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50% Divorce Rate = Myth?

ftacky

Member
From the authors of 'The Good News About Marriage: Debunking Discouraging Myths about Marriage and Divorce'.
Have We Been Lied To About the Divorce Rate? Another Propaganda Campaign Against the Church?
We've all heard the following:

1) 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce;
2) most marriages that do happen to make it are, nonetheless, unhappy, and
3) Christians are just as likely to divorce as non-believers.

Church Divorce Rate Way Lower than Anyone Thought

You May Have Heard That The Divorce Rate In The Church Is 50%... Get Ready To Be Shocked.


This article shows the oft-mentioned divorce rate of 50% is too high for both believers and unbelievers.

Synopsis: The original 50% figure was only a statistical projection of what researchers thought the divorce rate would become as they watched the divorce numbers rising in the 1970s and early 1980s when states began passing no-fault divorce laws. However, the 50% projection never became a reality.

"But the divorce rate has been dropping," Feldhahn said. "We've never hit those numbers. We've never gotten close."

Divorce Rate found by above study for first-time marriages (outside the church): 20 to 25%
Divorce Rate found by above study for first-time marriages (inside the church): 17 to 25% lower than unbelievers (single digits/mid-teens).
Also, "80 percent of marriages are happy."



the 50-percent divorce figure is simply a myth based upon decades-old (and woefully inaccurate) speculation. As it turns out, the shelf-life for marriages in the U.S. has taken a sharp turn for the better since the 1970s and ’80s.

“‘But the divorce rate has been dropping,’ Feldhahn said. ‘We’ve never hit those numbers [the 50 percent figure]. We’ve never gotten close.’”

“And it’s even lower among churchgoers, where a couple’s chance of divorcing is more likely in the single digits or teens,” added CBN.





As it turns out, your gut was right. It’s all nonsense – urban legend of a sort, propagated, most likely, by the same post-moderns who today seek to similarly undermine the God-designed institution of legitimate man-woman marriage by redefining it into oblivion.



The Atlanta-based researcher and author realized the widespread belief that marriage failure is as bad in the Church as the rest of the world demoralizes Christians and can even cause them to question their faith.

"For a pastor it means 'all my work doesn't mean very much,'" Feldhahn told CBN News. "For the average person in the congregation there's this subtle feeling like, 'If that's true: if on something as important as marriage, doing what the Bible says doesn't change anything, what does that mean about the Bible?'"

Virginia Pastor Daniel Floyd, with Fredericksburg's Lifepoint Church, has seen how this can hurt people's faith.

"Because a 50 percent divorce rate inside the church really just said the church makes no difference in your marriage," Floyd explained. "And that's quite an indictment of the church."

Christian psychotherapist Angel Davis said the belief half of marriages fail can even give people permission to give up.

"When you have something like a statistic like 50 percent, it gives you the option," she told CBN News. "It becomes an option in your mind."



  • The actual divorce rate has never gotten close to 50 percent.
  • Those who attend church regularly have a significantly lower divorce rate than those who don’t.
  • Most marriages are happy.
  • Simple changes make a big difference in most marriage problems.
  • Most remarriages succeed.


    And finally, Divorce isn’t the greatest threat to marriage. Discouragement is.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
The fifth percent divorce rate was always based on bad math. They simply looked at the number of marriages and then the number of divorces and then applied those stats blindly. They forgot that people that get divorced remarry quite often. Those people are statistically more likely to get divorced again. I had one friend that went through at least four marriages and divorces. A person like that skews the statistics.
 

Mindmaster

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
  • The actual divorce rate has never gotten close to 50 percent.
  • Those who attend church regularly have a significantly lower divorce rate than those who don’t.
  • Most marriages are happy.
  • Simple changes make a big difference in most marriage problems.
  • Most remarriages succeed.


    And finally, Divorce isn’t the greatest threat to marriage. Discouragement is.


It depends on age group, divorce rates are higher with the under 35 crowd for sure. Anyway, my experience has been if the marriage makes it past the 3 year trauma period it's going to make it forever in nearly all cases. A marriage lasts or fails on the individuals negotiation skills, lol. They're going to do something to **** you off, you're going to do something to **** them off -- but, it's really important to understand why that is and whether it was intended to be personal. It's usually not, but you can make everything personal if you want to. My experience with the average American is they have the emotional intelligence of a child, so they're getting divorced because no adult wants to live with a screaming child unless they're wearing diapers and under 3 years old. :D
 

Ellen Brown

Well-Known Member
I was married 38 years and when I got sick it was over. For me, it will continue to be over, because I'll never trust again.

Have you ever screened those stats by occupation or education level?

I'm gonna call BS on you. I think it is 2/3 or more.
 

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
It's because Americans can't stand horns*....while Italians usually cheat on one another without caring.

*having Horns= italian expression...when your spouse cheats on u.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
I was married 38 years and when I got sick it was over. For me, it will continue to be over, because I'll never trust again.

Have you ever screened those stats by occupation or education level?

I'm gonna call BS on you. I think it is 2/3 or more.
People that get divorced tend to overestimate divorce figures. People that have never been divorced tend to underestimate. By gross figures one out of two marriages has ended in divorce, though the current trend is down a bit. But one cannot go into one's first marriage assuming one has only a fifty percent chance of being married for life. That is overly simplistic. People that get divorced and remarried multiple times skew the statistics. Over 2/3 of the people that marry for the first time stay married to that person for life.
 

columbus

yawn <ignore> yawn
Those people are statistically more likely to get divorced again. I had one friend that went through at least four marriages and divorces. A person like that skews the statistics.
I know an unfortunate number of people like that.
I have a 35ish relative on his 5th "marriage". He hasn't ever really married anybody. He screws around a lot. Whenever he gets someone pregnant, he "does the right thing" and marries her*. But he keeps screwing around and I don't think any of the marriages reached a 3rd anniversary.
Tom

*Because he is very Christian :rolleyes:
 

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
I know an unfortunate number of people like that.
I have a 35ish relative on his 5th "marriage". He hasn't ever really married anybody. He screws around a lot. Whenever he gets someone pregnant, he "does the right thing" and marries her*. But he keeps screwing around and I don't think any of the marriages reached a 3rd anniversary.
Tom

*Because he is very Christian :rolleyes:

I would like to figure out how realistic American movies are. I mean we're :eek:because in those movies the spouse gets cheated on and immediately gets divorced.
In our movies spouses cheat on one another without even knowing it:p
 

columbus

yawn <ignore> yawn
I would like to figure out how realistic American movies are. I mean we're :eek:because in those movies the spouse gets cheated on and immediately gets divorced.
In our movies spouses cheat on one another without even knowing it:p
I don't watch enough movies to have an informed opinion.
Tom
 

Flame

Beware
It's because Americans can't stand horns*....while Italians usually cheat on one another without caring.

Is this a certain regional thing? Last time I spoke with my cousin in Florence, she was going off on how she was sure her husband was cheating. o_O
 

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
Is this a certain regional thing? Last time I spoke with my cousin in Florence, she was going off on how she was sure her husband was cheating. o_O
come on...I was generalizing...but our divorce rate is much lower, btw
 

HonestJoe

Well-Known Member
From the authors of 'The Good News About Marriage: Debunking Discouraging Myths about Marriage and Divorce'.
Have We Been Lied To About the Divorce Rate? Another Propaganda Campaign Against the Church?
This is marketing for a book, not a scientific study. The article gives no references for any of the assertions made (not even proper reference to the actual book) so we can’t really take much from it on face value. The doesn’t mean everything is says is automatically wrong but nor does it mean anything it says is automatically correct.
 
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