"In the United States, atheists have lower divorce rates than any of the christian sects."
Answer:
I am really not an expert on these topics, and know particularly little about the United States, but am now in the process of looking it up.
The first article on these topics I bounced into is called "The Effects of Religious Homogamy on Marital Satisfaction and Stability" by Heaton and Pratt. It doesn't discuss the actual divorce rates, but self-reported satisfaction in marriage and stability of marriage, so it is not exactly the same thing as you say, but I try to report any related findings as I go along.
First, it is good to note however, that religious affiliation is not necessarily a very good indicator of a person's religiosity. As the authors of the above article, Heaton and Pratt, point out: "Denominational affiliation may be the result of something completely unrelated to one's religious ideas, such as keeping the peace with one's parents, or trying to "fit in" better with one's associates." Thus Heaton and Pratt use two other measures of respondents religiosity, ie. church attendance and believe in the Bible.
Now, the first relevant finding is that according to this article at least, you seem to making a mistatement. The pairs with no religion reported by far the least marital stability followed by the Baptist, then Catholic, then moderate Protestant, then conservative Protestant, then conservative Protestant, then liberal Protestant and finally nondenominational Protestant.
There are also other relevant findings, which go against your claim, such as: "Results indicated that respondents who attended church frequently, and those who report strong convictions about the utility of the Bible were more likely to report their marriage was very happy and had a low chance of dissolution."
It is somewhat difficult to get hold of the published articles as I am not in Helsinki, where my university is, and have to depend mostly on the internet to provide the articles, and am now actually on a sick leave, but I will be coming back to you as I find more relevant information.
Answer:
I am really not an expert on these topics, and know particularly little about the United States, but am now in the process of looking it up.
The first article on these topics I bounced into is called "The Effects of Religious Homogamy on Marital Satisfaction and Stability" by Heaton and Pratt. It doesn't discuss the actual divorce rates, but self-reported satisfaction in marriage and stability of marriage, so it is not exactly the same thing as you say, but I try to report any related findings as I go along.
First, it is good to note however, that religious affiliation is not necessarily a very good indicator of a person's religiosity. As the authors of the above article, Heaton and Pratt, point out: "Denominational affiliation may be the result of something completely unrelated to one's religious ideas, such as keeping the peace with one's parents, or trying to "fit in" better with one's associates." Thus Heaton and Pratt use two other measures of respondents religiosity, ie. church attendance and believe in the Bible.
Now, the first relevant finding is that according to this article at least, you seem to making a mistatement. The pairs with no religion reported by far the least marital stability followed by the Baptist, then Catholic, then moderate Protestant, then conservative Protestant, then conservative Protestant, then liberal Protestant and finally nondenominational Protestant.
There are also other relevant findings, which go against your claim, such as: "Results indicated that respondents who attended church frequently, and those who report strong convictions about the utility of the Bible were more likely to report their marriage was very happy and had a low chance of dissolution."
It is somewhat difficult to get hold of the published articles as I am not in Helsinki, where my university is, and have to depend mostly on the internet to provide the articles, and am now actually on a sick leave, but I will be coming back to you as I find more relevant information.
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