Religion survey: 55% of those who are married had no religious ceremony

[JackBeck]

by: Pam Spaulding
Tue Mar 10, 2009 at 09:00:00 AM EDT

If you listened to all the fundie bleating, you'd believe that all hetero couples were filling the churches to engage in holy matrimony. The truth of the matter is that religion is not the guiding force behind marriage anymore, and the civil institution has no connection to faith for the majority of Americans. (http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-09-aris-survey-nones_N.htm">USA Today):

Don't blame secularism for driving up the percentage of Americans who say they have no religion, says Barry Kosmin, co-researcher for the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS).

"These people aren't secularized. They're not thinking about religion and rejecting it; they're not thinking about it at all," Kosmin says. A closer look at the "Nones" - people who said "None" when asked their religious identity - shows that this group (now 15% of Americans, up from 8% in 1990) opts out of traditional religious rites of passage:

•40% say they had no childhood religious initiation ceremony such as a baptism, christening, circumcision, bar mitzvah or naming ceremony.

•55% of those who are married had no religious ceremony.

•66% say they do not expect to have a religious funeral.

"Your parents may decide for you on baptism and your spouse has a say in your wedding, but when people talk about dying, they speak for themselves," says Kosmin.

What was that? Did I read that religion is a CHOICE? Where have I heard that references to CHOICE being cited as grounds for discrimination? Hmmmmm?????

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-09-ARIS-faith-survey_N.htm">USA Today has an interactive chart showing the shift in Americans' religious CHOICES, including no religion. Here's a snapshot of the decline of non-Catholic Christian faiths...falling through the floor.



Only Louisiana, Rhode Island, Montana and Connecticut saw any growth, and the latter two are in reality, flat. The only state where the evangelicals are gaining any significant strength is in Bobby "The Exorcist" Jindal's territory. Religion is even losing ground in Sally Kern's (OK) and Chris Buttars's (UT) neck of the woods.

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9825

Sorry to sound like a broken record here...but...the term 'marriage' is not exclusively owned by any religion. And anthropologists would agree. This article is another example that supports the efforts of those who are fighting for marriage equality, especially in light of the increase, since the 90's, of those that choose not to be affiliated with any religion.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. 29 years ago, my wife and I, to avoid family religious squabbles, did a quiet justice of the peace

thing...was the best decision we ever made! We didn't have tons of money people didn't have pissed away, and didn't put enormous pressure on the event. And we have been blissful ever since! Total "wedding" party was a few close friends from both of us and a meal at a nice restaurant that evening.

The next day - back to grad school/nurse job for the two of us!

[cobalt1999]

2. My wife and I did Vegas

Much more fun than a church!

[brooklynite]

3. Define a "religious ceremony"...

My wife and I are atheists but had a wedding ceremony presided over by a Unitarian Minister who was an old family friend (despite my walking out of Sunday School classes when I was seven). The vows included both some classic Elizabethan ("Dearly Beloved...") and American Indian elements.

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[MineralMan]

5. My wife and I were married by a Universal Life Church

"minister." He was also the bass player in a musical group I played in. There were no references, whatsoever, to religion or deities in the ceremony.

[pnwmom]

6. We were surprised how easy it was to find a priest

to perform the marriage of my daughter and her husband. Her fiance had never been baptized, although he had gone to a Catholic Church as a child. She asked the Priest at her university, who told her it should be no problem to get the waiver (allowing marriage to a non-Christian) signed. But that if she had any problem in her home parish, they should come back to him and he'd be happy to do it. When they came back home and spoke to our local pastor, he was happy to sign the waiver, too. Nobody put any pressure at all on the fiance to consider becoming a Catholic or even a Christian of any sort -- they said any decision should be made outside of the decision to get married.

I was impressed; but I wondered if all this eagerness to marry them was because of a drop in the number of couples interested in a Church ceremony. Guess I was right.

It was beautiful, by the way. The religious ceremony gave it a solemnity -- a seriousness of purpose -- that felt right. It didn't feel like a fashion show and it didn't need a "theme."

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Then equal marriage rights under the law for everybody!!

[Jokerman]

8. Married by a judge in a banquet hall.

Never been baptized.

No religion at our wedding.

If my wishes are followed, there will be no religion at my funeral.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

9. Marriage is a civil contract between the individuals and the state.

Religion is not required at all. Divorces are civil matters as well.

First wedding: went to the JP in San Antonio.

Second wedding: Unitarian minister in Unitarian Universalist church. My one request of the minister was "No prayers".

I'm divorced from both of those.

Presently living with the right man, who is also a Unitarian! :D