Most Americans don’t see sin in divorce

(RNS) If you’ve got a good reason for divorce -- adultery, abuse, addiction or abandonment -- fewer than 1 in 4 Americans would call that a sin, a new LifeWay Research survey finds.

Musicians Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert arrive at the 48th Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tennessee on November 5, 2014. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Eric Henderson
*Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-DIVORCE-SIN, originally transmitted on August 12, 2015.
The characters of Kermit and Miss Piggy arrive at the premiere of "Muppets Most Wanted" at El Capitan theatre in Hollywood, California on March 11, 2014. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni *Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-DIVORCE-SIN, originally transmitted on August 12, 2015.

Kermit and Miss Piggy arrive at the premiere of “Muppets Most Wanted” at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on March 11, 2014. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
*Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-DIVORCE-SIN, originally transmitted on August 12, 2015.

(RNS) In a summer of celebrity splits — Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, Miss Piggy and Kermit — a question comes up for many Christians.

Is it a sin — cohabitating Muppets aside — to break up a marriage?


If you’ve got a good reason for divorce — adultery, abuse, addiction or abandonment — fewer than 1 in 4 Americans would call that a sin, a new LifeWay Research survey finds.

The survey of 1,000 U.S. adults finds only a minority would call divorce a sin even when:

  • There’s adultery (39 percent).
  • The two people no longer love each other (38 percent).
  • One spouse has abandoned the other (38 percent).
  • One spouse is abusing the other (37 percent).
  • A spouse is addicted to pornography (35 percent).

However, 37 percent say divorce is not a sin in any of those circumstances.

Musicians Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert arrive at the 48th Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tennessee on November 5, 2014. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Eric Henderson *Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-DIVORCE-SIN, originally transmitted on August 12, 2015.

Musicians Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert arrive at the 48th Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 5, 2014. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Eric Henderson
*Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-DIVORCE-SIN, originally transmitted on Aug. 12, 2015.

People who identify as Christians were slightly more likely to see sin in those divorcing over abuse (43 percent) or abandonment (43 percent) or pornography addiction (39 percent).

And more than 4 in 10 Protestants (43 percent) think it’s sinful for couples to split over a lack of love, according to the survey, which has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.


READ: Do polls reveal the God’s honest truth about American religion? No, but they still count


“Hopefully, they are basing their view of what is sin by what the Bible says,” said Scott McConnell, vice president of LifeWay Research.


“Clearly in Scripture, God indicates that he doesn’t like divorce. But Jesus did have things to say about this.”

In Matthew 19:6, Jesus tells the Pharisees: “What God has joined together, man must not separate.” However, Jesus adds an exception in verse 8 — “sexual immorality.”

A second survey, of 1,000 Protestant pastors, found that 61 percent saw sin in couples giving up a loveless marriage.


READ: Pope Francis says church must welcome divorced, remarried Catholics


Actor Ben Affleck holds his wife, actress Jennifer Garner's hand as they arrive at the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscars Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on March 2, 2014. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Danny Moloshok  *Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-DIVORCE-SIN, originally transmitted on August 12, 2015.

Actor Ben Affleck holds the hand of his wife, actress Jennifer Garner, as they arrive at the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscars Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on March 2, 2014. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Danny Moloshok
*Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-DIVORCE-SIN, originally transmitted on Aug. 12, 2015.

The surveys of all Americans and of pastors were conducted in September 2014, when celebs Lambert and Shelton, Garner and Affleck and the Muppet couple, about to star in a new TV show, were all presumably still together.

Last week, Miss Piggy squealed about her breakup on Facebook in a perfect parody of celebrity split announcements:


“After careful thought, thoughtful consideration and considerable squabbling, Kermit the Frog and moi have made the difficult decision to terminate our romantic relationship. Our personal lives are now distinct and separate, and we will be seeing other people, pigs, frogs, et al. This is our only comment on this private matter … unless we get the right offer.”

It would appear they no longer love each other. No sin in that, many would say.

LM/MG END GROSSMAN

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