In the last four decades, marriage rates have declined among all Americans, but especially among minorities and lower-income Americans. Research on the retreat from marriage has focused on a range of factors, from the absence of marriageable males to the impact of changes in welfare policy, but it has largely overlooked the role that religious institutions may be playing in resisting this retreat. Religious institutions may be particularly important in this regard, both because they have traditionally promoted pro-marriage norms and because they have a strongpresence in urban communities, especially predominantly African American communities. (Author abstract)