Parents’ Expectations of Religious Congregations

Church leaders, youth ministers, and volunteers are likely curious about the extent to which parents find congregations useful in transmitting religious beliefs and behaviors. This chapter explores how parents use religious congregations to transmit religious belief. The chapter discusses why parents tend to feel that they, rather than their congregations, are primarily responsible for passing on religious faith. Many parents select their congregations for fairly practical reasons, they have a lot of confidence in their own understanding of religion, and they want to be involved in all aspects of their child’s life, including religious development. This chapter also unpacks what parents see as the most valuable contributions that congregations provide for their children. These include the congregation’s role in providing religious education, making religion fun for their children, and transmitting cultural traditions.

Introduction

This book is about how American religious parents approach the handing on of their religious practices and beliefs to their children. We know a lot about the importance of parents in faith transmission and factors that influence its effectiveness. But we know much less about the actual beliefs, feelings, and activities of the parents themselves when it comes to the intergenerational transmission of religious faith and practice....

Cultural Models of Religious Parenting

This chapter describes and illustrates the “cultural models” that inform what the vast majority of American religious parents assume and believe about the value and means of passing on religion to their children. It sketches out the cognitive maps that religious parents use to make sense of the task of religious transmission to children. Drawing upon the theory of cultural models developed by cognitive anthropologists, such as Naomi Quinn and Claudia Strauss, it reconstructs the operative cultural models that American religious parents presuppose or believe about the purpose of life, the job of parenting, and the positive role that religion can play in providing children greater resources of happy and successful lives. Emphasis is placed on the pragmatic and functional approach to religion that most parents assume.

The New Immigrants and Religious Parenting

Immigrant parents often encounter unique challenges in transmitting religious culture and beliefs to their children. Drawing on information from a range of immigrant parents, this chapter seeks to describe the cultures of faith transmission operating among immigrant parents, as they seek to pass on their distinct traditions in ways that are also consonant with their children’s experiences growing up in America. Focusing on four distinct groups of parents—Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Hispanic/Latino Catholics—this chapter addresses how these parents practice their religion in America today and how they perceive and engage with the American mainstream. The chapter illustrates immigrant parents’ unique challenges in transmitting faith to their children and their shared goals to preserve their values and traditions.

The Big Picture of American Religious Parenting

This chapter zooms out to explore findings from two other nationally representative surveys of American parents about their priorities for, expectations about, and practices to influence their children’s religious futures. The surveys analyzed are the Culture of American Families survey conducted in 2012 by the Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture at the University of Virginia; and the Faith and Family in America survey conducted in 2005 for Religion and Ethics Newsweekly by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, Inc. Findings explore American parents’ beliefs about, values of, and strategies for the religious socialization of their children.

Why Are Parents the Crucial Players?

This chapter considers why parents are—and increasingly have become—the central players in their children’s religious socialization. It theorizes historical transformations of the American religious field and of family life that are crucial for understanding intergenerational religious transmission, particularly the centrality of parents talking to children about religion as a most powerful mechanism of socialization in religious faith and practice. It suggests that the “reflexive imperative” theorized by Anthony Giddens and Margaret Archer creates a culture that situates parents and talk with children at the center of religious transmission. It provides a big-picture interpretation of the transformation of American religion in recent decades as one from religion as communal solidarity project to personal identity accessory, which sheds light not only on the dynamics of religious socialization but also changes in the macro religious field.

How Family Life Shapes Religious Parenting

When parents think about how they want to pass on their religion to their children, they often consider their own experiences as children, as well as the individuals with whom their children spend a lot of time. These people include their own parents, grandparents, and, of course, partners. This chapter explores how these other people, both their physical presence as well as childhood memories of them, affect how they try to transmit religion to their offspring. The chapter examines general similarities and differences between adult children and their parents in their childrearing style. It also considers the extent to which adult children draw upon childrearing approaches learned from their parents. The role of grandparents is discussed, as well as the important influence of partners in shaping religious faith transmission. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the different processes married parents and those who are divorced or single engage.

Parent Religiousness, Parenting Styles, and Intergenerational Religious Transmission

Parents’ religious beliefs and practices, along with their parenting styles, matter for shaping how parents choose to transmit religious belief to their children and the extent to which they are effective. This chapter explores the direct, independent effects of parents’ religiousness and to some extent their parenting styles on children’s religious outcomes. Survey data are used to show how parenting styles moderate the relationship between parents’ religious importance and adult children’s religious importance and attendance. The chapter shows that an authoritative approach, whereby parents combine high expectations of and involvement with their children with emotional warmth and good communication can help more religious parents transmit religion to their children. This chapter also explores the role of religion in strengthening the connection between parents and offers important context and insight for understanding the relationship between corporal punishment and religion.

Conclusion

The conclusion draws together the various findings and arguments in this book into a final assessment. It emphasizes the complex, contingent, and multileveled forces that shape American parents’ task today of passing on religion to their children. Emphasis is placed on parenting as a “project” involving difficult responsibilities. The conclusion summarizes the main practices that appear most successfully to transmit religion from parents to children.