"Human beings look separate because you see them walking about separately," wrote CS Lewis in Mere Christianity. But, "if you could see humanity spread out in time, as God sees it, it would look like one single growing thing-rather like a very complicated tree. Every individual would appear connected with every other."
This punchy analysis is apt for, among other things, assessing the spiritual health of American Christianity. How people within a cultural setting think about and practice spirituality is interrelated. Statistically, the most significant relationship by far between spiritual belief and commitment is that of parents to children. That's always been true. However, especially in light of new data from the Institute for Family Studies, the struggle to pass faith from one generation to the next is more difficult than ever.
Overall, the "tree" is not looking very healthy. "…the challenges of passing on the faith remain considerable," writes study author Jesse Smith. That's an understatement, but there is a silver lining: "…religious conservative parents are managing that challenge somewhat better than others."
Accounting for other important factors - like the relative importance of religion to the parents and whether they "practice what they preach"- Smith looked at the role the substance of the religious beliefs played in transmitting them: things like a high view of the Bible, belief in objective morality, traditional sexual ethics, and a sense of tension with the larger society.
In contrast to parents with more "liberal" or "moderate" beliefs, "children of religious conservatives are more likely to match the religiosity of their parents, and when they stray, they tend not to stray as far." Smith concluded that the primary reason for this success is that parents with more conservative spiritual beliefs took them more seriously and took a much more active role in their children's religious socialization. Therefore, they more frequently talked about God, prayed with their children, and engaged with a church community.
"To pass on religion," wrote Smith, "parents need to make it a part of daily family interactions."
Good advice. However, this study is no cause for celebration. Conservative parents may have an edge in passing faith down to their children, but they're still only "winning" at a game everyone is losing.
For example, while Smith reports that only 15% of children from moderate or liberal families attend worship services weekly, the percentage of conservative families was just four percentile points higher, 19%. In the last year, 52% of children from moderate and liberal families did not attend a single church service entirely. Conservative kids fared only slightly better - 43%.
The fact that 43% of religiously conservative kids failed to darken the door of a church even once last year should cool our celebration. More and more of this population are among those joining the religious "nones," or those who refuse to claim any religious identification. The overall number of "nones" has roughly doubled since 2007 and now represent 3 out of every 10 Americans.
Of course, none of this is new news. Culture watchers have seen a religious decline in America for decades now. It's something we cover on Breakpoint frequently. Still, it's worth studying, again and again, especially by any Christian parent hoping to pass on healthy faith to their kids.
One clear lesson is how seriously parents must take their role as disciple-makers's a common instinct to lean away from spiritual conversations, especially with teenagers who seem uninterested or annoyed. Not to mention, almost every voice in culture says students must be free to determine their truth and identity. All of which makes talking to teens intimidating, especially in a culture increasingly hostile toward Christian beliefs and ethics.
But from this data, Smith strongly cautions against thinking that a "light touch" on religious matters is enough to keep kids in the fold. His conclusion is blunt. "If kids do not receive a clear and consistent message from their parents that religion is important, they are likely to simply conclude that it is not important." (emphasis mine)
At the same time, what a parent does also plays an essential role in their child's spiritual outcomes. By living out Biblical convictions, frequently talking about spiritual issues, and being willing to live in counter-cultural ways, parents convey that faith matters.
As much time and effort goes into making church relevant and attractive to young people, a better strategy would be for churches to invest heavily into parents and family, equipping parents to disciple their kids. The best place to start is in our own homes.