A new survey by LifeWay Research shows that 62% of Americans think it is not a sin if a couple divorces when "no longer in love with each other", while only 39% of pastors agree on the same subject.
The telephone survey taken from 1,000 Americans last fall revealed that Americans think that any reason for divorce is same as another from the perspective of God. The pastors, however, distinguish between the reasons for divorce, and the weight of sin they carry.
In a separate survey of the same number of pastors, 61 percent said it is a sin to divorce if couples cease having feelings for each other, but 68 percent think it is not a sin to divorce if the spouse has committed adultery, 72 percent think neither is it a sin in the case of an abusive spouse or if the spouse has abandoned them. Only 19% of pastors said none of the reasons for divorce need to be labeled "sinful".
"Pastors make a distinction about the rightness of a divorce based on the reasons behind it," says Scott McConnell, LifeWay Research vice president, in a comment to LifeWay Christian Resources. "They want to account for the parts of Scripture that speak of possible rationales."
On the other hand, general public responses seemed to show that most of them believed one reason for divorce was not any different from another. Only 39% of those interviewed thought that divorce is a sin when an individual's spouse commits adultery, while about the same number, 38 percent, thought it is a sin when couple are no longer in love. And 37% said any of the reasons for divorce don't qualify as sinful behavior.
"About one in seven Americans are saying divorce is a sin in all of these cases, more than a third don't think any of these would be a sin and almost half believe some circumstances would be sinful, but not others," said McConnell.
The survey also illustrated the differences or lack of therein, in perception to divorce among various population groups. The views of Protestant church members, for example, more closely resemble average American perspective, than the ethics of the pastors. About 44 percent of Protestants believe divorce over adultery is as sinful, and 46 percent said divorce over feelings of love is not a result of sin.
Stark differences exist between different regions of the country. Northeasterners along with predominately Protestant South are more likely to be prudent in acknowledging sin compared to Westerners, among whom 51 percent said none of the reasons for divorce qualified as sin.
