- Albert Mohler
R. Albert Mohler Jr. is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
Last week Mohler wrote on his website, “When the Christian right was organized in the 1970s and galvanized in the 1980s, the issues of abortion and homosexuality were front and center. Where was divorce?”
He calls divorce a “tragedy that affects far more families than the more ‘hot button’ issues” such as same-sex marriage. While LGBT groups have been wondering for years how marriage equality affects anyone else at all, it is amazing for someone who is so prominent in the religious right to admit that anything else might be more important. For the first time, there is an admission that maybe they should be watching what they do before criticizing everyone else.
Mohler even admitted that evangelical Christians divorce at a higher rate than the rest of the general population. However, he didn’t go so far as to admit that the lowest divorce rate is among gays and lesbians who have married.
In fact, the lowest divorce rate is in Massachusetts. Other states with low divorce rates are Iowa, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and New York — the states that allow same-sex marriage or recognize marriages performed elsewhere.
The states with the highest divorce rates are all red. Nevada, famous for honoring the sanctity of marriage with its drive-thru wedding chapels, also tops the list for drive-thru divorces. The rest of the states topping the divorce list are all in the Bible Belt.
Texas tops the list of states with the highest number of residents who’ve been married three or more times.
Mohler said, “Our credibility on the issue of marriage is significantly discounted by our acceptance of divorce. To our shame, the culture war is not the only place that an honest confrontation with the divorce culture is missing.”
I doubt anything will happen as a result of Mohler’s self-reflective column, though. It’s so much easier to bully others.
Well, hey it’s about time we heard a religious leader stand up and say that the greater threat to marriage is divorce and NOT gay marriage.
to be clear, Mohler is still against gay marriage, and i imagine he’d speak out against ‘bullying’ as well.
ANY FACTS/STATISTICS OF WHY DIVORCE RATES ARE HIGHER AMONG EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS THAN THE GENERAL POPULATION?
@ROD – I don’t have any facts or figures for you, but here are some ideas: 1) Many people who claim membership to Evangelical churchs don’t necessarily believe or don’t actual practice their subscribed beliefs. 2) Divorce rates are higher in the Bible Belt, which are also among some of the poorest states in the Union and poverty and higher incidents of domestic abuse may put pressure on many marriages 3) Divorce may be a lot less acceptable in many other cultures / religions, such as in the Roman Catholic church, for example.