Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation
Christian Smith and Amy Adamczyk
(Oxford, $33, 148 pages)
Sociologists Christian Smith and Amy Adamczyk distill American research based on 215 in-depth personal interviews and two surveys of a nationally representative sample of parents to determine what it takes for religious parents to inculcate their children in their chosen faith in their important and timely book, Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation. While there are important differences between Canadian and American politics and culture, in one fundamental way they are similar and it is a vital point that the authors make, namely that religion today is viewed as a “personal identity accessory” rather than as a “community solidarity project.” The American family is no longer nestled in a community, representing instead a personal lifestyle choice. Under these conditions, parents find themselves in a weakened position to pass their faith onto their children. There is a tension between lifestyle and values that make the atomized family is ill-equipped for the intergenerational transmission of faith – for the declining numbers of parents who wish to imbue their faith to their children. What the research indicates is that by far the most important factor in instilling religious socialization in children is not church or school programs but parental example and involvement, with an authoritative but affectionate parenting style being the most effective way to positively influence children to carry on the faith. Unsurprisingly, parents who have engaged discussions with their children about their own religious beliefs and practices are more likely to build religious attachment among their offspring than parents who take a laissez-faire approach of letting children figure out faith for themselves. That said, the research shows that a community of believers that share moral values go some way in preventing children from being tempted to hedonistic secular tendencies such as sexual experimentation and drug and alcohol abuse.
