Irie,
I did my college thesis paper on the effects of church attendance on abortion rates. Grabbed the top states, rated church attendance as reported, rated church stance on abortion, rated reported abortion rates. After watching my church freinds screw around as much or more than anyone else, I was puzzled by the lack of pregnancies. Could the stigma of an out of wedlock pregnancy cause more abortions? In the end, I was limited in what I could do, but the overall conclusion was while it did not appear to cause more abortions, it certianly did not cause less. If I remember right, salt lake city had and still probably does, have one of the highest abortion rates around. You pointed out the rates in the bible belt.
Not sure about the domestic violence rates though, that would actually shock me. Maybe among regular church goers, but probably not as high among fundamentalists as you think. The reason I believe this is most fundamentalists don't drink, at least not heavily. It is my belief that a high percentage of spousal abuse is done while intoxicated. Could be wrong, but that has been what I have seen. There are some fringe fundamentalist groups that may advocate spousal abuse, but this is not the norm. People who try to justify use the verses relating to the wife being subserviant, but somehow miss the verses on "loving your wife like christ loved the church" (ie. sacrificing everything, including your one life.) My interpetation of biblical doctrine of spousal order is the husband being in charge to make the decisions that no one wants to make, and always making those decisions to the benifit of the other family members first. If done right, the wife would not have to worry about letting her husband make decisions, since he would always be putting her welfare in front of his; and of course, taking her in as a full partner for input in decisions. -where did this thread start???