Religious Parenting: Transmitting Faith and Values in Contemporary America

Parents are the most important influence on their children's religious lives, and Religious Parenting investigates how they transmit religious beliefs, values, and practices to their kids. Despite massive diversity, American parents share a nearly identical approach to socializing their children religiously, viewing it as their job to ground them in life-enhancing religious values that provide resilience, morality, and a sense of purpose. Challenging longstanding sociological and anthropological assumptions about culture, the authors demonstrate that parents of highly dissimilar backgrounds share the same "cultural models" when passing on religion to their children.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 312 pages
Publication date: 02 November 2021
Publisher: Princeton University Press

The transmission of religious faith and practice to children is a complex and multifaceted task that involves a range of factors, including parents' beliefs, values, and experiences. In the United States, where religious diversity is prevalent, parents face the challenge of navigating the diverse religious landscape and finding ways to pass on their faith to their children in a meaningful and impactful way.

One key aspect of religious parenting is the role of parents as the primary influencers on their children's religious lives. Research has shown that parents play a significant role in shaping their children's religious beliefs, values, and practices, and that the quality of the parent-child relationship can have a profound impact on children's religious development.

Despite the importance of parents in religious socialization, they have been largely ignored in previous research on religious socialization. This study seeks to address this gap by exploring the strategies, experiences, beliefs, and anxieties of American parents regarding religious transmission. The study was conducted by renowned religion scholar Christian Smith and his collaborators Bridget Ritz and Michael Rotolo, who conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews with parents from a range of religious traditions, social classes, and family types across the country.

The findings of the study reveal that, despite the significant diversity in American religious traditions, parents share a nearly identical approach to socializing their children religiously. For almost all parents, religion is important for the foundation it provides for becoming one's best self on life's difficult journey. Religion is primarily viewed as a resource for navigating the challenges of this life, not as preparation for an afterlife. Parents believe that it is their responsibility, not the responsibility of religious professionals, to ground their children in life-enhancing religious values that provide resilience, morality, and a sense of purpose.

One of the key findings of the study is that parents view religion as a means of providing their children with a moral compass and a sense of identity. Parents believe that religious teachings can help their children develop a strong sense of empathy, compassion, and respect for others, and that these values are essential for building healthy and resilient communities. Parents also view religion as a means of providing their children with a sense of belonging and a sense of purpose, particularly in times of uncertainty or adversity.

Another important aspect of religious parenting is the role of religious practices and rituals in transmitting religious beliefs and values to children. Parents believe that participating in religious practices and rituals can help their children connect with their faith and with their community, and that these experiences can be meaningful and transformative for children's spiritual development.

However, religious parenting also presents challenges for parents. Parents may face conflicts between their own religious beliefs and practices and the religious beliefs and practices of their children, or may struggle to find ways to balance their own religious needs with the demands of their children's social and academic lives. Parents may also face anxiety and uncertainty about the best way to pass on their faith to their children, particularly in a society that is increasingly secular and skeptical of religious beliefs.

In conclusion, the transmission of religious faith and practice to children is a complex and multifaceted task that involves a range of factors, including parents' beliefs, values, and experiences. In the United States, where religious diversity is prevalent, parents face the challenge of navigating the diverse religious landscape and finding ways to pass on their faith to their children in a meaningful and impactful way. This study provides valuable insights into the strategies, experiences, beliefs, and anxieties of American parents regarding religious transmission, and highlights the importance of parents as the primary influencers on their children's religious lives.

Dimension: 235 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691228075