The word is spreading through evangelical circles that, yes, it is OK for Christian women to enjoy sex as much as their husbands and that men, not their wives, are responsible for addressing their own struggles with lust and pornography,…
Choosing us: What we didn’t know then about marriage and how we would grow and change
“People change. Maybe you should give this some time to figure out who you are before you get married,” she said. We had flown to California for me (Gail) to introduce Brian to a few of my aunts and extended…
Survey asks how Americans prioritize marriage and childbearing
Among all Americans, white evangelicals are most likely to say that prioritizing marriage and having children is better for society, but in real life they are not more likely to be married than other Christians — and previous studies have…
More adults than ever are unpartnered in their prime years, new research shows
If you look around your congregation and realize there are a lot more young and middle-aged single adults than there used to be, you’re not alone. It’s a national trend. New data from Pew Research finds a sharp uptick over…
Support for interracial marriage has grown from 4% to 94%
Amid an American culture that appears as divided over race as during the Civil Rights Movement comes surprising news from Gallup: Nearly all Americans now approve of marriages between Black people and white people. What many take for granted today…
COVID has tied the wedding business in knots
Three weeks before their scheduled wedding date of April 4, 2020, Sam Lebow and Meghan Dworschak wrote a final check to the caterer for their reception. “Two days later,” Sam said, “we had to postpone the wedding.” The reason? COVID-19….
From purity pledges to the Equality Act: How evangelical concern about sex has shifted and what it has to do with creation
When more than 200,000 evangelical purity pledges were being planted at the National Mall in 1994 at the height of the True Love Waits movement, nobody would have imagined that the next 25 years would bring about a total revolution…
Here’s help for addressing mental health in marriage
Achieving intimacy with family, friends or clergy can be daunting for those suffering from mental health challenges, but establishing and maintaining understanding with a spouse can be especially intimidating, said Sarah Griffith Lund, author and national minister for disabilities and…
What I learned by listening to women pastors during the pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a differential impact on women. In particular, working mothers have faced a greater burden of child care and home schooling than men and have ended up leaving the work force in significantly greater numbers than…