Why Conservative Protestants Have a High Divorce Rate
Shocking as it may seem, conservative Protestants have a slightly higher divorce rate than liberal Protestants, and a much higher rate than Roman Catholics. Two sociologists from Ohio State University, S. Kenneth Chi and Sharon K. Houseknecht, have recently analyzed the rate of divorce in the United States according to religious affiliation. Their thorough study is based upon eight nationwide surveys taken from 1972 to 1980, each survey including approximately 1500 randomly selected adults.
The study identifies 97 Protestant denominations, out of which 47 are considered to be conservative or fundamentalist.2 Seventh-day Adventists have much to learn from the insights gained by these two sociologists who are examining meticulously the impact of one's religious beliefs upon marriage and the family. The 1985 study by Chi and Houseknecht, which is based upon a total of some 12,000 questionnaires returned to the research center over an eight-year period, discovered that conservative (or fundamentalist) Protestants have a higher rate of marital breakup (divorce or separation, abbreviated in this article to the one term "divorce") than other Christian groups.
One would expect that their great emphasis on home and family values would lead to a lower rate instead. Before exploring the reasons for this situation, we should first examine the statistics uncovered by this monumental study. These are given in Table 1.
| Religious Affiliation | Males (Convert) |
Males (Non-convert) |
Females (Convert) |
Females (Non-convert) |
Combined Convert/Non-convert |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fundamentalist Protestants | 13 | 22 | 13 | 22 | 14 |
| Non-fundamentalist Protestants | 26 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 13 |
| Roman Catholics | 30 | 7 | 22 | 5 | 8 |
| All Non-fundamentalists | 22 | 7 | 16 | 5 | 9 |
Of immediate interest is the contrast between fundamentalists and non-fundamentalists (the first and last lines in Table 1). As the last column shows, for every 100 fundamentalist Protestants who have never experienced divorce, there are 14 that have been divorced at least one time. This stands in contrast with all religious non-fundamentalists (including Catholics, Jews, liberal Protestants, and other religions) who have a rate of only 9 divorced persons for every 100 non-divorced persons. This is a divorce rate under 10%, when the national average today is over three times higher.
Out of the non-fundamentalist group Roman Catholics have one of the lower divorce rates with just 8 for every 100 non-divorced persons. So the study shows that fundamentalists have a divorce rate averaging more than 50% higher than their religious non-fundamentalist counterparts. This is especially surprising in light of fundamentalism's uncompromising commitment to the authority of God's Word.
What are the reasons for the higher divorce rate among fundamentalist Protestants? Sociologists Chi and Houseknecht offer three basic reasons for this higher rate: "Although perhaps not exhaustive, three possible contributors which will be elaborated here are culture conflict, lax boundary maintenance, and lack of normative integration." While the authors are open to the possibility of other factors, the reasons they offer are important and worthy of our consideration.
THREE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS
Culture conflict occurs when a person or his family fails to adjust adequately to the society in which they live. The result: constant conflict between the home and its environment. The researchers note that many fundamentalist wives are being forced to take employment outside the home because fundamentalists in general are from a lower socio-economic bracket. This results in severe tension between the fundamentalist Christian ideal of the woman's place in the home and the reality of working up to 40 hours per week outside the home.
Also, when fundamentalist wives do take on work outside the home, they often find themselves in a work environment that is hostile to the standards they hold as Christians. The researchers observe: "It is almost certain that such extensive involvement with a different cultural pattern would have an impact on the Fundamentalist groups themselves." Here is the tension between the ideal and the real. It is noted that Roman Catholics did not suffer this kind of culture conflict because they have always approved of mothers working outside the home. This sociological study thus offers a gentle rebuke to fundamentalist Christians for allowing economic pressures to dictate family patterns and standards.
How well does the brand-new Christian adopt and reflect the Christian lifestyle? "Boundary maintenance" deals with the transition from the unchurched state to full church membership. It involves keeping clear the distinctions of lifestyle between those who are members of the church and those who are not.
The researchers noted that a convert often joins a church out of a crisis situation, having experienced considerable stress in his life, perhaps including marital breakup, even before joining the church. Indeed, a convert into a fundamentalist church has almost double the chance of having been divorced at some time (before or after conversion) than a person who has grown up within that denomination. Thus the likelihood increases that the fundamentalist church, which places more emphasis on evangelism and conversion than do other churches, will "develop role models with attitudes and experiences that are contrary to [its] own teachings." More people in the church may come to look on divorce as a means of dealing with marital problems.
Other aspects of lax boundary maintenance that the researchers do not detail may contribute to the stress of a new convert. The convert often has trouble adjusting from the old life outside the church community to the new life within the church family. The boundary between the old life and the new life is not always clearly spelled out, which also becomes a source of stress. (Pastors and members alike should take note of this and beware of rushing people into the baptismal pool.) And if the convert does not quickly find a new social support structure in the church to help him adjust to and adopt the new lifestyle, he may never really become a part of the church, even while maintaining membership. Such stresses can contribute to marital breakdown.
The researchers noted that Roman Catholics rely less upon conversions for their numerical growth than do Protestants, and they also have fewer problems integrating new converts into Catholic lifestyle. They point out that Catholics in general have much stronger family, community, and ethnic ties than do other Christians. They have a sense of community and how that community is to be defined.
Are Seventh-day Adventists and other conservative Protestants gradually lowering the standards for new members to join the community of faith, thus blurring our distinctiveness? And might this contribute to the divorce problem? Surprising as it may seem, the sociologists are telling us that church standards—boundary maintenance—does have a vital effect upon the future of the Christian home and the security of our marriages!
A gap between one's beliefs and one's practices, between church norms and the application of those norms, is what the sociologists call a "lack of normative integration." Even the basic teaching among fundamentalists that a person must be "born again" in order to enter heaven—may lead to the conclusion that anyone can be accepted into church fellowship as long as he is repentant for past sins and failures, including marital failures. According to the researchers, this emphasis on the new birth and forgiveness for past failures actually encourages the fundamentalist Christians to be more tolerant of divorce, although their church teachings stand in opposition to divorce. Thus, they note, "among most Fundamentalist groups, there is both disapproval and complete tolerance for marital dissolution." This is a kind way of saying that such churches hold to a double standard.
Roman Catholics also have a high view of the sanctity of marriage, but they are more successful in upholding their standards. The researchers note the reason why: "In contrast to Fundamentalists, it is very difficult for Catholics to obtain church approval for marital dissolution. Furthermore, if they get a secular divorce without the church's approval, they are subject to negative sanctions to the point of permanent exclusion from some religious activities."
A church that does otherwise will send a message, despite its profession, that the church in reality approves of divorce.
WHAT ABOUT SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS?
How would Seventh-day Adventists fare if a similar sociological study were done of its members? Unfortunately, the Chi and Houseknecht study does not have a breakdown of divorce statistics by denomination, so we must turn elsewhere for information on our own church.
In the last ten years Seventh-day Adventists have not done a nationwide survey on divorce. But in the 1970s SDA sociologists Charles C. Crider and Robert C. Kistler conducted a survey and published it in 1979.3 Their survey indicates an Adventist divorce rate of about 12%, but they feel that the rate actually may be as high as 15-17% based upon their experience at marriage enrichment seminars. This puts Seventh-day Adventists right in line with the fundamentalist divorce rate of 13% during the decade of the 1970s.4
One of the most pressing needs in the church for the 1980s has been to keep our Adventist homes together, but more than this to make sure that the ties which bind are those of love, care, and concern for each member of the family. The Crider and Kistler report has spawned only a minimum of activity to prevent the spiraling rise of divorce that is leaving Adventist homes in shambles and Adventist hearts shattered.
A Wake-Up Call for the Church
The 1990s will soon be upon us. Perhaps it will take the cold, unimpassioned pens of two Ohio State University researchers to wake us to the reality that:
1. Adventist families, like those of our fundamentalist brothers and sisters, have allowed economic pressures to thwart God's ideal for the home;
2. Our church communities often have failed to integrate new members fully into the fellowship of the church family; and
3. Church leaders and pastors in many cases have allowed their personal compassion for the erring to lower church standards in regard to divorce and remarriage.
Loving God will make us obedient to His will and Word, even in our homes and marriages. And love for others will also make us a caring church, one that cares enough to uphold the clear standards of the Word while we come close to people, truly integrating them into the church family. By God's grace we can do better than we have done. For Jesus' sake we must.