In light of the proposed antigay marriage amendment, here's some interesting news on a true threat to this institution.From The Daily Texan: According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the average divorce rate in the United States is 47.9 percent. A recent study conducted by University of Iowa sociology professor Jennifer Glass found that conservative Christians, especially those in the South, are among the groups most likely to divorce.
Presenting her findings at the University of Texas at Austin Glass said, “Politically and religiously conservative states, especially in the Deep South, exhibit higher divorce rates than politically and religiously liberal states in the Northeast and Midwest.”
Glass identified a number of factors contributing to this statistical reality. She suggested that the prohibition of sex before marriage among Christians leads to marriage at an earlier age, and compared that to lower divorce rates among residents in more liberal and less religious areas who are more likely to live together for extended periods of time.
Glass also noted that teachings against abortion and birth control lead to “shotgun weddings,” which accelerate young conservative Protestants into adulthood and early marriages. She compared those teen marriages to the average age of marriage for American women, which is 27.
The study also noted that young married conservatives in southern states have higher divorce rates because of financial concerns and problems relating to lower degrees of education and increased unemployment.
Despite these findings, Equality NC remains committed to the ideal that all citizens in North Carolina deserve access to the same rights (even conservative Christians, though are focus is on the marginalized and commonly discriminated against LGBT community). To help us work to stop the current attempt to make LGBT North Carolinians into second-class citizens, click here.
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