New data compiled by the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) confirms what researchers have found to be true for decades—that married couples who regularly practice their Christian faith are happier, have more children, divorce less, and experience more fulfilling intimacy than their non-religious, secular peers.
The report found that churchgoing Catholic and Protestant couples “enjoy the happiest marriages in America,” with 79% of Catholics and 74% of Protestants reporting being “very happily married” compared to 66% of non-religious couples. IFS noted that although the marriage rate in the US has fallen considerably in recent decades (even among Christians, with Catholic weddings plunging by 74% since 1970), “the Believers who remain are more likely to enjoy strong, stable families,” with churchgoing Catholics and Protestants marrying more, having more children, and divorcing less than their secular peers. In general, churchgoers are 39% more likely to be married than non-churchgoers.
This happiness appears to be tied closely with sexual satisfaction. IFS further found that a strong majority of churchgoing couples (62%) report having sex at least once a week, whereas only 48% of secular couples say the same. In addition, practicing Christian couples “have 1.42 times higher odds of being sexually satisfied than husbands and wives who are not religiously active.” The report points out that churchgoing couples are bucking the national trend of a sex recession, with only 37% of the general population reporting having sex weekly.
The new IFS report serves as yet more proof that regular church attendance and religious practice translate to more marriages, higher marriage quality and satisfaction, and more children in a wider culture that is struggling with social isolation, mental health problems, and cratering marriage and birth rates.
“The conventional wisdom holds that religious faith is an obstacle to a happy marriage and a good sex life,” IFS Senior Fellow and Director of the Get Married Initiative Brad Wilcox stated following the report’s release. “Our research finds the opposite. No set of Americans are happier in their marriages, or more sexually satisfied, than men and women who regularly attend church. The norms, networks, and values of religious communities deepen the ties that bind, a rare gift in a digital age that is increasingly atomistic.”