Monday, February 15, 2010

Married Christians Less Likely To Divorce If They Practice Catholicism


THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Most statistics indicate that the overall divorce rate in the United States, among all people, religious or non-religious, is about 40% to 60%. The range is based on an average between first marriages, second marriages and third marriages. A first marriage has about a 50% chance at survival in the United States. Chances of survival go down with each consecutive marriage.

Now based on this information, and the statistical graph above, we can instantly see that the practice of any Christian religion does significantly help the survival chances for a marriage. Case in point; if the married Christian couple practices Catholic or Lutheran Christianity, the divorce rate is about 21%, which indicates the marriage has about a 79% chance at survival. If the married Christian couple practices Baptist Christianity, the divorce rate is about 29%, which indicates the marriage has about a 71% chance at survival. If the married Christian couple practices one of the new trendy "nondenominational" forms of Christianity, the divorce rate is about 34%, which indicates the marriage has about a 66% chance at survival.

What I find interesting about these statistics is that the more "ancient" and "traditional" the form of Christianity, the more likely a marriage is to survive. Granted, these are statistics, and based on an overall picture. We cannot apply them to each and every individual couple, and of course, there are always exceptions to every statistical rule. However, when we're looking at odds alone, we find that the best chance a marriage has at survival, in our incredibly decadent culture, is for the couple to practice some form of Christianity. However, of all the different forms of Christianity, Catholicism is one of two that is MOST LIKELY to increase the chances of a marriage survival. The only Protestant form of Christianity that compares is Lutheranism.