Pew Study on Religion and Public Life
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life recently detailed the religious affiliations of the American public. The survey looked at the shifts taking place among religious denominations. The news reports I saw about the survey featured various headlines all of which cited particular shifts from one denomination to another. I saw no headlines highlighting what most caught my eye. The survey finds that the number of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were not affiliated with any particular religion as children. Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion. The majority of this unaffiliated group is made up of those who describe their faith as ‘nothing in particular.’ This group is further broken down among those who observe that religion is not important in their lives and those who say that religion is either somewhat important or very important, but seem not to act on this conviction.
This blog entry is not an effort at evangelizing. It is not even an attempt to challenge those who upon careful reflection consciously opt not to affiliate with a particular religious faith or denomination. However, what does concern me is the increasing disposition among parents to simply not consider participation in religious practice with any degree of commitment or regularity. My concern is not in terms of the decision these parents make for themselves. Rather, my concern is for their children who growing volumes of very reputable research point out would derive great value from participation in religious practices. Again, no argument is held with careful and thorough reflection that leads a parent to opt out. My argument is with those parents who opt out due to inconvenience and mental laziness. Where do you stand?
March 6th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
While I agree that there are many positive aspects of faith, both in an adult’s and a child’s life, I believe your focus is not broad enough. While ‘opting out without consideration’ may be bad, ‘opting in without consideration’ is far more dangerous. Religion has a dark side which promotes mob-thought, exclusion-ism, and even bigotry. These dark attributes are almost always most readily observable among blind followers. Religions also have the unique symmetry in that they all are equally unprovable. Should a child be exposed to Christianity without equal time spend considering the virtues and practices of Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism? Can a child truly respect and interact with those of other faiths without fully exploring their beliefs in an unbiased environment? Can a person that has been deeply instilled with faith at an impressionable young age really be said to be thoughtfully religious? I think we as a society, especially as parents, need to spend more time in contemplation of what we believe, don’t believe and why. On that point we are in 100% agreement.
March 10th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I so appreciate your reply, Mike. It gives me an opportunity to explain further my thinking on the matter of young people and faith.
What I define as faith development has to do with a person’s view of the world, the world’s occupants and the ultimate questions about his or her existence. I draw a distinction between helping a child develop a faith orientation, which I encourage parents to do, and indoctrinating that child with religious dogma, which I discourage parents from doing. The first recognizes a long, developmental process initiated with the child who as a mature adult determines its outcome. The second involves an unquestioning transfer of dogma which has limited value if any.
A child’s faith development will not typically occur in a vacuum or without parental involvement. I encourage parents to consistently expose their child to religious practice, discuss what is involved with matters of religion and faith and encourage their child to personally reflect about these matters. I also encourage parents to affiliate with those religious denominations that recommend faith development rather than indoctrination.
As with other aspects of raising a child to become purposeful, moral and independent, the parent’s role as the child’s first and most important teacher is crucial.
An example of how this might work occurred to me this morning. As I left my weekly Sunday service this morning, I noted several questions that the weekly sermon and scripture readings raised that I would have loved to discuss with our children, now adults. If they had been with me I am sure that during the course of today, I would have asked those questions. I am equally sure that a discussion would have ensued. These questions would have led to other questions. My goal would have been to continue a process of discussion and reflection. Expose (attend the church service) Discuss (ask some timely questions) Reflect.
My comments about the Pew Data reflected my observations about a growing number of today’s parents. There seems to be diminishing parental involvement in exposing, discussing and helping their children reflect upon matters of faith. In many instances, I think this trend reflects a lack of priority and effort, not theological differences.
I hope this is helpful. I look forward to hearing your’s or other’s comments about these matters.