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Is adoption the Christian/Mormon thing to do?
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A friend recently commented about how many adopted people were currently in her circle here in Salt Lake City. It seems true -- adoptions appear common in Utah. It has also been often stated that American adoption is and has been historically driven by our nation's Christian ethic. Do these two statements support each other? Are Evangelical Christians, Mormons and other similar faith groups driving America's hunger for orphans? If so, is this a good or bad thing?
Adoption numbers, when combined with raw population numbers, do show Utah to have a high adoption per capita rate. During 2009 Utah adopted one child for every 19,003 people living in the state. Comparatively, California came in at 1 adoption for every 35,207 people, Texas is 1 for every 37,426 people, New York is 1 for every 26,126 people and Arizona falls at 1 adoption for every 31,864 people living in the state.
Closer to home, Colorado adopted one child in 2009 for every 14,113 people in the state, while Oregon adopted 1 child for every 15,661 and Idaho adopted one child for every 20,592 people. So what can be said about all these numbers? On the one hand, Colorado, the home of conservative Christian organizations such as "Focus on the Family," had the highest adoption rate per capita. And Utah, home to the LDS church, also ranked highly. But on the other hand, Texas, firmly within the Bible Belt, was the absolute lowest in adoptions per capita. And Oregon, a staunchly liberal and progressive state not often associated with conservative Christian values, had almost as many adoptions per capita as Colorado.
One can easily make too much of statistics, but these numbers do seem to bear out that adoptions in the U.S. are driven significantly by Christianity and its adherents. But is this a good thing? In their Biblical zeal to care for the orphan are Christians doing more harm than good? That question will be answered tomorrow.
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- InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
- Campus Crusade for Christ
- The Salt Company
- The Newman Center
- Reformed University Fellowship
