http://www.ncpa.org/pd/social/pd111999g.html

quote:

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Aside from the quickie-divorce Mecca of Nevada, no region of the United States has a higher divorce rate than the Bible Belt. Nearly half of all marriages break up, but the divorce rates in these southern states are roughly 50 percent above the national average.

According to federal figures:

Nationally, there were about 4.2 divorces for every thousand people in 1998.

The rate was 8.5 per thousand in Nevada, 6.4 in Tennessee, 6.1 in Arkansas, 6.0 in Alabama and Oklahoma.

Of southeastern states, only South Carolina's rate of 3.8 was below the national average.

By contrast, the divorce rate is less than 3.0 in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.
Why so many divorces in the Bible Belt?

Experts cite low household incomes (Oklahoma ranks 46th and Arkansas 47th), and a tendency for couples to marry at a younger age than in many other states.

Religion may play a role, since some of the lowest divorce rates are in northeastern states with relatively high household incomes and large numbers of Roman Catholics whose church doesn't recognize divorce.

Bible Belt states, in contrast, are dominated by fundamentalist Protestant denominations that proclaim the sanctity of marriage but generally do not want to estrange churchgoers who do divorce.

No state has been more embarrassed by the divorce problem than Oklahoma. Over the past few months, Gov. Frank Keating has enlisted clergymen, academics, lawyers and psychologists in a campaign to reduce the divorce rate by a third within 10 years. In neighboring Arkansas, state officials hope to halve the divorce rate by 2010.

Source: David Crary, "Bible Belt Leads U.S. in Divorces," Associated Press, November 12, 1999.

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Hey I live in the Bible Belt and particulary Oklahoma. And dont feel sorry for me. I think divorce is wrong.Soooo wroooong. I think that if you and your spouse have problems then yall should go see a marriage counsler. Divorce splits families. And for your info im a southern baptist and our church does proclaim the importance in marriage. I think the only reason for you to get divorced and it says this in the bible, is that your parnter has slept with another person. Basically if your parnter has committed adultry. I think thats the only reason you get a divorce. And dont think we're poor in Oklahoma. We arnt. We just get by on what we have. So please if you live in this state of ours dont feel sorry for yourselves.
And thankyou aguagon for standing up for the bible belt. I just feel that if you are divorce more than once than you just need to stay single. Plus if you just divorce b/c you dont like your parnter any more, thats just plain stupid. I wonder if one parnter wants a divorce and the other parnter ref

Hey I live in the Bible Belt and particulary Oklahoma. And dont feel sorry for me. I think divorce is wrong.Soooo wroooong. I think that if you and your spouse have problems then yall should go see a marriage counsler. Divorce splits families. And for your info im a southern baptist and our church does proclaim the importance in marriage. I think the only reason for you to get divorced and it says this in the bible, is that your parnter has slept with another person. Basically if your parnter has committed adultry. I think thats the only reason you get a divorce. And dont think we're poor in Oklahoma. We arnt. We just get by on what we have. So please if you live in this state of ours dont feel sorry for yourselves.
And thankyou aguagon for standing up for the bible belt. I just feel that if you are divorce more than once than you just need to stay single. Plus if you just divorce b/c you dont like your parnter any more, thats just plain stupid. I wonder if one parnter wants a divorce and the other parnter refuses can the parnter who declared first really get what he/she wants? O another reason to get a divorce, and this is in extreme circumstances, if your parnter phiscally harms you (punch, kick,bang you into walls etc.) than you can get a divorce. It doesnt say that in the bible but i think it should.

I do

quote:

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Originally posted by Aguagon:
Eww. I just stood up for the Bible Belt. I'm gonna go take a shower.

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I live in the Bible belt... feel sorry for me.

"Eww. I just stood up for the Bible Belt. I'm gonna go take a shower. "

<3333.

To be fair, part of this has to be attributed to the fact the Bible Belt has a disproportionately large number of young people in it compared to such states as Massachusetts and New Jersey, where the divorce rates are very low. Couples that marry young tend to divorce more than couples that marry later in life, and the Bible Belt also has a much higher marriage rate than most other states.

Eww. I just stood up for the Bible Belt. I'm gonna go take a shower.

Ha. Sanctity of marriage, indeed.