[ExI] church is sexy: was The sky is falling!

John Grigg possiblepaths2050 at gmail.com
Sat Mar 28 02:21:21 UTC 2009


On Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 6:37 PM, Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com>wrote:

> At 06:07 PM 3/27/2009 -0700, John Grigg wrote:
>
>  Mormons are by nature natural romantics, they hold ornate marriage
>> ceremonies in their temples that they believe will bind the couple together
>> not only for this existance, but the afterlife to come.
>>
>
> And yet--spookily,
>
> "Overall, the Mormon divorce rate appears to be no different from the
> average American divorce rate. A 1999 study by Barna Research of nearly
> 4,000 U.S. adults showed that 24% of Mormon marriages end in divorce -- a
> number statistically equal to the divorce rate among all Americans. Members
> of non-denominational churches (typically Fundamentalist in teaching) and
> born-again Christians experience a significantly higher divorce rate;
> Agnostics and Atheists have much a lower rate. <
> http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm>More info."
>
> Damien Broderick
>

>From the website you yourself linked:
This simple statistic obscures an interesting factor: Mormons who marry
fellow believers have an extremely low divorce rate:

"A 1993 study published in Demography [magazine] showed that Mormons
marrying within their church are least likely of all Americans to become
divorced. Only 13 percent of LDS couples have divorced after five years of
marriage, compared with 20 percent for religiously homogamist unions among
Catholics and Protestants and 27 percent among Jews. However, when a Mormon
marries outside his or her denomination, the divorce rate soars to 40
percent -- second only to mixed-faith marriages involving a Jewish spouse
(42 percent)*.*" *7*

One might speculate that the religious and cultural differences between
Mormons and non-Mormons (and between Jews and non-Jews) is often so great
that the chances of a successful, harmonious marriage are much reduced.

>>>
A-ha!  And so the statistics *do* favor Mormons who marry within their
faith...

I was glad to learn agnostic/atheistic couples have a statistically very
good chance of making it.  Okay, now go and kiss your wife Barbara!  ; )

John  : )
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