Controversial Topic Discussion

You raise an interesting question here and one in which I would be interested in the relevant empirical data. It is fairly obvious from the data I've seen that a given person's religiosity, in itself, has little to say about whether or not they will remain married over their lifetime. Divorce rates between religious peoples and non-religious peoples are not all that divergent (correct me if you have seen other data).

This leads me to wonder about the accuracy of the line of thought, which many seem to adhere to, that married couples, as opposed to those who just 'shack up', for lack of a better term, form a more stable family unit. Surely there have been some sociological studies in this area, but I don't think I've ever run across one. I would not be surprised to find that this claim is not necessarily supported by data, based in my understanding of the physiological nature of romantic love and pair bonding.

Anyway, if you know of any such studies I would be interested in reading them.