Okay, so I always like to look for patterns, links, and underlying effects. I've seen a number of posts referencing more single women than men in the church, and I'd seen some "anti-poly" arguments about the poly lifestyle leading to many young men not having the opportunity to marry at all. I figured I'd do some research, because hey, sounds fun to me.
Let me preface by saying that this is not an exact science. Some numbers are very hard to pin down, especially when I get into the areas of the homosexual population or to a lesser extent, male to female ratios in churches. Some numbers are pretty reliable, like straight demographics of the US. I try to use the most reputable links possible, but again, I'm basically just doing some personal gee whiz info, not writing a thesis!
I'll be breaking everything down into groups of 1,000 (100 is not a good representation). So "In the average 1,000 people", but of course, your mileage may vary depending on where you're at.
Basic population:
In the US we have an overall ratio of .97 mtf, meaning that in 1,000 people you will have about 492 males and 508 females. Under 18 there are actually far more males than females, but we start doing stupid stuff and die off pretty early, so as you get up in age you're looking at more and more females to male ratio.
The next step is factoring in gay, lesbian, and bisexual. This one is tough because the numbers are hard to pin down and vary widely from source to source, however the most agreement from the most reputable sources comes down to about 4% of the population is gay or lesbian, with gay men being about twice as common as gay women (2.5% gay male, 1.5% lesbian). Additionally, another chunk identifies as bisexual, with bisexual women far outnumbering the men. That one has far less data to back it up, so I'm actually going to completely ignore it for now.
Factoring in LBGT, we're left with 492 Males, 12 of which are gay, and 508 females, seven and a half of which are gay (we'll round to 8), or...
480 Marriageable males and 500 marriageable females.
Now, let's look at the propensity of each group to be Christian. There are real numbers to back up the observation that there are more single women in church than men. Speaking strictly of "never married" people in their 20's, evangelical protestants are 59% female. Once you get into the 30's, the number jumps to 73% female. This doesn't factor in divorced or widowed, just never married. Taken on a broader scale though, the average US congregation is still 60% female, with many married women attending without their husbands.
Numbers show that only about one in 6 males attends church, so of our 480 marriageable males, only 80 of them are actually attending church (though more will at least claim to be Christian), whereas out of our 500 females, the entire "extra" quantity is there, with 100 females as regular churchgoers!
So let me break that down. Take the average 1,000 people, subtract out the homosexuals, pair off the non-Christians, and marry off every single Christian male, and you're left with 20 Christian females who are pretty much out of luck. Either they've never married, or they've married, gotten divorced, and their ex is matched up to someone else now.
The breakdown could easily look like this though!
400 straight, secular males paired with 400 straight, secular females
12 gay males paired with each other
8 lesbians paired with each other
80 married Christian men, 100 married Christian women, grouped as God has called and personalities have meshed. Obviously some are called to more than 2 wives, so it would be a straight 60 1:1 relationships and 20 1:2, but that's a basic breakdown.
Anyway, my thought is that God is again raising up polygamy for his people as a way to take care of his daughters, so that they don't have to a) be single, or b) settle for a schmuck that won't treat them well!
Thoughts?
Let me preface by saying that this is not an exact science. Some numbers are very hard to pin down, especially when I get into the areas of the homosexual population or to a lesser extent, male to female ratios in churches. Some numbers are pretty reliable, like straight demographics of the US. I try to use the most reputable links possible, but again, I'm basically just doing some personal gee whiz info, not writing a thesis!
I'll be breaking everything down into groups of 1,000 (100 is not a good representation). So "In the average 1,000 people", but of course, your mileage may vary depending on where you're at.
Basic population:
In the US we have an overall ratio of .97 mtf, meaning that in 1,000 people you will have about 492 males and 508 females. Under 18 there are actually far more males than females, but we start doing stupid stuff and die off pretty early, so as you get up in age you're looking at more and more females to male ratio.
The next step is factoring in gay, lesbian, and bisexual. This one is tough because the numbers are hard to pin down and vary widely from source to source, however the most agreement from the most reputable sources comes down to about 4% of the population is gay or lesbian, with gay men being about twice as common as gay women (2.5% gay male, 1.5% lesbian). Additionally, another chunk identifies as bisexual, with bisexual women far outnumbering the men. That one has far less data to back it up, so I'm actually going to completely ignore it for now.
Factoring in LBGT, we're left with 492 Males, 12 of which are gay, and 508 females, seven and a half of which are gay (we'll round to 8), or...
480 Marriageable males and 500 marriageable females.
Now, let's look at the propensity of each group to be Christian. There are real numbers to back up the observation that there are more single women in church than men. Speaking strictly of "never married" people in their 20's, evangelical protestants are 59% female. Once you get into the 30's, the number jumps to 73% female. This doesn't factor in divorced or widowed, just never married. Taken on a broader scale though, the average US congregation is still 60% female, with many married women attending without their husbands.
Numbers show that only about one in 6 males attends church, so of our 480 marriageable males, only 80 of them are actually attending church (though more will at least claim to be Christian), whereas out of our 500 females, the entire "extra" quantity is there, with 100 females as regular churchgoers!
So let me break that down. Take the average 1,000 people, subtract out the homosexuals, pair off the non-Christians, and marry off every single Christian male, and you're left with 20 Christian females who are pretty much out of luck. Either they've never married, or they've married, gotten divorced, and their ex is matched up to someone else now.
The breakdown could easily look like this though!
400 straight, secular males paired with 400 straight, secular females
12 gay males paired with each other
8 lesbians paired with each other
80 married Christian men, 100 married Christian women, grouped as God has called and personalities have meshed. Obviously some are called to more than 2 wives, so it would be a straight 60 1:1 relationships and 20 1:2, but that's a basic breakdown.
Anyway, my thought is that God is again raising up polygamy for his people as a way to take care of his daughters, so that they don't have to a) be single, or b) settle for a schmuck that won't treat them well!
Thoughts?
