Bryan Caplan reports surprise upon learning, based on analysis of data from the General Social Survey, that fundamentalists are no less likely to get divorced than the population at large. This, he says, contradicts the general "stereotype" that fundamentalists take their vows more seriously than other people do.
I have to admit to being somewhat puzzled by the assertion. I've never stereotyped fundamentalists as being unlikely to divorce, and wasn't aware that that was a stereotype. When I hear the word "fundamentalist," I think "Biblical literalist, evangelical Protestant." And perhaps this just betrays the residual prejudices of my Catholic school background, but my first inclination is to assume that Protestants of all stripes are MORE likely to get divorced. They are, after all, allowed to get divorced, which Catholics -- who represent one-quarter of this country, by far the largest bloc of any single religious sect -- are not.
"I'm not Ray Lehmann, and I approve this message".............
Posted by: Alkadeutch and the Carbon Fizzers | November 02, 2006 at 07:01 PM