Ed Stetzer posted an interesting article concerning the erroneous stats of Christians divorcing at the same rate as non-Christians. His post centers around information from the Gospel Coalition. Every now and then you’ll hear someone say that people of faith divorce at the same rate as people without a faith tradition. The problem is that saying you are a part of a faith and actually practicing that faith are two entirely different things. The data show that people who actively participate in their faith divorce at significantly less rates than those who don’t have or practice a faith. The Gospel Coalition summarizes the data this way:
Those who say they are more religious are less likely, not more, to have already experienced divorce. Likewise, those who report more frequent attendance at religious services were significantly less likely to have been divorced.
What does this mean? First, don’t believe every stat you ever hear. Second, while we may be doing somewhat better than those who don’t actively practice a faith the church still needs to work on strong marriage. We need to do everything we can to help people grow and stay together.