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New Barna Info on Marriage and Divorce
Posted on March 31st, 2008 in Faith, Life and Family by Fred McKinnon
Hey Everyone,
Some very interesting new research by the Barna Group on marriage, divorce, and “co-habitation” (shacking up). Rather than re-hash all the content, here’s the link to each topic:
- Marriage and Divorce Stats as of March 31, 2008 from the Barna Group
- Cohabitation – Living Together Hinders Strong Marriages from the Barna Group
George Barna, who directed the study, noted that Americans have grown comfortable with divorce as a natural part of life.
“There no longer seems to be much of a stigma attached to divorce; it is now seen as an unavoidable rite of passage,” the researcher indicated. “Interviews with young adults suggest that they want their initial marriage to last, but are not particularly optimistic about that possibility. There is also evidence that many young people are moving toward embracing the idea of serial marriage, in which a person gets married two or three times, seeking a different partner for each phase of their adult life.”
After reading this article and viewing the “Divorce Among Adults Who Have Been Married” chart, I do have a question, though. Call me stupid and uneducated (ok, don’t), but one question I have from this content … what is a “non-evangelical born again Christian?
Ok, I’ve finished out this blog with my take on marriages and a bit of revelation and confession from my own marriage (McKinnon Marriage Exposed) … which I’ll release within the next 24 hours or so after we discuss this initial post. So stay tuned.
What do you think?
Fred
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12 Responses to “New Barna Info on Marriage and Divorce”
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According to Red Skelton, marriage is the number one cause for divorce!
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt“There no longer seems to be much of a stigma attached to divorce; it is now seen as an unavoidable rite of passage,†the researcher indicated. “Interviews with young adults suggest that they want their initial marriage to last, … [...]
“non-Evangelical Born-Again Christian”…hmm… given the over-all popularity of the ‘alter call’ and ‘crisis conversion’ in our ‘post-Billy Graham’ world, I would ASSUME that would be a person who claims to have had a ‘born again’ experience, who – however – does not hold to the Bible as inerrant or absolutely authoritative. For instance, someone who claims to be a Christian, but also believes that there are other ways to God.
A few years back I read stats showing that individuals engaging in pre-marital sex (particularly with one another) were twice as likely to divorce as those who didn’t – those same stats showed that individuals living together prior to marriage were 4 times as likely to divorce. Seems to me as though a world frightened by divorce is doing everything they can to ensure they get one!
Ken,
NICE GRAVATAR! And great laugh to get me started this morning.
Shannon … I’m happy that I’m not the only one who doesn’t exactly know what that means … anyone have a direct-dial to Barna to answer that question???
Fred
Does it mean that they got the fire insurance and asked Jesus into their heart in VBS in 3rd grade but haven’t done anything about it since?
I always heard money was the #1 cause for divorce. To think, its the marriage causing it all this time. Well, now we have identified the problem… Thanks Red.
Fred,
As a divorced guy it breaks my heart to hear this stuff.
The “rite of passage” thing makes TONS of sense to me. I’ll tell you that when I talk with other divorced people about being divorced there’s a lot of that vibe.
Great post though. I’ll have to star this in my reader and check out the links when I have more time. Thanks for putting this up.
Travis… your description of the “non-evangelical born-again” had me laughing out-loud!
Billy,
Thanks … although I’m not ‘divorced’, Joy was previously married, so I married someone who had been ‘divorced’, an issue I wrestled with in prayer, study, and counsel. (and have no, zero, nada regrets!)
I’d not really thought of the whole “rite of passage” thought, and although I can see how people in this culture arrive there, it shocks me.
Would you believe that as I grew up, I can only remember knowing TWO people in school that had divorced parents? Two. I’m not that old, either, at 37.
PS: I might add, though, especially since I mentioned Joy’s former marriage … that by the grace of God, thankfully there is “life after divorce”, redemption, grace, and fulfillment, as I’m sure you (Billy) can testify!
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
[...] is the promised “Part 2″ to the blog entry I shared yesterday about the Barna Group’s new stats on Marriage, Divorce, and Cohabitation. Marriages [...]
Ken, you hit an (old) nail on the head — that was our very issue with the way Barna presented his 1999 divorce stats… leading to the well-traveled ‘evangelical divorce meme’. Still, as we’ve pointed out at http://indychristian.com/2008/03/new-barna-divorce-stats-tell-different.html Barna’s recent stats still fall short of reflecting equal-footed comparisons.