Great post over at David French’s blog on the Evangelical Channel on Patheos. The Blue States often sneer at the South because the South claims higher rates of religiousness but ALSO higher divorce rates. Many liberals take this to assume that religious people in general are just a bunch of hypocrites. I’ll let David take it from here.
It’s pretty simple: When it comes to marriage, church attendance matters more than church affiliation.
I’ve often heard the South described as “God-haunted,” in the sense that there are millions of men and women who identify as Christians, who attend church at least semi-regularly, and who at least aspire to live a Christian life as they understand it. Within that “God-haunted” culture is a very large subculture of the “God-fearing,” in the sense that they hold to the orthodox tenets of the faith, attend church regularly, and –furthermore — immerse themselves in the larger life of the church, from Sunday School to mission trips to small-group Bible studies.
It turns out that the God-haunted lifestyle is terrible for marriage. The God-fearing lifestyle is excellent. The reasons are not difficult to discern. READ MORE