Atheists have lowest divorce rate. Evangelical Christians have highest divorce rates.

[Kitschum]

The obvious conclusion is that it's the kids that cause divorces to happen. Atheists don't have any kids, so no divorces.

[Dr Strangelove]

Nope, the religious tolerance study looked at the total number of atheists who had ever been divorced. This includes the body of those who had never been married. It also means that all those who have been divorced more then once are only counted once.

It does not ask the question as to what percentage of marriages among atheists are likely to result in divorce. A lower bound is a third, and it will be higher when you take into account those who've divorced more then once.

Are you certain? I looked for the webpage displaying the Bana report, but it wasn't accessible. That would be a pretty stupid mistake, or an intentional and unrthicasl one.

A difference in a few percentage points is significant, given the fact that 'protestants' include non-evangelicals. I don't know how they score annulments. That's a good question, one that the religious tolerance folks don't address.

Protestants in the US don't have annulments, period. Some states however offer civil annulment for instance if the defendant can be shown to have committed substantial fraud in order to induce the plaintiff to marry, if one party was underage, if the marriage was consanguinous, if one party was barred from remarrying, if one party was known to be sterile and did not notify the other party, and etc, etc.


Many of the people discussing the report have taken the group labelled 'non-denominational' to be evangelicals, but that's obviously erroneous. While some of the people in that group may belong to some of the smaller evangelical protestant groups I'm sure that a large portion consists of those people who consider themselves Christian but don't belong to a particular church.

[Asher]

Let's face it. Atheists are reasonable people, Christians are people like Ben.

Of course people who marry people like Ben are going to be more prone for divorces. Unintelligent, unreasonable, and more importantly, closet homosexuals.

What more is there to say?

[Ben Kenobi]

Are you certain? I looked for the webpage displaying the Bana report, but it wasn't accessible. That would be a pretty stupid mistake, or an intentional and unrthicasl one.

Check Oerdin's opening link. They explicitly refer to the percentage of atheists who have ever experienced a divorce.

Protestants in the US don't have annulments, period. Some states however offer civil annulment for instance if the defendant can be shown to have committed substantial fraud in order to induce the plaintiff to marry, if one party was underage, if the marriage was consanguinous, if one party was barred from remarrying, if one party was known to be sterile and did not notify the other party, and etc, etc.

Sorry, all I was saying is that they don't specify whether the Catholic total includes annulments. I didn't mean to say that Protestants had annulments.

Many of the people discussing the report have taken the group labelled 'non-denominational' to be evangelicals, but that's obviously erroneous. While some of the people in that group may belong to some of the smaller evangelical protestant groups I'm sure that a large portion consists of those people who consider themselves Christian but don't belong to a particular church.

Or are congregationalists, etc. I think the study is very poorly done to be told and shows a shocking lack of understanding of the different branches of Christianity.

[MrFun]

Let's face it. Some atheists are reasonable people, some Christians are people like Ben.

fixed

[Asher]

fixed

You ruined it. Now it is no longer true, or funny.

Fact is, a reasonable person could not agree that Christianity is sane.

[Kitschum]

Is sanity desirable at all times?

[Alinestra Covelia]

I laughed, who gives a **** if you did.

Words to live by. On Poly, at least.

[The Mad Monk]

Don't true christians claim to be "sinners"?

They are required to attend for regular soul scrubbing.

Yes, our faith requires us to acknowlage that we are sinners. As for the "regular soul scrubbing"...well, it depends on the sect. Calvinists (which is a philosophy, not a denomination) believe the Christ died once for all of the sins of the select, so further cleansing is not required -- all sins, past present and future, are covered. Those of us who follow this meet to share in the companionship of fellow believers and to praise God, nothing more, nothing less.

[Lorizael]

Let's face it. Atheists are reasonable people, Christians are people like Ben.

Err, Richard Dawkins is reasonable...?

[Traianvs]

Yes he is

[rah]

I don't know many catholics that have been divorced, most got annulments. So if they're not included as having been divorced, the numbers need to be redone.

[KrazyHorse]

rah, a lot of Catholics will say that they had their marriage annulled, but they are legally divorced. The annulment is solely a religious matter in all but the most extreme cases; getting a legal annulment is almost impossible for most married couples.

Depending on how the question was phrased, and how clear the person asking it was, Catholics may have answered "divorced" despite the fact that according to the Church their marriage was annulled.

[rah]

Maybe, but quite a few claimed they've never been divorced. But since I have no stats to back it up, your take is probably the more accurate one.

[Ben Kenobi]

well, it depends on the sect. Calvinists (which is a philosophy, not a denomination) believe the Christ died once for all of the sins of the select, so further cleansing is not required -- all sins, past present and future, are covered.

Darn splitters!