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Special Series: Faith and Family in America, Part One: Beliefs and Behavior
In a recent poll on religion and the family conducted for Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research Inc., almost three-quarters of all Americans agree that “God’s plan for marriage is one man, one woman, for life.” A strong majority of Americans (71%) idealize the traditional family even as divorce, cohabitation and nontraditional family situations are becoming more accepted across religious groups. Only 22% of Americans think that divorce is a sin, while almost half (49%) say that cohabitation is acceptable. Survey findings also show a growing acceptance of divorce occurring among religious conservatives, with only 34% of evangelical Christians and 30% of traditional Catholics saying that divorce is a sin. And, although Americans overall still oppose legalizing gay marriage, attitudes are more mixed about gay adoption.
In the debut program of a special four-part series based on this survey focusing on the intersection between faith and family, Kim Lawton visits five families of differing faiths for a look at how religious affiliation influences their family structure, beliefs and practices. According to Dr. Nancy Ammerman, a professor of sociology at Boston University, “Religion has always had a strong interest in the family, because families were seen as the way in which the next generation would be socialized into, taught the traditions of the religious community.”
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/newsletter/images/arrow.gifRead the full story or watch the video
In a recent poll on religion and the family conducted for Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research Inc., almost three-quarters of all Americans agree that “God’s plan for marriage is one man, one woman, for life.” A strong majority of Americans (71%) idealize the traditional family even as divorce, cohabitation and nontraditional family situations are becoming more accepted across religious groups. Only 22% of Americans think that divorce is a sin, while almost half (49%) say that cohabitation is acceptable. Survey findings also show a growing acceptance of divorce occurring among religious conservatives, with only 34% of evangelical Christians and 30% of traditional Catholics saying that divorce is a sin. And, although Americans overall still oppose legalizing gay marriage, attitudes are more mixed about gay adoption.
In the debut program of a special four-part series based on this survey focusing on the intersection between faith and family, Kim Lawton visits five families of differing faiths for a look at how religious affiliation influences their family structure, beliefs and practices. According to Dr. Nancy Ammerman, a professor of sociology at Boston University, “Religion has always had a strong interest in the family, because families were seen as the way in which the next generation would be socialized into, taught the traditions of the religious community.”
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/newsletter/images/arrow.gifRead the full story or watch the video