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ATHEISM AND DIVORCE: NEW ENLIGHTENING FACTS Two new facts have been published recently that atheists will not publish so readily. These very important facts help demolish the myth they have been propagating for years that atheism contributes to success in marriage and that atheists are more successful in their marriage relationships that some major Christian denominations. Recently the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has published its mammoth study on Religion in America based on 35, 000 interviews. The results are quite enlightening in further elucidating the topic of atheism and divorce rates. According to the Pew Forum a whopping 37% of atheists never marry as opposed to 19% of the American population, 17% of Protestants and 17% of Catholics.(1) Furthermore, Barna has just completed an enlightening new study which conclusively spotlight the fact that atheists have no reason whatsoever to gloat about any special success in marriage. Thirty percent of atheists and agnostics had been married and subsequently divorced. However, the three-point difference from the national average was within the range of sampling error, suggesting that their likelihood of experiencing a dissolved marriage is the same as that of the population at-large. A representative from Barna also pointed out the atheists and agnostics have lower rates of marriage and a higher likelihood of cohabitation, a combination of behaviors that distort comparisons with other segments.2) (Emphasis mine) Thus, because any previous stats which appeared to indicate lower divorce stats among atheists did not acknowledge high cohabitation rate and significantly lower number of marriages, they were in fact unfounded and so was the related gloating found on many atheist web sites. _____________________ (1) The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. <http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/report-religious-landscape-study-chapter-3.pdf> (07 September, 2008) (2) <http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=295> (15 October, 2008).
_______________________ HELPFUL WEB SITES Atheism - CARM CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Atheism Antitheism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Apologetics Press - Militant Atheism OBJECTIVE: Confronting Militant Atheism Militant Atheism Gives Rise to Christian Apologetics ... Militant atheism - Conservapedia
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