Churches have paid too little attention to the damage done to them by decades of widespread family breakdown 
in the US, according to a new study.
Children raised in intact, married families are more likely to be religious than children who were not.
The research, published by the Institute for American Values, urges US faith leaders to look at the experience of children who have grown up without their married parents.
Based on thirteen commissioned papers from some of the nation’s top scholars on religion and family, the paper, Does the Shape of Families Shape Faith [1], says that a quarter of today’s young adults are grown children of divorce, and in recent decades rates of out-of-wedlock childbearing have skyrocketed.
“How this generation approaches questions of moral and spiritual meaning—and what choices they make for themselves and their families with regard to religious identity and involvement—will undoubtedly influence broader trends in the churches,” the report says.
The report also found that when children of divorce reach adulthood, compared to those who grew up in intact families, they feel less religious on the whole and are less likely to be involved in the regular practice of a faith. Specifically:
· Two-thirds of young adults who grew up in married parent families, compared to just over half who grew up in divorced families, say they are very or fairly religious.
· More than a third of people from married parent families currently attend religious services almost every week, compared to just a quarter of people from divorced families.
The report says that today’s grown children of divorce “form a kind of broken leading edge, with spiritual stories quite often characterized by loss or suffering”.
“Having perhaps turned to God for solace and hope, they may think of themselves as spiritual persons, but they report more difficulty practicing a faith within religious institutions,” it says.
It says that children of divorce are more likely overall to have left the church, their role as leaders will be key in renewing the churches’ ministry and welcome to those from non-traditional families.
Lead author Elizabeth Marquardt observes, “There are many reasons grown children of divorce appear overall to be less religious, including stories they tell of not feeling understood at church when their parents were splitting. But whatever the reasons, we now have a chance to draw upon their wisdom and get it right for the next generation.”
Co-author Charles E. Stokes affirms, “This report helps fill in some important gaps in the complex portrait of what happens to children after parental divorce. Drawing upon the latest social-scientific evidence, it issues a clarion call to faith communities to pay closer attention to the needs of some of their most vulnerable members.”
The report also challenges the idea that teaching congregants how to have a “good divorce” — in which parents stay involved in the child’s life and minimize their conflict with one another — offers much help.
New data analyses reveal striking differences in religious experience when comparing those raised in good divorces with those raised in happy marriages. Researchers found:
· Those raised in happy marriages were more than twice as likely to attend religious services, compared to those raised in good divorces.
· Those raised in happy marriages were more likely to report an absence of negative experiences of God, compared to those raised in good divorces.
· Those raised in happy marriages have the lowest levels of religious disinterest, compared to those raised in good divorces.
· Those raised in happy marriages are more likely to report an absence of negative experiences of God, compared to those raised in good divorces.