Families that pray together, don't stay together

The Archpundit is right. I loved his post and links challenging Keyes statement that:

They found that the change in family structure, the move to single-parent households, the decline of our family structure was the main contributing factor to the lack of affordable housing.

In sum the Archpundit concludes,

So saying that more conservative faith leads you to more stable families is demonstrably false.

The links that he had were interesting:

Religion (% have been divorced) Jews (30% ) Born-again Christians (27%) Other Christians (24%) Atheists, Agnostics (21%)

I think it's worth noting that these numbers comes from The Barna Group, a conservative Christian research group. In fact, a description advertising for careers states:

Is there a career for you at The Barna Group? Would you like to serve the body of Christ by working with the premiere marketing research company in America that is dedicated to assisting God’s people to do the work of the kingdom? Located on the coast of sunny, southern California, an hour north of Los Angeles, we are seeking individuals who want to distinguish themselves as professionals who are helping ministries fulfill God’s vision. We conduct primary research to help them identify ministry opportunities and challenges.

So, we're not talking about a left-wing conspiracy group out to attack evangelicals. More from Barna's website:

Overall, 33% of all born again individuals who have been married have gone through a divorce, which is statistically identical to the 34% incidence among non-born again adults.

And on economics:

Income appears to be inversely related to identifying oneself as a "born again Christian." We found that only 26% of those who earn at least $60K a year call themselves born again, while 44% of those who earn under $60K a year identify themselves as born again Christians. (2001)

On a personal note, which you don't really care about, but I think I believed Keyes. I'm still adjusting from my fundamentalist days and the moral framework that it offered. I just forget that there are a lot of people who are very moral, including a commitment to marriage, without a fundamentalist, or even any, religious framework.