Be Careful When Quoting Stats
Christians aren’t the only group to be misrepresented. Parents of special needs children are victims of this as well. But as pastors who are charged with proclaiming Truth (with a big T), we must also commit to proclaiming truth (with a little t). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a speaker or pastor misquote a stat or tell a story that was actually not true. For that matter, I’ve done it myself at times—but that does not mean we cannot all do better.
I’ve been in the audience or backstage at conferences when a stat that came out of my office was quoted incorrectly by another speaker. And as for your little stories, Snopes.com exists for a reason, pastors. Please, I beg of you, use it. Stories and stats may help you make your point, but please research, confirm and cite them.
One reason this is so important in this area is that when we say things like “the divorce rate for Christian couples and non-Christian couples is the same,” we give the impression that Christ makes no difference in our lives and in our marriages. That is offensive to the work of the Spirit in us and is simply not true. We must not give Satan a foothold in our marriage, and bad stats can do just that.
So, do couples who say they are “Christians” divorce often? Sure. Almost eight of 10 Americans say they are Christians and they, well, look like the other two out of 10 who don’t claim to be Christians. But when a pastor says, “Christians and non-Christians divorce at the same rate,” that is not what people hear. If you are a pastor, they think you should know what a Christian is, and you must be saying Christians (people who follow Christ) divorce at the same rate as the rest—and that’s not true.
Marriage is a gift from God. One for which I am extremely grateful. So, pastors, please don’t undermine it with inaccurate stats or misleading citations of those stats.
