Divorce, negative influences from the media and materialism are among the most common threats to the family cited by Protestant ministers in a recent study.
Ellison Research, a full-service marketing research firm in Phoenix that conducted the research for the November/December issue of LifeWay’s Facts & Trends magazine, reported that divorce was listed as one of the top three concerns by 43 percent of all ministers surveyed while 38 percent cited the media as a key issue they need to guard families in their communities against and 36 percent said materialism.
Other matters of concern included absentee fathers, cited by 24 percent of respondents, and families that lack a stay-at-home parent, noted by 22 percent of ministers.
Among Southern Baptists, the top five issues of concern were divorce (53 percent), negative influences from the media (38 percent), materialism (36 percent), absentee fathers (29 percent) and latch-key kids (23 percent), the study found.
Ellison noticed Methodists paid particular attention to parental alcohol and drug use as well as economic issues while seeing less of a threat from pornography and absentee fathers. Lutherans were more concerned with the impact of materialism and alcohol use by parents and children and were less worried about absentee fathers and latch-key kids.
Pentecostals, the study said, were less concerned than average about materialism and were more concerned that morality is not being taught in schools. Southern Baptists, meanwhile, were more concerned about divorce and less likely to worry about economic issues.
(BP)
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