Divorce

Divorce has become an epidemic in the West. Families are torn apart; this has far-reaching social, emotional, economic, and moral consequences. Kids in divorced families are known to be more likely to get involved in crime, to have children out of wedlock, don’t go to university at the same rate as those from whole families, have lower-incomes, are more likely to divorce themselves. I know the pain associated with divorce firsthand. My parents divorced when I was 12 years old. Their divorce was devastating to me. Even after 30+ years, I haven’t gotten over it. It still causes me emotional pain.

The statistics are sobering. Approximately 50% of marriages end up in divorce in the United States, which is the sixth-highest divorce rate in the world. Subsequent marriages have an even higher divorce rate: 60% of second marriages end in divorce, and 73% of all third marriages end in divorce.

The average age for couples going through their first divorce is 30 years old. Couples are more or less likely to get divorced based on several factors. Couples married between the ages of 20-25 are 60% likely to get a divorce. Those who wait until they are older than 25 to get married are 24% less likely to get divorced. Those with strong religious beliefs are 14% less likely to get a divorce. The higher attainment of education someone has, the lower their risk of divorce is. According to a U.S. Census Bureau survey, the top three reasons for divorces are incompatibility (43%), infidelity (28%), and money issues (22%).

Even among Christians, the divorce rates have been alarmingly high.

Divorce rates by ethnicity were as follows in 2018:

Black women: 30.8 divorces per 1,000 people.
Hispanic women: 18.5 divorces per 1,000 people.
White women: 15.1 divorces per 1,000 people.
Others: 12.4 divorces per 1,000 people.

The average age for couples going through their first divorce is 30 years old. Couples married between the ages of 20-25 are 60% likely to get a divorce. Those who wait until they are older than 25 to get married are 24% less likely to get divorced. Those with strong religious beliefs are 14% less likely to get a divorce.

W. Bradford Wilcox, a leading sociologist at the University of Virginia and director of the National Marriage Project, finds from his own analysis that “active conservative Protestants” who regularly attend church are 35 percent less likely to divorce compared to those who have no affiliation. Nominally attending conservative Protestants are 20 percent more likely to divorce, compared to secular Americans.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-divorce-rate-among-christians/

We must do all we can to strengthen marriages, especially Christian marriages, and mitigate against divorce. Jesus only allowed divorce in the case of adultery, and Paul taught a couple could get divorced if one of them had apostatized (left the faith).