Pastor's Article Feb. 05, 2023

Weekly Article
According to the Numbers
In 2023, approximately 50% of all marriages will end in divorce.  Subsequent marriages have an even higher chance of ending up in divorce, with 60 and 73% of second and third marriages ending up in divorce respectively.  The divorce rate for every 10 out of 1,000 people in the population (called the crude divorce rate), however, has dropped from 5 to 2.9 from 1990 to 2023. The marriage rate has almost halved in the last 30 years, with 10 for 1,000 people of the population choosing to tie the knot in 1990 versus only 5 for every 1,000 people in 2023 (called the 'crude marriage rate')  Bartenders and flight attendants are some of the most likely professions to divorce at 52.7% and 50.5% respectively, while scientists are some of the least likely at just 19%.
The US has the 6th highest divorce rate in the World. Those are some sad statistics, especially when you think of all the hurt and sadness that those numbers represent. Fox News poll asked voters to assess if the country is coming together. The short answer is no, as 81% see the U.S. as a dysfunctional family that’s breaking apart, up from 71% two years ago. That sentiment hits 86% among Republicans and independents, and 74% among Democrats. Overall, only 16% describe the country as a tight-knit family emerging from challenging times.  That terminology may be more accurate that anyone could have imagined, considering that our country is made up of dysfunctional families. As goes the family, so goes the country. To fix the country we must first work to fix the families that make the country. The hope of America is not in the Whitehouse but in your house. Will you work on having a family that is as God designed it to be?
Rev. Wayne Marcus, Pastor