What Focus on the Family’s 2025 Marriage Report Gets Wrong About Divorce, Faith, and Abuse An abuse-informed review of the State of the Family: Marriage Health in America report...
For Pastors
Safety-First vs. Marriage-First Counseling
Safety-First vs. Marriage-First Counseling How to screen counselors—and protect yourself—when your marriage may be unsafe Most people who reach out for marriage counseling aren’t...
Dr. Gary Chapman’s Double-Speak Blame Decoder
Dr. Gary Chapman’s Double-Speak Blame Decoder Dr. Gary Chapman is an evangelical pastor and bestselling author. A longtime speaker for Focus on the Family, he presents himself as...
Debunking the “Stay Together for 5 Years” Lie: When Divorce is the Right Decision
Many Christian leaders enjoy quoting the study Does Divorce Make People Happy? from the Institute for American Values, often proclaiming, “Two out of three unhappily married...
The Institute for American Values on Divorce: Why Sticking It Out Isn’t Always the Answer
Many people like to quote the study "Does Divorce Make People Happy?" from The Institute for American Values, proudly claiming, “Two out of three unhappily married adults who...
Critique: “Divorced: What to Do When,” Focus on the Family article, by Ron Blue, Jeremy L. White
Critique: "Divorced: What to Do When," Focus on the Family article, by Ron Blue, Jeremy L. White This is a critique and analysis of the Focus on the Family article,...
Focus on the Family’s 3-Point Strategy for Gaslighting Wives in Destructive Marriages
Focus on the Family's 3-Point Strategy for Gaslighting Wives to Stay in Destructive Marriages Did you know Focus on the Family uses three methods to manipulate wives to...
Puritan Divorces: 10 Valid Reasons for Divorce
This table shows every known divorce among the Massachusetts Puritans 1639-1692. There are 40 divorces listed and the columns give the record location and page, the date, the...
Nearly 6 in 10 Christians Switch Churches When They Divorce
SWITCH CHURCHES, OR STAY, WHEN YOU DIVORCE? Nearly 6 in 10 Christians switch churches and leave their former church when they divorce. Lifeway Research (affiliated with the...
1-in-4 Highly Religious U.S. Marriages Have Abuse
1-in-4 Highly Religious U.S. Marriages Have Abuse How many Christian marriages have experienced abuse (intimate partner violence) with their current partner? It's...
Review: DivorceCare® Program Pros and Cons
Review of DivorceCare® Divorce Recovery Groups: Pros and Cons DivorceCare® (DC) is a conservative Christian divorce recovery program used in about 10% of Protestant...
Churches & Christian Denominations with Unsafe Divorce Policies for Abused Spouses
Churches & Denominations with Unsafe Official Divorce Policies for Abused Spouses If you belong to one of these denominations or attend one of their churches, please contact...
Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife: Resisting Sexual Harassment and Assault
HOW SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS RESIST Recently there was a tweet on Twitter talking about the biblical story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39). The tweet suggested that...
Why Does She Stay In An Abusive Marriage? 50 Women & Men Tell Why
50 Abused Wives and Husbands Answer the Question: "Why Did You Stay So Long?" People wonder why abused women and men stay with a dangerous spouse for so long. I asked...
Why Did I Stay So Long When I Had Serious Grounds for Divorce?
Why did I stay so long when I had 100% serious biblical grounds for divorce? I asked this question in my private Facebook group, and here are some of the answers I received...
12 Half-Truths in “How Could Divorce Affect My Kids?” from Focus on the Family by Amy Desai, J.D.
Fact check of the article "How Could Divorce Affect My Kids?" by Amy Desai, J.D., on the Focus on the Family website. WARNING: This article has 12 half-truths in it. It misleads...
Top 5 Myths About Divorce that Don’t Apply to Christians and Others of Deep Faith
5 MYTHS OF DIVORCE THAT DON'T APPLY TO COMMITTED CHRISTIANS (OR TO OTHER DEEPLY RELIGIOUS PEOPLE) Let’s face it, well-meaning friends and family and even counselors give us...
My Pastor Never Told Me Divorce Could Be Good for Kids
Why Didn't Our Churches Tell Us the Truth about Children and Divorce? For decades, many of us stayed far longer than we should have—because we truly believed we were doing the...
How Do I Know If My Spouse Has Really Changed?
Summary: This article gives 3 ways you can know if your abusive or addicted or cheating or lying spouse has really changed. Or watch the 20-min. video version on YouTube. ...
7 Ways Churches Can Address Emotional Abuse in Christian Marriages
Summary: This article gives 7 ways churches-especially Evangelical churches-can address emotional abuse in Christian marriages better. Then this article documents 7 problems and...
Focus on the Family and Divorce: Why Abuse Victims Are Pressured to Stay
Focus on the Family Does Not Condone Divorce for Abuse Abuse Is Acknowledged — But Never Named as Biblical Grounds for Divorce For decades, Focus on the Family (FOTF) has...