a partisan issue, and we, as Christians should never treat those whom we disagree with as anything but Children of God not Blue Staters or Red Staters
As unexpected as it might be for some that the red states have a higher divorce rate, it might also be unexpected to some to hear that the blue states who speak out so admirably for the poor are the least charitable with their money. Check it out:
http://www.michellemalkin.com/archives/000839.htm
Brian - are we then to conclude that if we talk a lot about the poor, but keep our money enclosed in a tight fist, we can then count on staying out of the divorce court? Hmmmm! lol
Jon - My worst post ever? No way! Have you read some of the stinkers I’ve written over the past year and half?
Thanks for your note. I’m sorry this caught you at such a tender time (in your family). I hope you can see this morning (12/7) where I was leading this discussion. Mike
Nothing Is What It Seems
by Linda M Hill
Every Sunday morning I see
You sitting in the pew
Greeting the congregation
As you always do
A smile pasted on your face
You shake everyone’s hand
You are the mirrored image of
The most perfect man
I always looked up to you
I thought you were the best
One giant step above me
Better than the rest
You are so well loved
The pillar of our community
Looked on with admiration
And complete dignity
Your wife teaches sunday school
Your children kneel and pray
The perfect christian family
Is what I used to say
There is a secret life
You keep hidden deep inside
When I found out about it
Respect slowly died
I learned that all your money
Don’t buy you happiness
And even with your beautiful home
There’s something that you miss
I don’t condone what you do
It’s none of my concern
Who am I to judge you
For taking the wrong turn
The congregration smiles
As they gather all around
The choir sing’s Amazing Grace
Such a lovely sound
You sit quietly in the pew
But only I can see
Your wink at my best friend
Smiling beside me
(C) Linda Hill 2004
Nothing Is What It Seems
by Linda M Hill
Every Sunday morning I see
You sitting in the pew
Greeting the congregation
As you always do
A smile pasted on your face
You shake everyone’s hand
You are the mirrored image of
The most perfect man
I always looked up to you
I thought you were the best
One giant step above me
Better than the rest
You are so well loved
The pillar of our community
Looked on with admiration
And complete dignity
Your wife teaches sunday school
Your children kneel and pray
The perfect christian family
Is what I used to say
There is a secret life
You keep hidden deep inside
When I found out about it
Respect slowly died
I learned that all your money
Don’t buy you happiness
And even with your beautiful home
There’s something that you miss
I don’t condone what you do
It’s none of my concern
Who am I to judge you
For taking the wrong turn
The congregration smiles
As they gather all around
The choir sing’s Amazing Grace
Such a lovely sound
You sit quietly in the pew
But only I can see
Your wink at my best friend
Smiling beside me
(C) Linda Hill 2004
i can only assume that bush will begin pushing for a constitutional ban on divorce.
of course, that loses him key talking heads like rush and newt.
hmmmm.
The more blogs I read, the more wisdom I see in the seperation between church and state! OH my! IMO ~ Red and blue states are just states. Stats don’t ever mean as much as we like to think they do. God hates divorce. God loves us.
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