Divorce
From Conservapedia
Divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage contract. Marriage sometimes has a legal and a religious component. Divorce ends the legal contract. Some religions require the married partners to have a religious divorce if the individuals wish to continue their religious practice. For instance, practicing Jews must get both a legal divorce, to satisfy secular authorities, and a get (גט), or religious divorce, to satisfy religious practice.
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Biblical View
Many believe that the Bible indicates that divorce is a sin in the eyes of God, and can lead to drastic consequences for those involved. Indeed, God says "I hate divorce." (Malachi 2:16 NIV version)
Many Christians believe that God's views on divorce are most clearly articulated in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9:
"32: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery" (Matthew 5: 32) and, "9: And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery" (Matthew 19: 9)
It should be noted that the corresponding passages in Mark and Luke lack the reference to fornication:
Mark 10:11-12 (KJV): And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. Luke 16:18 (KJV): Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from [her] husband committeth adultery.
Does two beat one or is Matthew, as an eyewitness, inserting information that the others had lost? There is no one answer.
Some believe that divorce therefore equates to adultery, and incurs the consequences of such.
The further consequences of adultery are played out more radically in Deuteronomy 23:2, when it is stated:
"2: A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 23:2)
As this is an Old Testament decree (unlike the previously-mentioned Matthew), it may no longer apply Post-Christ when the emphasis of salvation shifts from countries and family lines to individuals.[Citation Needed]
Many religions adopt the more liberal view towards divorce that advocates its free practice. Most Protestant denominations have no prohibition on divorce. Catholics do not admit divorce. The Catholic Church has a process of annulment based on the non-fulfilment of any of the religious marriage requirements, such as individual freedom or previous unmarried state, among others. Technically, it is not a divorce but a declaration of non-valid marriage. In the 2004 Presidential election season many devout Catholics were scandalized by Senator John Kerry, now married to his second wife, taking Holy Communion without having obtained an annulment.
Divorce in Christian Denominations
The attitude to divorce varies between Christian churches. Although no major church fully prohibits divorce, some make obtaining one more difficult than others.
The Roman Catholic Church prohibits divorce in principle, but in practice will make an exception in every case - often declaring a marriage annulled rather than divorced, a legal distinction.
Most Protestant churches permit divorce, but encourage marriage counseling services or pastoral discussion first to save a marriage, saving divorce as a last resort. Often, the local pastor has exclusive authority over the marital business of his church, with only minimal policymaking from above.
Secular view
Divorce is the dissolution of a contract and laws vary from state to state. Under the common unilateral divorce laws (also known as no-fault divorce), either party can demand and get a divorce at any time and for any reason.[1]
No-fault divorce
No-fault divorce is when a husband or wife has not committed a sin such as rape, sexual abuse, or being with another man or woman. Typically it is boredom that causes it.
Divorce Rate
The United States has a divorce rate of 3.6 per 1,000 as of 2005[2]. This results in a 41% failure rate for first marriages.[3]
It's something that's way too common in America's society these days. It causes an awful lot of pain for the children of the parents. Often the children rarely ever get to see/visit one of the parents. The parents usually say "Don't worry, we're still friends" though loads of talking goes on behind each other's backs. Leads to the parents dating other people because they "don't want to be alone", which may lead to a second marriage and a step-mom or step-dad who only seems to be there to give the children hell 24/7. Can cause depression.
Religion
According to a Barna Group study from 1999 with a sample size of 3854, the percentage of atheists getting divorced was lower than that for Christians or Jews[4]
However, a follow up study in 2001 that looked into cohabitation trends found that Christians weren't cohabitating in the same proportions as non-Christians and that was affecting the results from the 1999 study. Checking for born again Christians specifically, it was found that 80% of born again Christians were or had been married compared to 69% for all other groups. When this was adjusted for, it gave born again Christians a slightly lower divorce rate than the general population. The difference is within the margin of error.[5]
Another Barna study in 2004 looking only at people who had married and their rate of divorce (sample size of 3,614) found that there was no difference in divorce rate between born again Christians and other Christians and that Christians on a whole had a slightly lower percentage of divorce when compared to atheists and agnostics. The difference is within the margin of error.[6]
age
The Barna study from 2004 also found that there was a large difference in divorce rates between baby boomers and the generations before, with the boomers having a much higher rate of marital failure. It is estimated that the boomers may pass a 50% rate of divorce. The generation after the boomers, the baby busters, appears to be heading to a similar rate of marital failure as the boomers based on early data.[7]
Lowering the divorce rate
Alarmed at high rates of divorce within the Christian community, the Family Research Council tried to reverse that trend. They found that 85 percent of Christian couples either had no premarital counseling or only met once with their pastor. Considering this to be unacceptable, they put together programs that require a minimum of 4 months premarital preparation including the taking of a premarital inventory and meeting with mentor couples. This caused divorce rates to drop by 30 to 50% for those couples who adhered to the program.[8]
Covenant Marriage
In order to help solve the social problems created by inordinately high divorce rates, some states have begun passing laws enabling covenant marriages. A covenant marriage in some cases is harder to obtain than a default lawful marriage license and also is more difficult to break (the common exceptions being violence, abandonment or adultery). [9]
References
- ↑ Divorce courts do consider all sorts of allegations of fault when children are involved.
- ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_20.pdf
- ↑ http://www.divorcerate.org/
- ↑ http://www.adherents.com/largecom/baptist_divorce.html
- ↑ http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=95
- ↑ http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=170
- ↑ http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=170
- ↑ Southern California Christian Times, Feb 2000, Pg 14
- ↑ http://marriage.about.com/cs/covenantmarriage/a/covenant.htm
