Survey reveals changed attitudes to religion, sex

Press, 17 April 1978, Page 9

Survey reveals changed attitudes to religion, sex

New York

A survey of 60,000 American women “of all faiths and incomes” indicates that almost half of them do not consider pre-marital sex, sinful, but 73 per cent take a strong stand against extramarital sex, “McCall’s” magazine has reported. “McCall’s,” a mass-circula-tion magazine aimed at women, said nine of 10 women questioned expressed a belief in God, but only a small percentage showed much faith in organised religion. “Although 59 per cent of the women report that they attend religious services at least once a week, “McCall’s” said, “only 17 per cent identify their church, temple, or synagogue as the principle influence on their morality . . In times of stress, priests, ministers, and rabbis are virtually the last people they turn to for guidance or comfort.”

The magazine quoted one correspondent as writing, “not even a ‘born-again’

Christian can blind me to the fact that our present-day society has special needs that cannot be met or handled by the tenets of orthodox scripture.”

The magazine said that perhaps with the increased public acceptance of “living together,” it was no great surprise that only 53 per cent of the women surveyed considered pre-marital sex sinful. On the other matters the survey revealed that onethird of the women rejected abortion as immoral, but 30 per cent considered it justifiable under special circumstances. Roman Catholics were the only group with a majority (52 per cent) opposed to abortion as sinful. A high percentage of those polled considered suicide, cheating on taxes, pornography, and dirty language as immoral. In Washington, a Government study has said that more than 1.5 million men land women, many under 25, I lived together out of wedpock in America in 1977, a I sharp rise from the previous year.

The annual report on America’s marital status and living arrangements compiled by the Census Bureau appeared to Offer additional evidence that some of the nation’s traditional social mores, particularly among younger people, are changing rapidly.

For instance, the study noted a “dramatic upsurge" in the divorce rate. There are now 84 divorced people for every 1000 who are married, a 79 per cent increase since 1970, the study said. In the 19605, the divorce rate ratio went up by 34 per cent. There are 8.1 million people who are divorced and have not remarried.

The study said that in March, 1977, the month the statistics were collected, 1,508,000 unmarried people lived with a member of the opposite sex in a two-person household. This compared with 1,320,000 in 1976, an increase of 14 per cent in 12 months.

Furthermore, last year’s total was a staggering 131 per cent above the 1970 level.