Some Good News About Marriage

We went to a wedding over the weekend and it was lovely, but I couldn't help but wonder whether it would end in divorce sooner rather than later. We've all heard the grim statistics: 50% of all marriages end in divorce; Christians divorce at the same rate as the general population, and; even those who stayed married are unhappy. Well, Shaunti Feldhahn, who is a Harvard-trained researcher, says, "Bogus."

While researching a story about divorce, she and her research assistant kept coming up with dead-ends trying to verify the usual pronouncements on marriage. This led them to do their own research and their conclusions cut against the party line, to put it mildly. Some of their findings include:

“‘... if they stay married for five years, that almost 80 percent of those will be happy five years later...”

"Of all marriages, Christian marriages prove the most durable."

“‘... the divorce rate among those active in their church is 27 to 50 percent lower than among non-churchgoers,” 

Other observations were:

• The actual divorce rate has never gotten close to 50 percent.
• Those who attend church regularly have a significantly lower divorce rate than those who don’t.
• Most marriages are happy.
• Simple changes make a big difference in most marriage problems.
• Most remarriages succeed.

It's nice to have some good news to start out the week!

townhall.com/columnists/mattbarber/2014/08/18/flash-christians-actually-far-less-likely-to-divorce-n1879756