SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University

of Protestant and Catholic couples who were granted divorces. The Switzerland study findings
showed divorce was four times as common among Protestants than among Catholics. Additional
observers noted divorces were most common among nonreligious couples, then among
Protestants, next among Jews, and least common among Catholics. In agreement with this study,
the Professor argued, “From this we might expect as our statistics indicate, that the divorce rate
is much higher among the native whites in this country than it is among the foreign born, for
many of the foreign born are Roman Catholics, and in any case, they come from countries where
divorce is less common than in the United States.” 126
Additionally, Dr. Ellwood addressed the issue of blame in a divorced marriage. He
contended, “For the last forty years two-thirds of all divorces have been granted on demand of
the wife. This may indicate on the one hand, that the increase of divorces is a movement
connected with the emancipation of woman, and on the other hand it may indicate that it is the
husband who usually gives the ground for divorce.” 127 Even though he did not decide exactly if
was the man’s fault or the result of an increase in woman’s emancipation, he did point to one
ironic outcome of the women’s movement. Ellwood argued that one reason for the increase in
divorces was changes in the standards of morality. He contended that immoral acts condoned
fifty years before produced slight social effect, but the same acts in the early twentieth century
had greater social consequences. One example of this was the standards a wife imposed on a
husband. Dr. Ellwood elaborated, “For centuries, as we have already seen, the husband has
secured divorce for infidelity of the wife, but for centuries no divorce was given to the wife for
the infidelity of the husband, and this is even true today in modern England, unless the husband
126 Ibid.
127 Ibid.
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