Why is it that divorce rates are far lower among atheists, than among conservative Christians.?

Question

http://atheism.about.com/od/atheistfamiliesmarriage/a/AtheistsDivorce.htm

I think this is a real slap in the face for Christians, who claim you need Christian values to be ethical.

The highest divorce rates are in the bible belt - Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama & Oklahoma.

Answer 1

Perhaps Christians neglect a few issues before marriage relying on God to fix their problems for them. I don't think you should rely on anyone else to fix things in a relationship - especially something you don't know even exists.

Answer 2

Because people like Palin encourage marriage for reasons other than love and the people end up hating each other later.

Answer 3

The reason is atheists don't have the same understanding of what marriage means. You can't get divorced if you are not married first. How many atheists leave their "other" without the messy divorce?  Of course, the survey doesn't include them.

To even things up, first do a survey on what constitues marriage. I won't assume the ratio of atheists playing house and the number of Christians who are doing the same, but I am quite sure the difference would be significant.

Answer 4

Since they do not believe in ceremonial rites or chruch weddings, atheists couples are not probably married at all or from the beginning..so if the couples decided to separate, that will not be counted as divorce..right?

Or technically, no divorce since no marriage happened...

Answer 5

Atheist marry later.  Theist believe that who you who lose your virginity to, you should marry.  Atheist are more reasoned and can see beyond this faulty analysis.  

Answer 6

Many of the Christians I know get married pretty young, early 20s. Maybe that's why.

Answer 7

I think Christians value life more; because of this, certain/more things can off-set a disagreement which lead to divorces.

Answer 8

Find an unbiased source (or as close to one that can be found), and I'll be more inclined to believe you.

Answer 9

Atheists are more likely to honor their promises (vows)? They're more trustworthy as their word means something to them?

Answer 10

You're using an atheist source.  Use a christian source and no doubt you'd get a different result entirely.

Answer 11

The study was run by an evangelical Christian organisation, so although I doubt their statistical methods of calculating these figures, it says a lot when they are able to support a view opposing to their own.

The statistics seem valid enough.

Answer 12

i m not a Christian ,but i had point of view, the marriage in Christianity is holly things so most of Christian families married their children in young age and without thinking too much about the equality of this marriage.

after while the couples realize that they are not suitable to each other so the divorce is happened.

Answer 13

I would like to know the percentage of atheists that get married vs the percentage of Christians.  I'm willing to bet the divorce rate is lower because only the most committed atheists get married, while Christians are more likely to get married quicker and more frequently.

Answer 14

"National demographic studies indicate that couples in which both partners are Latter-day Saints (and who marry in a Latter-day Saint temple) have the lowest divorce rate among all U.S. social and religious groups studied."

How does that factor into your logic?

Answer 15

Response to the first answerer: I think they would calculate those statistics based on per head of capita.

Anyway back to the question, there is nothing sacred about marriage. But I don't really know why Christians get divorced more. Sorry.

Answer 16

because christians get married in the name of god.

Atheists get married in name of love in front of their friends family and peers.

god doesn't exist!

love and all my friends family and peers do.

so we married for real, they married under an fabricated Deity.

Answer 17

As a tangent, technically divorce is just as bad of sin as being homosexual - Biblically one sin is just as bad as any other sin - and yet there is little to none of the outcry about divorces as there is about same s*x marriages.

Answer 18

Since when was divorce unethical? Everyone makes mistakes, I guess.

Answer 19

We don't go into marriage with stupid preconceived notions .

I am an atheist with a divorce though it was my exwifes doing and she was a Christian as well as a bit of a nutter I was her second husband he remarried happily and as far as I know still is . She is under the impression to this day it was both our faults and has nothing to do with her mental issues .

Answer 20

It's based on percentages, so it doesn't matter whether there are more or less of either.

Because atheists are more realistic, they pick their partners for more than religious beliefs, and they don't have to get married because they are horny or pregnant.

Answer 21

hmm thats very interesting. i was surprised too.

my only theory is that maybe these people, because they are so conservative, married young or their first love (because they were saving themselves till marriage and so therefore didnt wait as long)

thus they may not have thought it through as thoroughly as another person might.

just at theory.  

Answer 22

Less Atheist marry because marriage is traditionally Christian or the other reason may be that a lot of Christians who do marry, don't fully chose their marriage but do it because of families choosing, being pregnant etc.

Answer 23

Sarah Palin; How are those Conservative Christian 'Family Values' working out for you?  Maybe you should have not used your line item veto to defund s*x education in Alaska then maybe your underage daughter would know where babies come from and how to use birth control.  Obviously you didn't teach her these things yourself either.  Now you force your underage pregnant daughter to marry her first boyfriend.  Well done!

PS- Abortions are the result of unwanted pregnancies.  If you want to reduce abortion, then help reduce unwanted pregnancy.

Answer 24

The margin of error for these kinds of surveys is generally +/- 5 points, which means that the difference is either really big or really small. They're not far enough apart (19% and 26%) for you to be able to call it statistically "far lower."

Also, as a group, Christians conduct the most marriages per capita (the population being larger does, in fact, affect the data), which means that they are going to have more divorces per capita as well.

It's funny how when negative stereotypes come along, everyone shuns them, but no one seems to feel that way about 'positive' ones. (If you can even call that positive, it's actually more of a nonstereotype since it's based on faulty numbers.)

Answer 25

Atheist men don't "discipline" their women like *rednecks* - I mean theists, do.  

Answer 26

probably because less atheists  get married to start  with.

Answer 27

We Atheists marry for the right reasons, and without expectation that Daddy will fix any problems we might have with our significant others.

Answer 28

These data (how odd, on an atheist site) are not reliable.  The sample size of atheists is far too small compared to the Christian sample, and the whole "survey" smacks of poor design and interpretation.  You have no way of knowing if that is true.  Geography does not make automatic causation.  If you are having trouble understanding the big words, please consult a real website with real information and explanations.  

Answer 29

They get married too young so they can have s*x.

Answer 30

Maybe because there are not that many atheist compared to Christians.  Remember that one brainy student in high school that threw the curve off?

Point 2

Perhaps it is because many Christians are not truly practicing what they teach.  

Point 3

Why is America called a Christian nation when more than 1 million abortions are taking place each year?  

Answer 31

My guess is that it may have something to do with actually trying to solve problems we encounter, rather than dropping to our knees and praying to some invisible mystery man to do all the hard stuff for us....

*EDIT* doubleque and Pat...... Oops, perhaps you should have actually followed that link before you bashed it....funny stuff there!  Oh wait, lemme guess; the group that performed the study weren't REAL christians....am I right?  LOL!