MORE AMERICANs MARRY WITH STATE NOT CHURCH: USA Today

[Maggie: It is hard to judge the significance of this trend, since the reporter notes that in most states the proportion married outside of a church is either "rising or unchanged." But the high proportion of remarriages makes it not unlikely to be true. The reporter apparently shares the idea (which I do not) that Americans oppose gay marriage because they do not know that people can marry outside of a church and therefore believe it violates religious liberty. Excerpt below, full copy HERE.]

Civil marriage on rise across USA
By Cathy Lynn Grossman and In-Sung Yoo, USA TODAY October 7, 2003

"Fewer American couples who marry today see the need for religion's approval. The rate of civil marriage is on the rise coast to coast, a USA TODAY analysis of marriage license statistics suggests.

Experts say the trend could influence a larger debate: As fewer Americans see a need for religious blessings on a marriage, they may be more supportive of same-sex unions. There's no national data on how many U.S. marriages are performed by clergy vs. a civil authority such as a notary, judge or justice of the peace. But in the 18 states that have tracked data for any significant period of time since 1980: * 14 showed a growing or essentially steady rate of civil marriages - more than 40% of marriages in 2001. That's up from about 30% in 1980. * Four showed a drop in civil-marriage rates: South Carolina, where a legal change stopped judges from getting paid for weddings (but the state still has one of the highest civil-marriage rates); Utah, with its large, family-centered Mormon population; and tourism havens Hawaii and
Tennessee. . ."

posted by maggie at 5:19 PM VOTE

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