Greg writes in regards to the list of states, ranked by divorce rates:
> Nevadans pride themselves as having 'the highest "Christian" ethics'? * Hit
> me again.
You misinterpet the data.
In the list of states with the highest divorce rates, Nevada is known in
scientific circles as an "idiosyncratic outlier", meaning that it's operating
under a different set of rules than the others. While every other state is
attempting to do everything that it can to hold divorce rates down, Nevada,
in contrast, encourages it. Indeed, Nevadans see divorce as profitable
industry, thus in any discussion of divorce rates vs. the level of religious
piety, Nevada must be excluded from the data set.
> But then, those numbers are more than half a decade old, and I could not
> find where that web site offered to define the components of the rate they
> published. Nor did I find a piety index.
The divorce rate is a relatively stable index, having a high inertial
component to it, one that is undoubtedly defined by the cultural values of
the various states. But as to a "piety index", if we are to use divorce rates
as a surrogate indicator of "family values" and family stability, we can
equally well use other objective measures as a "piety index," perhaps the
best being the number of churches in the state, the average size of the
congregations, and the number of hours of televangical shows broadcast each
week. These numbers do vary widely in the different states.
However, such a study has essentially already been accomplished by the Barna
Research Group. What people believe of themselves and what they tell
themselves -- and what is the actual truth -- often vary widely. Let me quote
a few paragraphs out of one website's interpretation of the data:
=======================================
"The slogan: "The family that prays together, stays together" is often seen.
There has been much anecdotal evidence that has led to "unsubstantiated
claims that the divorce rate for Christians who attended church regularly,
pray together or who meet other conditions *is only 1 or 2
percent"*.[Emphasis ours]. Dr. Tom Ellis, chairman of the Southern Baptist
Convention's Council on the Family said that for "...born-again Christian
couples who marry...in the church after having received premarital
counseling...and attend church regularly and pray daily together..."
experience only 1 divorce out of nearly 39,000 marriages -- or 0.00256
percent.
A recent study by the Barna Research Group throws extreme doubt on these
estimates. Barna released the results of their poll about divorce on
1999-DEC-21.
George Barna, president and founder of Barna Research Group, commented:
"While it may be alarming to discover that born again Christians are more
likely than others to experience a divorce, that pattern has been in place
for quite some time. Even more disturbing, perhaps, is that when those
individuals experience a divorce many of them feel their community of faith
provides rejection rather than support and healing. But the research also
raises questions regarding the effectiveness of how churches minister to
families. The ultimate responsibility for a marriage belongs to the husband
and wife, but the high incidence of divorce within the Christian community
challenges the idea that churches provide truly practical and life-changing
support for marriages."
"According to the Dallas Morning News, a Dallas TX newspaper, the national
study "raised eyebrows, sowed confusion, [and] even brought on a little holy
anger." This caused George Barna to write a letter to his supporters, saying
that he is standing by his data, even though it is upsetting. He said that
"We rarely find substantial differences" between the moral behavior of
Christians and non-Christians. Barna Project Director Meg Flammang said: "We
would love to be able to report that Christians are living very distinct
lives and impacting the community, but ... in the area of divorce rates they
continue to be the same."
"Barna's results verified findings of earlier polls: that conservative
Protestant Christians, on average, have the highest divorce rate, while
mainline Christians have a much lower rate. They found some new information
as well: that atheists and agnostics have the lowest divorce rate of all.
George Barna commented that the results raise "questions regarding the
effectiveness of how churches minister to families." The data challenge "the
idea that churches provide truly practical and life-changing support for
marriage."
"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." Hughes claim that 90% of divorces among born-again couples occur
*after* they have been "saved."
"The Associated Press computed divorce statistics from data supplied by the
U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health. They found that Nevada
had the highest divorce rate, at 8.5 divorces per 1,000 people in 1998.
Nevada has had a reputation as a quickie divorce location for decades. They
showed that the highest divorce rates were found in the Bible Belt.
"Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Oklahoma round out the Top Five in
frequency of divorce...the divorce rates in these conservative states are
roughly 50 percent above the national average" of 4.2/1000 people.
"Mike Huckabee, governor of Arkansas has declared a "marital emergency." His
goal is to halve the divorce rate in his state by 2010, from 6.1/1000 to
about 3. Frank Keating, governor of Oklahoma has initiated a campaign to
reduce the divorce rate in his state by a third by 2009, from 6.0 to about
4."
---http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm
=======================================
Lou asks:
> ...are you then implying that "Christians" as a whole are generally stupider
> and poorer than average?
Yes, although I would phrase the sentiment differently, as generally being
less well-educated and poorer. And again there are objective measures of the
process: highest degree completed in school, the number of books in the
household, the extent that the family has traveled, etc. vs. the degree of
fundamentalism advocated.
As always however, it's important not to confuse cause and effect. Christian
Fundamentalism is almost certainly not the cause of this lessened education
or improvishment, at least not directly. Rather the fundamentalism is far
more likely to be the consequence of poorer economic conditions and a reduced
belief in the value of education.
What people want to believe of themselves -- indeed what they are wholly
convinced of -- and what they do are quite often two different things. From
the period 1939-1945, no better time existed to demonstrate one's Christian
ideals, particularly that of John 15:12-13:
"This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends."
But of the several studies that have addressed the question of who hid the
Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe, and thus who put themselves at great personal
risk, the answer has been consistently that membership in a Christian church,
along with whatever objective measures of "piety" that might be attached, if
anything had a pronounced negative correlation. Instead, the primary
predictors of such behavior were (i) previous volunteerism in either soup
kitchens or hospitals, and (ii) the number of cats that they owned,
indicating a finely tuned sense of compassion and empathy to the suffering of
others.
I suspect that most devout Christians emphasize their faith of a profound
sense of fear rather than the altruism that is demanded of Christians, and
are seeking personal salvation or protection, a quality completely
antithetical to John 15:12-13, where one is asked to put themselves at some
significant risk for their fellow humans.
Wirt Atmar
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