Religion
Christianity
A common criticism of Christianity is perceived hypocrisy of many "Christians" and in some cases the church (e.g. when the Church gets involved in political issues such as war.)
There are several explanations for this:
- Many Christians are hypocrits. Being a Christian does not mean one is sinless. Confession of sins is a big part of Christianity (1 John 1:9). However, Christianity does not allow that you can do what you want, because you will be forgiven. A person will be judged by what is in their heart (1 Corinthians 4:5) and true Christians will always be striving to be better people.
- Not all people who attend church and call themselves Christians are really Christians. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ says "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven...." (Matthew 8:21-23). In (Matthew 7:15) Christ warns of false prophets.
Other Questions
Why is the divorce rate for Christians no better than the average?
% have been divorced
| Baby Boomers | 34% |
| Jews | 30% |
| Fundamentalist Christians | 30% |
| Baptists | 29% |
| Born-again Christians | 27% |
| Mainline Protestants | 25% |
| Mormons | 24% |
| Other Christians | 24% |
| non-Christians | 23% |
| Catholics | 21% |
| Lutherans | 21% |
| Atheists, Agnostics | 21% |
| People born before 1933 | 18% |
| Protestant Senior Pastors | 15% |
| Asians | 9% |
Note: There are several ways of measuring divorce rates. See Divorce Rate.
A fifteen denominational study, computed both present and "ever-divorced" rates of women and men Protestant clergy. Zikmund, Lummis, and Chang, Clergy Women: An Uphill Calling (Westminster/John Knox. 1998,) found that:.
The average clergy ever-divorced rate (24% women and 19% men) is comparable to the total lay "ever-divorced" rate most recently reported by the Census.
Percent ever-divorced, of those ever-married, from a 1996 Presbyterian Panel (PCUSA) survey:
members, 18%
elders, 17%
pastors, 20%
specialized clergy, 30%
See Also: Christian couples who pray together have a divorce rate of less than 1% at prayerguide.org.uk and Dennis Rainey at FamilyLife.org.
Tom Whiteman, a Philadelphia psychologist and counselor, found that although the rate was about the same for Christians as others, the reasons for divorce were different. He found that the number one reason cited in divorce proceedings for the general population was incompatibility, but Christians rarely use that as grounds for a divorce. "In the Christian population, the reasons are adultery, abuse (including substance, physical and verbal abuse) and abandonment," Whiteman says. See John Mark Ministries at PastorNet.net.au
See Also: Marriage-Divorce stats in reference.
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