Church education is promoting an endangered species: Dating – By Jacob Hess (Deseret News) / Feb 24, 2024
In the face of global relationship trends away from marriage formation, the Church Educational System is taking steps to re-instill a courtship culture.
In 1997, the book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” spread like wildfire among Christian singles. Authored by Joshua Harris, a young man disenchanted with secular dating norms, the book encouraged young people to avoid dating with warnings about the heartbreak that could be involved.
Most Americans, it turns out, didn’t need much encouragement to ditch dating. Over the last 25 years, dating has gone from an expected norm to a rare exception in many communities.
By many measures, this has accelerated since smartphones became widespread in 2012-2013. A Pew Research survey conducted in October 2019 found nearly half of U.S. adults — and a majority of women — reporting that dating had become harder in the last 10 years. Another 2022 Pew Research Center survey found most singles perceive dating as more difficult than before the pandemic — with 57% of singles surveyed reporting they are not currently looking to date or be in a romantic relationship.
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