Divorce, Annulments, Broken Families and Religion

Did you come from a broken family?

That was the question that was asked to me. I said yes.

That’s why.

He made it sound like that’s the reason why I became a secularist.

Having a bad experience growing up, growing up without a father or being in a broken family are common misconceptions that the theists think about the secularists.

Both of my parents consider themselves as cafeteria Catholics, for short, secular people. They may be annulled, but they said that they felt happier when that came.

According to the elders, people wouldn’t say that they came from a broken family because of heavy religious influence which makes them think that they are heretics. At the present time, people are very open about it and it is accepted in the society.

Today, the religious community are alarmed with the boom of divorce within their society.

According to this, 20% of Catholics and Protestants and 40% of Jewish marriages end in divorce after 5 years.

Also, the Barna Research Group stated that in the United States, 11% of the adult population is divorced, 25%  of adults have had at least one divorce during their lifetime and divorce rates among Christians are significantly higher than those of other religious denominations, and much higher than atheists and agnostics.

The results from their research about divorce rate by religion show that:

  1. Non-denominational (Evangelical Christian congregations that are not affiliated with any specific denomination) – 34% have been divorce
  2. Baptists – 29%
  3. Episcopal – 28%
  4. Pentecostal – 28%
  5. Methodist – 26%
  6. Presbyterian – 23%
  7. Lutheran – 21%
  8. Catholic – 21%

Their research proved that the conservative Christians have the highest divorce rate, while the mainline Christians have a lower divorce rate. They found some new information that states that atheists and agnostics have the lowest divorce rate at all. The Associated Press confirmed the results of the research.

There was a point in time where the Baptists had the highest divorce rate of any Christian denominations.

Another research about divorce rates by religion stated that:

Jews – 30% have been divorced
Born-again Christians – 27%
Other Christians – 24%
Atheists and agnostics – 21%

Ron Barrier, spokesperson of the American Atheists commented about the research. He said:

These findings confirm what I have been saying these last five years. Since Atheist ethics are of a higher caliber than religious morals, it stands to reason that our families would be dedicated more to each other than to some invisible monitor in the sky. With Atheism, women and men are equally responsible for a healthy marriage. There is no room in Atheist ethics for the type of ‘submissive’ nonsense preached by Baptists and other Christian and/or Jewish groups. Atheists reject, and rightly so, the primitive patriarchal attitudes so prevalent in many religions with respect to marriage.

StopTheReligiousRight.org also commented:
We hear an awful lot from conservatives in the Bible Belt and on the TV about how we all should be living. Certainly a culture that teaches the conservative religious values of the Christian right must have clean living written all over it. And lots of ripe fruit from their morally superior lives abounding.

It doesn’t. Far from it. People that talk the loudest may be the ones walking the slowest. Joining its history of Biblically correct bigotry and discrimination, it is an area with the highest divorce, murder, STD/HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, single parent homes, infant mortality, and obesity rates in the nation. As a region, the Bible Belt has the poorest health care systems and the lowest rates of high school graduation.

So, before theists say something about secularists growing up in broken families, they should look at the statistics and see the reality about what’s happening in the religious community.

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Source of information

11 comments

  1. I think it is the choice of peopke whether theists or not… There are theists that are assholes… They were taught what the Bible has instructed but still dumbass to follow… And for atheists… I think it still depends… Cuz here in my place they do not differ when it comes flawed families…

  2. @wes The church let's her go with it because she always fervently says (on national TV) "God is good all the time." IMHO when she says ALL THE TIME I think she meant everytime her contestants win or if anything good happens.

  3. one name instantly comes to mind… Kris Aquino 🙂

    if she's not the poster-girl for Catholics who cant stick to one life-partner, I dont know who is…

    why isn't the church even threatening to EX-communication or EX-orcise her for having so many Ex's?

  4. Well you can look at it as since atheists/agnostics aren't married at all – i dont know if they're "legally" married even, but it would probably explain why they have such low divorce rates so thier statistics wouldn't pop up at all.

    • they are actually legally married…. through civil weddings… does not need any religious ceremonies…
      and probably, their correspondents are legally married because you can't consider a couple as divorced if they weren't legally married..

      • Lol yeah, thanks for the clear up, I realized that those who are secular but aren't married can't be part of the study. *bonks myself on the head* I guess it would have been better if the study conducted had more details on the parameter of the study. Much appreciated for the clear up xD

  5. The poster two posts above me is using the term religion to suit his own definition of family. It would also invalidate the so-called 'religion' of the partners BEFORE they married. Considering that, no religion has the numbers it claims to have.

  6. Much better to look at it this way ; there are not a family , never been married , and there was never a religion !. these things never existed in the first place (people meet , they don't agree or they hate each other , so they split , and that's it …direct ,simple and correct). Another things is that ; usually people gossip , if there are nothing to gossip about they start to imagine things , mind your own business , and just take it as it is. (You)(We)( I) don't have to explain anything to anybody It's a life that does not belong to anybody , "it's my life"…as they song says…etc…

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