US Evangelical Christians, general population divorcing at same rate

Originally published in Christian Today

Evangelical Christians are divorcing at the same rate as the general population, according to a new study.

While a higher proportion of evangelical Christians are married (67%) compared to other practising Christians (59%) and the general public (52%), the number who are divorced is the same — 25% — across all three categories, the Barna group found.

Cohabitation
Meanwhile, a significant proportion of practising Christians believe in cohabitation, according to the poll.

Some 41% said that ‘it’s a good idea to live with one’s significant other before getting married’ while 88% of those with no faith said the same, along with 35% of ‘born-again’ Christians and 6% of evangelical Christians.

Among those who disagreed with the idea, ‘religious reasons’ was the most prominent reason for not supporting cohabitation (34%). Other reasons included, ‘I don’t believe people should have sex before getting married’ (28%), ‘It isn’t practical or doesn’t make sense’ (16%), and family or traditions (12%).

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Online dating
The study also found that evangelicals are the least likely group to use online dating, with 75% saying they would never experiment with it.

A large majority (72%) of the wider adult population have not tried online dating at all, and 52% said they would never try it.

Roxanne Stone, the editor in chief of the Barna Group, emphasised that the trend is away from traditional marriage habits. “While once viewed as the primary end goal for romantic relationships, the institution of marriage now seems to be under great scrutiny,” she said. “The ‘trials and errors’ of dating now include living together as an assumed, final hurdle before marriage. In 2014, we found that while 82% of Millennials want to get married someday, they want to wait until they feel more fully developed as a person (70%), are financially established (69%), and have lived together (60%). A full 30% of Milliennials aren’t so sure about marriage at all — they express doubt as to whether or not they even believe in the conventional form of marriage.”

Meeting the fundamental needs of young adults
Stone encouraged church leaders to take these changes into account. “Are your ministries set up to meet the fundamental needs of that age group: career building, personal formation, social activities, friendship and the complexities of singleness and dating? Do you talk about the benefits and risks of online dating? Are you having frank conversations about sex? Are you able to offer a believable reason for why people shouldn’t live together before marriage?

“Churches are often afraid to address these questions outside of youth group — but increasingly, young adults need this kind of guidance. They are sceptical that the Church is relevant to their lives — or that faith has answers for them,” said Stone.

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The data came from four separate studies, mostly from Barna Trends with 1 000 interviews each, conducted online with a random, representative sample of US adults, aged over 18.