Thread: To Avoid Divorce, Move to Massachusetts

Family values and red states? HAHAHAHA!

The New York Times > Week in Review > To Avoid Divorce, Move to Massachusetts

BOSTON — If blue states care less about moral values, why are divorce rates so low in the bluest of the blue states? It's a question that intrigues conservatives, as much as it emboldens liberals. As researchers have noted, the areas of the country where divorce rates are highest are also frequently the areas where many conservative Christians live.

Kentucky, Mississippi and Arkansas, for example, voted overwhelmingly for constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage. But they had three of the highest divorce rates in 2003, based on figures from the Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics.

The lowest divorce rates are largely in the blue states: the Northeast and the upper Midwest. And the state with the lowest divorce rate was Massachusetts, home to John Kerry, the Kennedys and same-sex marriage.

In 2003, the rate in Massachusetts was 5.7 divorces per 1,000 married people, compared with 10.8 in Kentucky, 11.1 in Mississippi and 12.7 in Arkansas.

"Some people are saying, 'The Bible Belt is so pro-marriage, but gee, they have the highest divorce rates in the country,' " said Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. "And there's a lot of worry in the red states about the high rate of divorce."

The Barna Group, a California organization that studies evangelical Christian trends, has produced two studies about divorce that found that born-again Christians were just as likely to divorce as those who are not born-again Christians.
One of the reports, a survey of 7,043 people in 2001, said that: "Residents of the Northeast and West are commonly noted for their more liberal leanings in politics and lifestyle. However, the region of the nation in which divorce was least likely was the Northeast."
...

Must be the few "liberals" in those states getting married and divorced on a regular basis.

It's the cost of living. You can't afford to be single in those states. Check out the facts, it's true.

And who the hell says 'GEE' when trying to be taken seriously?

Cost of living is subjective to the wages paid. Sure things cost more in Mass. but wages are also higher. Sure things cost less in the bible belt but wages are also much lower.

Nope the answer is not cost of living my freind but rather that liberals tend to be less concerned with any stigma attached to marriage counciling and also more likely to support women's rights...rather then breeders rights as the the overly religious tend to.

Its really quite simple, if you respect your wife's intelligence and free will, are willing to talk with her when you have issues rather then bemoaning open communication your relationship will last longer.

You cannot do any of those things if your idea of a healthy relationship is forced childbirth, seperation of labor based on gender and archaic ideas of the man being the only one with an opinion that matters its hardly suprising that the womenfolk say screw you Bubba!

Originally Posted by freckles

It's the cost of living. You can't afford to be single in those states. Check out the facts, it's true.

Can't afford to be married either.