Protestant clergy name divorce, negative influences from the media, and materialism as the three greatest threats to families in their community

(Original release date:  October 28, 2004) In research results being released for the first time in the November/December edition of Facts & Trends magazine, Protestant clergy named divorce, negative influences from the media, and materialism as the three greatest threats to families in their communities.

The study, conducted by Ellison Research among a representative sample of 695 Protestant church ministers nationwide, asked pastors to identify the three strongest threats to families in their own community.

The three most commonly named threats were divorce (listed as one of the top three by 43% of all ministers), negative influences from the media (38%), and materialism (36%). These were followed by absentee fathers (24%) and families that lack a stay-at-home parent (22%). The rest of the list included:

The perceived threats to family differed somewhat by region. For instance, morality not being taught in schools was less frequently mentioned by pastors in the Midwest, while co-habitation was seen as much more of a threat there than in other regions. Parental alcohol abuse was particularly felt by Western ministers, while absentee fathers were seen as a more serious problem in the South than elsewhere.

In many other studies, severe differences of opinion and perspective have repeatedly shown up between pastors from denominations with membership in the National Council of Churches and those with membership in the National Association of Evangelicals. However, clergy from very different perspectives were often united in what they saw as threats to families; there were only few differences between these two groups on this issue.

Pastors in the NCC tended to be particularly worried about economic factors such as poverty and unemployment, as well as poor schools – two issues rarely mentioned by NAE members. NAE member pastors were more likely than their mainline counterparts to worry about the impact of pornography, divorce, and absentee fathers. But the two groups saw pretty much eye-to-eye on the impact of the other issues.

There were also some differences of opinion among different denominational groups. (Although the study included a representative sample of all Protestant denominations throughout the U.S., only five groups were large enough to be evaluated separately: Pentecostals, Methodists, Lutherans, Southern Baptists, and all other Baptist denominations.)
Methodists paid particular attention to parental alcohol and drug use, as well as economic issues, while seeing a lower-than-average threat from pornography and absentee fathers. Lutherans were especially concerned about the impact of materialism and alcohol use by both parents and children, and far less worried than the typical pastor about absentee fathers and latch-key kids.

Pentecostals tended to be less worried than average about materialism, but particularly concerned that morality is not being taught in schools. Southern Baptists tabbed divorce as a particular concern for families, but were less likely than average to worry about the impact of economic issues.

The study also asked clergy to agree or disagree with three statements about family. A majority agreed with the statement “Churches tend to focus so much on ‘traditional’ families that they do not serve important groups such as singles, childless couples, or single parents appropriately.” Twelve percent agreed strongly with this, and another 48% agreed somewhat, while 26% disagreed somewhat, and 14% disagreed strongly. Methodist and Lutheran ministers were more likely than average to agree with this statement, while Southern Baptists were less likely than average to have this perspective.

Ministers were really split over the statement, “Like it or not, the traditional view of family (husband, wife, and children) no longer really exists in American society.” About half agreed (10% strongly, 37% somewhat), while the rest disagreed (26% strongly, 27% somewhat). Methodists were more likely than average to agree, while Baptists (both Southern Baptist and those from other Baptist denominations) were less likely than average to agree.

No matter what pastors thought of the current family situation in the U.S., the vast majority agreed with the statement, “No matter how society defines family, churches need to promote a traditional view of family (husband, wife, and children).” Seventy-one percent agreed strongly with this, and another 16% agreed somewhat. Five percent disagreed somewhat, and 8% disagreed strongly. This is one area in which members of the NAE and the NCC did not share the same perspective: strong agreement came from 79% of National Association of Evangelicals members, but just 40% of National Council of Churches members. Baptists and Pentecostals had particularly strong feelings on this issue, while Methodists and Lutherans were much less vocal (although a majority of both groups agreed with the statement).

Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, noted that there was no consensus on what constitutes the strongest threats to the family in America. “The level of threat each issue represented often differed from region to region, and no threat was named among the top three by even half of all pastors,” Sellers pointed out. “Obviously the threats to families differ considerably from one community to the next. An upscale suburban community may be threatened most by materialism or latch-key kids, while a rural area may have real problems with poverty or alcoholism. This could make any nationwide or large-scale initiatives to deal with these problems a challenge, or at least lead to very spotty success.”

Sellers also emphasized that although there was a fair amount of agreement among different types of ministers regarding what constitutes a threat to families in their communities, there would likely be different perspectives on how churches should deal with those threats. “Take the issue of children without a stay-at-home parent. Should churches work to encourage one parent to stay home to take care of young children? Or should they accept the situation and try to provide support to families with two working parents? Pastors may agree this is a threat to family health, but they may have very different ways of addressing these issues.”

Facts & Trends, where this study is being published, is designed to assist pastors, church staff and denominational leaders in their roles of ministry by informing them about LifeWay resources and how they relate to current issues in Christian ministry. It is published by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. For information about Facts & Trends, contact Chris Turner at 615-251-2307.

The study was conducted by Ellison Research, a marketing research company located in Phoenix, Arizona. The sample of 695 Protestant ministers included only those who are actively leading churches. The study’s total sample is accurate to within ±3.6 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level with a 50 percent response distribution.

The study was conducted in all 50 states, using a representative sample of pastors from all Protestant denominations. Respondents’ geography, church size, and denomination were carefully tracked to ensure appropriate representation and accuracy.
 
What do you believe are the three strongest threats to families in your community? (By denomination)

Threats All Pastors Southern Baptist Other Baptist Methodist Lutheran Pentecostal All Others
Divorce 43% 53% 40% 35% 44% 50% 42%
Negative influences from the media 38 38 43 34 34 36 39
Materialism 36 38 36 35 44 19 40
Absentee fathers 24 29 26 16 4 32 24
No stay-at-home parent/latch-key kids 22 23 22 20 11 23 24
Co-habitation before marriage 18 21 24 18 17 19 14
Pornography 17 21 20 11 7 21 17
Morality not taught in schools 14 14 18 8 2 24 11
Poor economy/
poverty/
unemployment		 13 5 10 22 20 9 14
Parental alcohol use/abuse 12 7 7 22 21 6 15
Parental drug use/abuse 11 7 7 23 6 10 11
Drug use/abuse among teens/kids 8 6 6 7 12 13 7
Teen sexual
involvement/
activity		 8 7 10 6 13 13 6
Alcohol use/abuse among teens/kids 6 6 4 5 15 5 6
Adultery 5 3 6 8 5 5 5
Poor schools/quality of education 4 3 4 7 9 1 3
Teen pregnancy 2 1 1 3 -- 8 1
Sexual abuse/sexual
predators		 1 -- -- 3 4 -- 2
Expense of child care 1 -- 2 -- 2 -- 2
Other issues 12 12 14 14 20 5 13

What do you believe are the three strongest threats to families in your community? (By region)

Threats Northeast Midwest South

West
Divorce

44%

 43% 47% 39%
Negative influences from the media 38 34 38 44
Materialism 28 39 34 38
Absentee fathers 20 21 34 17
No stay-at-home parent/latch-key kids 25 23 22 19
Co-habitation before marriage 11 31 15 12
Pornography 18 18 13 21
Morality not taught in schools 20 9 16 14
Poor economy/poverty/unemployment 19 12 12 13
Parental alcohol use/abuse 12 11 6 23
Parental drug use/abuse 10 7 11 15
Drug use/abuse among teens/kids 8 6 8 8
Teen sexual involvement/activity 9 11 9 4
Alcohol use/abuse among teens/kids 4 6 5 7
Adultery 5 4 7 5
Poor schools/quality of education 8 3 4 3
Teen pregnancy 7 1 2 --
Sexual abuse/sexual predators 2 2 1 1
Expense of child care 2 1 1 1
Other issues 12 15 9 15

Do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements (among all Protestant clergy)…

Statement Agree Strongly  Agree Somewhat Disagree Somewhat

Disagree Strongly
No matter how society defines family, churches need to promote a traditional view of family 71% 16% 5% 8%
Churches tend to focus so much on “traditional” families that they do not serve important groups such as singles, childless couples, or single parents appropriately 12 48 26 14
Like it or not, the traditional view of family no longer really exists in American society 10 37 27 26

Do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements (% agreeing strongly with each statement)…

Statement Southern Baptist Other Baptist Methodist Lutheran Pentecostal All Others
No matter how society defines family, churches need to promote a traditional view of family 84% 92% 39% 40% 83% 67%
Churches tend to focus so much on “traditional” families that they do not serve important groups such as singles, childless couples, or single parents appropriately 6 10 22 24 4 12
Like it or not, the traditional view of family no longer really exists in American society 9 11 15 4 11 10

Numbers may not add to exactly 100% due to rounding. "Don't know" responses are not shown.  The survey included all Protestant denominations, but the groups shown separately in the table above were the only ones with large-enough subsamples to examine separately.