Two widely recognized trends in American society might have something to do with each other.
Divorce rates climbed to the highest levels ever in the 1980s, when about half of all marriages ended in divorce.
And in the present day, Americans are rapidly becoming less religious. Since 1972, the share of Americans who say they do not adhere to any particular religion has increased from 5 percent of the population to 25 percent.
Could those two trends be related? A new study from the Public Religion Research Institute says yes. The children of divorced parents have grown up to be adults of no religion.
People whose parents divorced when they were children are significantly more likely to grow up not to be religious as adults, the study found. Thirty-five percent of the children of divorced parents told pollsters they are now nonreligious, compared with 23 percent of people whose parents were married when they were children.
Other studies on the rise of the “nones” — those who say they have no religion — have focused on millennials’ changing preferences. This study found that 29 […]
I remember very well that back in about 1955, when I was just8 years old that my mother and I had to move out to Reno Nevada so that she could get a divorce. We had to stay there a few months before she could get the divorce, which was prohibited in Connecticut. I remember it well also because while Mom was busy at a court house, I went across the street and walked into a bar where I saw my first slot machine. I stuck a quarter in the machine, pulled the lever and won $25 worth of quarters. The owner of the establishment hollered at me and said it was illegal for a person my age to gamble and I had to give the money back. I did not give the money to him but instead I put the money in my shirt to hold it all and ran out of the building before he could catch me. That was also the first year I got my name in the paper for being the first person my age to fly unaccompanied by an adult when I flew down to live with my Aunt Ruthie in Georgia for a few months while my Mom was looking for a place we could live, away from my abusive father, who was a drunk. It was quite an exciting year for me. By the way I ended up becoming a Universalist Minister later in life, because I believed everyone is the same species and that we are all equal, despite our particular upbringing, or the particular religion of our parents. We should all have the same rules such as the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.