Recently released statistics of the frequency of divorce in various religious groups show some interesting findings. Notably, the incidence of divorce in atheist and agnostic marriages was lower than any religious group studied.
Author Donald Hughes states, "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."
I find it interesting that for all the flak non-religious people take for having lesser morals, it is the religious marriage that seems most likely to fail.
"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," Ron Barrier of American Atheists said of the findings.
The most alarming quotation from the article? David Popenoe, claiming that the findings must be wrong because "...Christians follow biblical models of the family, making a bond that 'the secular world doesn't have...It just stands to reason that the bond of religion is protective of marriage, and I believe it is.'"
That's right, David. The statistics must be wrong because they don't line up with your religious beliefs. Riiiiiight.
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