Churches agree to community marriage policy

20 congregations adopt standards to prevent divorce...

Ministers at some of the largest Protestant evangelical churches have signed a community marriage policy that encourages engaged couples to have a courtship of at least a year and to meet four times with a trained, married couple.The clerics want to attack high divorce rates through better marriage preparation.

"If we could get the faith community to come together and agree to some minimum standards -- that's the community marriage policy -- maybe we could be more successful. We could raise the bar," said Ron McLain, who is organizing the latest effort.

Research shows such policies have had some success in reducing divorce elsewhere in the country.

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