We all know which states have stronger marriages, don’t we? The ones so keen to “protect” marriage, right? Some data:
The Associated Press, using data supplied by the US Census Bureau, found that the highest divorce rates are to be found in the Bible Belt. The AP report stated that “the divorce rates in these conservative states are roughly 50 percent above the national average of 4.2 per thousand people.” The 10 Southern states with some of the highest divorce rates were Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. By comparison nine states in the Northeast were among those with the lowest divorce rates: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Actually, I do think that one reason the anti-marriage forces in the South are so strong, when it comes to gay couples, is due to classic scapegoating. How much more comforting to believe that the problems of marriage lie with a distant “other” than in the heart of your own neighborhood and culture.
DERBYSHIRE AWARD NOMINEE: “I’m happy to see some of the Church leadership taking a leadership role on this issue. Separation of church from state does not mean separation of state from church. If people of faith (not simply Catholics, but all people of faith) were to let their faith guide their civic duty, this election would be a landslide.” – Shannen Coffin, National Review Online. I think that’s a pretty transparent assertion that God – everyone’s God – wants the Republican to win. But, hey, there are no theocratic tendencies at National Review, are there?
The Dish 