A new study by Jeremy Uecker, professor at Baylor University, says it does. Published this week in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, the study says that children of religious parents view their marriage as ordained by God, and when the marriage breaks down it has a negative effect on their view of God. Although studies have been done in the past on the link between divorce and religiosity, Uecker says the “effect has been overstated” because they did not take into account the parents’ religious views. Uecker argues that it might not be the divorce that causes a less religious view on the children because the parents might not have been very religious to start with.
As a product of divorce myself, I was actually drawn to religion because of it. At the time, I did not have much hope and I blamed myself for all of it. It was precisely that event that snowballed into my conversion four years later. My experience, however, was the exception and not the rule. It was still a very tough time and many kids do not come out of it better. They come out more rebellious, more promiscuous, or just depressed. When parents don’t take the God-ordained institution of marriage seriously, then the children will most likely follow their example and not take God seriously.
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