Not all married Americans say that sharing religious beliefs is an important factor, placing more importance on other factors as key to having a successful marriage, according to Pew Research.
The latest report from Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study found that about half of married Americans (47 percent) say that having the same religious beliefs as their spouse is a “very important” factor to having a successful marriage.
The majority of those who consider shared religious beliefs as “very important” are married to someone with the same religious beliefs (64 percent). Among those who are married to someone from a different religion, one-in-four (24 percent) take this view. People in marriages in which one spouse is religious and the other is not religious is the least likely to say that shared religious beliefs are important (17 percent).
Only one-in-four (27 percent) say that their spouse’s religious beliefs were a significant factor in their decision to marry. This percentage goes up for those who share religious beliefs with their spouse, with a majority saying the religious beliefs of their spouse was “very” (36 percent) or “somewhat” (26 percent) important in their decision to marry them. The majority of those in inter-religious marriages are less likely to say that shared religious beliefs are “very important.”
The majority of those who are in a marriage in which both are religious “nones” said that religion was not an important factor in deciding to get married (84 percent).
Other factors, such as having common interests (64 percent), a gratifying sexual relationship (61), and helping with household chores (56), were deemed “very important” factors to having a successful marriage, more so than was sharing religious beliefs.
Having children (43 percent) and a sufficient income (42 percent) were considered slightly less important than shared religious beliefs.
Sharing political beliefs (16 percent) was not deemed as important for a marriage to be successful.
