Matthew 7 and modern day Christian hypocrisy

[Aaron Lindahl]

Perhaps fewer people are getting married in the first place in Massachusetts? You can only get divorced if you are married after all. Do you have statistics to confirm one way or the other?

Hi Prodomos, yes I do:

Massachusetts’ marriage rate increased 16 percent in the year after it legalized same-sex marriage, largely thanks to an influx of same-sex couples getting married in the state. Since then, the marriage rate has stabilized, hovering at a level around Massachusetts’ rate prior to its adoption of marriage equality.

 

[prodromos]

Hi Prodomos, yes I do:

Massachusetts’ marriage rate increased 16 percent in the year after it legalized same-sex marriage, largely thanks to an influx of same-sex couples getting married in the state. Since then, the marriage rate has stabilized, hovering at a level around Massachusetts’ rate prior to its adoption of marriage equality.

That still doesn't tell me what the marriage rate is relative to the divorce rate, so the figures you give are meaningless as a response to my post.

 

[Thekla]

Hi Thekla, simply Google the following and there's a PDF you can read that answers all your questions about this:

Red States, Blue States, and Divorce :
Understanding Regional Variation in Divorce Rates
Jennifer Glass and Philip Levchak
University of Iowa

Draft submitted for the 2011 annual meeting of the Population Association of America.

Thanks: the report covers some of the questions I raised (the effect of the culture vs just religion post, the impact of pregnancy/ in Mass. post), and indicates the second study I posted (which teased apart religious into observant and nominal) should be revisited vis a vis this study.

 

[Aaron Lindahl]

That still doesn't tell me what the marriage rate is relative to the divorce rate, so the figures you give are meaningless as a response to my post.

Actually it does, quite succinctly. If you're apparently somehow unaware of that, I really don't know how elucidating further would be of any benefit for you.

 

[prodromos]

Actually it does, quite succinctly. If you're apparently somehow unaware of that, I really don't know how elucidating further would be of any benefit for you.

No it doesn't.

 

[Aaron Lindahl]

No it doesn't.

Hi Prodromos, the main point is that the marriage rate in MA has stayed basically the same, while the divorce rate has plummeted after legalizing same-sex marriage. Hopefully the following statistics and facts elucidate this subject more clearly for you..

For example, Sweden legalized same-sex civil unions in 1995 and gay marriage in 2009. A 2011 demographic study from researchers at the University of Stockholm reports that since 1999, after decades of falling, both the marriage rate and the fertility rate have trended upward and the divorce rate is down.

You can Google the following to see the PDF as I haven't made enough comments on here yet to be able to post online links:

STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY

Dept of Sociology, Demography Unit
Trends in Childbearing and Nuptiality
in Sweden:

An Update with Data up to 2007
By Gunnar Andersson and Martin Kolk
Stockholm Research Reports in Demography
2011:7

From the United States Census Bureau: ‘The 2012 Statistical Abstract, Births, Deaths, Marriages, & Divorces'

Table 133. Marriages and Divorces—Number and Rate by State: 1990 to 2009

(2,443 represents 2,443,000). Based on provisional counts by state of occurrence. Population enumerated as of April 1 for 1990 and 2000 and estimated as of July for 2009

State: Massachusetts

Marriages : Number (1,000)

1990 - 47.7, 2000 - 37.0, 2009 - 36.7

Rate per 1,000 population :

1990 - 7.9, 2000 - 5.8, 2009 - 5.5

Divorces : Number (1,000)

1990 – 16.8, 2000 – 18.6, 2009 – 12.7

Rate per 1,000 population :

1990 – 2.8, 2000 – 2.5, 2009 – 2.2

That stated, wishing you a Merry Christmas!