Handing Down the Faith

The most important influence shaping the religious and spiritual lives of children, youth, and teenagers is parents. Yet little research has studied this link in the intergenerational transmission of religion between generations. This book reports the findings of a new, national study of religious parents in the United States. The findings are based on 215 in-depth, personal interviews with religious parents from many traditions and different parts of the country; and on analyses of two nationally representative surveys of American parents. Unlike many studies that focus only on mainstream Christianity, this book reports on parents from a wide range of traditions: mainline Protestant, Catholic, evangelical, black Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, Buddhist, and Hindu. It explores the background beliefs informing how and why religious parents seek to pass on religion to their children; examines how parenting styles interact with parent religiousness to shape religious transmission; shows how the approaches of parents now were influenced by their own experiences as children growing up under their parents; reveals how religious parents view their congregations and what they most seek out in a local church, synagogue, temple, or mosque; explores the experiences and outlooks of immigrant parents; and steps back to consider how the field of American religion has transformed over the last 100 years to explain why parents shoulder such a huge responsibility today in transmitting religious faith and practice to children. The book will interest scholars of religion, family, parenting, and socialization; clergy and religious educators and leaders; and religious parents themselves.