Fundies and the low Atheist divorce rate

[AnnieC 305]

Okay, I brought this study up to my husband, and his fundy response,

"First, not everyone who says they're Christian, really is, and second, most atheists don't get married anyway. They just live together or have some kind of pagan ceremony." That was the end of the conversation.

Yes, I have lived with this for 19 3/4 years. Yes, I am divorcing him.

Didn't you say that your husband was active duty military or a recent veteran?

I know you can't tell him this, but this Atheist was married to her Atheist husband eleven years ago (first and only time for each) in a base chapel by an active-duty chaplain, with my husband's Two-star Uncle in the front row.

So it may have been "some kind of pagan ceremony" but it's DOD approved. :lol:

[lilwriter85]

I'm an atheist and some of my older atheist friends or relatives who are in their 40's and 50's have been married 15 years or more. My cousin is 51 and she and her husband who is also an atheist have been married for 29 years. They did live together for a year before they got married.

[hapamama]

I come into the debate with a slightly different experience.

I am the product of a interracial, multi-religion marriage. A large number of my family members are Buddhist, and we have a few fundie-lites, a Roman Catholic (who married a Buddhist), a non-denomination Christian, and a few Anglicans.

At least in my family, the couples that have had the most successful marriages are the Buddhists who married other Buddhists and the ones who are "unequally yoked". My "fundie-lite" relatives are both divorced (one twice), the non-denominational Christian divorced her Southern Baptist husband after she cheated on him... the only "equally yoked" Christian marriage in the family that lasted was my paternal grandparents, and they were married for almost 60 years.

DH's grandparents and parents are all Buddhist, and they are/were married for 60, 40+ years and 40 years (and going strong).

[Stickers]

I don't think it's that atheist do better in marriage as much as atheist are more likely to get married for the right reasons. Atheist/agnostic's are less likely to get married to have sex or guilt free sex, less likely to get married just because they're pregnant or having a baby with someone, less likely to get married do to cultural pressure (for religious reasons at least) etc.

[AtroposHeart]

I don't think it's that atheist do better in marriage as much as atheist are more likely to get married for the right reasons. Atheist/agnostic's are less likely to get married to have sex or guilt free sex, less likely to get married just because they're pregnant or having a baby with someone, less likely to get married do to cultural pressure (for religious reasons at least) etc.

Yes, those are good reasons, but keep in mind that education has a lot to do with divorce. The more educated the couple, the less likely they are to divorce

[pomology]

I've been thinking about this and I have a question.

Can it be that atheists are more tolerent of differing views/opinions than Christians?

I'm not trying to simplify matters, but if the wife in a fundy marriage decided to become Catholic, for instance, that marriage is probably over, but if that happened in an atheist marriage, would there be discussion and tolerance? This is the feeling I get from lurking here, at least.

I think some atheists would be okay with that and some atheists wouldn't.

Just like some Christians would and some Christians wouldn't.

And some Muslims would and some Muslims wouldn't.

Etc.

Not that atheism is a religion. Because it's not. My point is that some atheists are tolerant and some are not particularly tolerant and the same is true for members of pretty much every religious group.

I think among religious groups this would be far more acceptable under liberal strains of the religion than in fundamentalist strains.

It's possible that more atheists would be tolerant than members of most if not all religious groups, but I've also encountered some pretty obnoxious, militant atheists who are very, very hostile to religion and therefore would probably not tolerate their spouse becoming religious.

My point is some people are tolerant and some people aren't, but fundamentalists of any religious stripe rarely are.

[takers401]

I wonder if part of this statistic is because evangelicals tend to marry so early (due to no pre-marital sex) which sets them up to be more likely for divorce, whereas atheists don't have the pre-marital sex 'problem' so are more likely to wait until they're older to get married so divorce isn't as likely? I thought I read somewhere that the younger people are when they get married the more likely they are to divorce.

[gustava]

The doctor is ignorant. Catholics have to get a civil divorce before they are granted an annullment. They would answer that they had been divorced.

debrand, It's my (feeble) understanding that there is, at least in some states, also a legal annulment; for instance, if a young couple marry but don't consummate the marriage, they can apply for a legal annulment and it is as if they've never been married. They don't have a divorce; they have an annulment.

I do agree that the good doctor is misspeaking.